Van Amersfoort Racing’s Bruno Del Pino took his maiden Formula 3 victory in the Melbourne sprint race on Saturday, finishing ahead of rookie teammate Enzo Deligny and Rodin Motorsport’s Brando Badoer as a heavy crash between Prema teammates James Wharton and Louis Sharp halted the race after nine of 20 scheduled laps.

By Tori Turner

Del Pino’s victory from reverse-grid pole marked his second career F3 podium. He scored his first one during the 2025 Imola sprint race last May with previous team MP Motorsport in a challenging season that he ultimately concluded in 23rd place.

“Last year with MP, I struggled a lot,” Del Pino told Feeder Series. “The team was really good and I still think they’re one of the great teams in F3, so I’m also going to root for them if they’re behind me.

“Once I finished the season, I had the chance to come to Van Amersfoort. I think it was a good change for my mentality because I got in the bubble of negativity in a way. When I came to VAR, it was a switch and starting from zero and hard work. They have welcomed me really nicely and it’s been showing so far, even though it’s only race one and there’s many to go.

“The work has been going very well not only during the race weekend but also outside in the workshop, online as well. It’s just more of a mental side which is really good. I’m really happy driving-wise and personally.”

Rookie Deligny secured his first F3 podium on his series debut, whilst Badoer took his own maiden F3 podium having made the switch from Prema Racing to Rodin Motorsport for the 2026 season.

Del Pino held on to his position at the start of the race, leading teammate Deligny into Turn 1. Badoer, who started fourth, positioned himself to the inside of Noah Strømsted and stole third away from the Trident driver. 

“It was just a good start,” Badoer explained. “I selected the correct clutch map and saw a gap in Turn 1 under braking, so I went for it and I saw that I could stay up there until the end of the race.” 

At the end of lap two, MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi ran wide at Turn 12 whilst in seventh place and spun into the gravel, ultimately rejoining right at the back. That error promoted Sunday’s front-row starter Ugo Ugochukwu to 10th – ostensibly the final points-paying position – and the Campos Racing driver made up another place on lap five by launching himself around the outside of Nicola Lacorte at Turn 9. Freddie Slater and Théophile Naël then overtook Lacorte at Turn 11 on consecutive laps to deny the DAMS driver a top-10 finish.

By the start of lap six, race leader Del Pino had pulled 1.3 seconds ahead of Deligny in second, but Strømsted was rapidly catching Badoer in an attempt to regain the final podium position. He and the rest of the field, however, were limited by issues with DRS that caused the system to be disabled for the duration of the race.

The second and final obstacle for overtaking came at the start of lap eight. Prema teammates Sharp and Wharton were battling for seventh when Wharton pushed Sharp off track at the exit of the Turn 4 left-hander. Sharp rejoined the track and forced himself back down the inside of the Turn 5 right-hander, but Wharton turned in and the two cars overlapped – sending both spearing into the barriers. 

The drivers were unhurt, but both cars were wrecked as a result, with Wharton’s car being embedded in the barriers. After the race, Sharp received a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points for causing the collision.

The safety car was immediately brought out onto the track, but drivers remained behind it for only a lap before a red flag was called at 11:34 local time. There was significant damage to the barriers at Turn 5 as well as debris from the two cars strewn across the track. 

At 11:54 local time, race control confirmed that the race would not be restarting. The extensive repairs needed to the barriers had a domino effect throughout the entire day’s racing schedule, subsequently delaying F1’s third free practice session and F2’s sprint race by 20 minutes each.

With less than 50 per cent of the race being completed, points were no longer awarded to the top 10 in the classification as per article 6.5 of the 2026 F3 sporting regulations. In such cases, points are awarded only to the top five drivers on a reduced scale, with five points given to the race winner down to one for the fifth-place finisher. 

The early cancellation meant that Del Pino was guaranteed a lights-to-flag victory, having led all nine laps with no significant threat to his advantage. He also made it two consecutive sprint race wins for Van Amersfoort in Melbourne after Santiago Ramos’ victory in 2025. With the results taken from lap seven, two laps before the red flag deployment, Del Pino was officially credited as having finished 1.381s ahead of Deligny and 2.712s ahead of Badoer in third place. 

“Before the safety car, I was all under control. I felt that I could have continued like that. It was a pity that the race ended this early. Of course, the health of the other drivers is more important,” Del Pino said. “It’s a nice way to start the season even though it’s half of the points.” 

For Deligny, the result came after a turbulent winter in which he split from Prema, his original team for 2026, and moved to Van Amersfoort.

“If someone told me that I’d be P2 in my first F3 race, I’d definitely sign it, so definitely happy to start that way, and it’s also good for the team as well with the 1-2,” he added.

Despite having the pace to challenge for another podium in Melbourne, Strømsted ultimately fell just 0.595s short and settled for fourth after the interruptions. ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato finished in the last points-paying position, scoring on his debut.

Kato’s teammate Maciej Gładysz made up three positions to finish sixth, whilst Wharton placed seventh on countback. Ugochukwu and Slater finished eighth and ninth respectively as they prepare to start in the top three on Sunday, with feature race polesitter Naël rounding out the top 10.

Sharp was originally classified eighth on countback before receiving his 10-second penalty, which dropped him down to 16th in the final classification. He also set the fastest lap of the race on lap four, though he will not receive any points for doing so.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency