Fornaroli on start to 2025, early contenders and why returning drivers are a threat for the triple-header

The season is about to get very busy as the triple-header looms, but before we get to the racing action, there’s one driver we had to speak to and get his thoughts on 2025 so far.

Reigning Champion Leonardo Fornaroli reflects on Rounds 1 and 2, who has impressed him the most and gives his view on why we might see the form book torn up over the coming weeks.

Firstly though, the Italian says that TRIDENT’s formidable form has not come as a surprise to him, as the team brought their 2024 performance into the new campaign with a new car.

“I mean it’s tough to have expectations ahead of a season like this because it’s a new car and nobody has tried it before,” Fornaroli explained. “Of course, I spoke with my engineer last year, he told me they weren’t sure how it would go, but I was saying I’m sure they will be 1-2-3 and it was going to be amazing.

“They got close to that in Melbourne. P1, P2 and P5 with the third car, so TRIDENT have built another very strong car.

“I’m still supporting them. Sometimes I’ll go to the tent and speak with the engineers, say hello and I have to say the atmosphere in the team is amazing at the moment.”

While the team has hit the ground running in 2025, rookie Rafael Câmara has been the stand-out driver of the season so far, winning both poles and Feature Race victories this year.

Fornaroli says that he showed promising signs during the post-season tests last year, impressing the team in his early outings in TRIDENT colours. It hasn’t been a surprise to see him carry it into the new campaign according to the reigning Champion.

“He’s doing very, very well. I think he’s trying to follow what Gabriel did"

“He’s doing very, very well. I think he’s trying to follow what Gabriel did. He’s just been able to adapt very quickly.

“Already during the post-season test last year, I was speaking with some of the engineers, and they were telling me he was very quick, and so I’m happy to see him and TRIDENT doing very well. I hope that they’ll be able to secure another big result at the end of the year.”

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While Câmara holds an early advantage in the Drivers’ Championship thanks to his early season performances, all of his rivals will enter the triple header with the clear goal of closing that back down.

Returning drivers might stand the best chance of that however, with their past experiences around the upcoming venues in F3 counting for a lot with the three rounds in as many weeks.

Fornaroli believes it’s hard to gauge whether or not their previous visits will play for much in the new era, but he says it could prompt a change in the competitive order.

“It’s a good question. A lot can change from one round to another. But we saw that in the first two rounds, they weren’t far away from the rookies. But now that we’re going back to European tracks, maybe something will change. I don’t know to be fair, we will have to wait and see.”

Fornaroli made one key factor his trademark in 2024 en route to the Drivers’ title, and that was consistency. With seven podium finishes, the Italian driver secured the Championship at the final round last season.

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With the season getting back underway after the break following Sakhir, Fornaroli says that everyone will be aiming to get into a rhythm as the pressure grows from here on out.

“I said so many times last year, but it’s consistency that’s everything in Formula 3. With so many rounds and not much rest between them coming up, the tension is really high, and it just grows.

“It’s easy to do a mistake, but as I did last year, you just have to do your job, always be there and limit the number of mistakes you do to score as many points as you can.”