Wharton feeling more ‘confident’ for Barcelona after Monte Carlo Feature Race fightback

James Wharton produced an outstanding comeback through the field in the Monte Carlo Feature Race, the ART Grand Prix driver ending up just outside the points at the Principality in 11th.

The 18-year-old had a tough Qualifying outing on Friday, finishing P11 in Group B, meaning he started both the Sprint and Feature Races from 22nd.

After finishing in the same position he lined up in on Saturday, Wharton fought through the field to finish in 11th on Sunday, half a second behind Alessandro Giusti, who took the final point, in P10.

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Reflecting on the race, Wharton said: “There was a lot of chaos which helped the situation for sure, but at the start of the race I was doing a testing program to be honest.

“I was doing a push, cool, push, cool, to try and get a rhythm, try to get more comfortable on the track and feel a bit more comfortable in the car for Barcelona.

“When the Safety Car came out though, I thought to myself there is probably some good chances and some good opportunities here and from several laps to go I started to push. I made some good moves at the start and got quite lucky with some chaos at the end.

“I can't thank the team enough because I think we have made a big step from Saturday to Sunday. I have a lot more confidence now in the car and I honestly can't wait to get to Barcelona now, and I am a lot happier with the package we have.”

When asked what he learned from his early testing program, Wharton responded: “It made me have a bit better tyre at the end, helped me look after the tyres in a better way, because we had a lot of deg.

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“It was the first longer stint we had done on the Soft tyres, so there was a lot of people struggling with the tyres and I was able to manage the tyre quite well, and I think that helped me a lot at the end.”

The Australian’s main focus for the next round in Barcelona is to make sure he qualifies well, given that his best result in the Pole Position shootout is P20 in Imola.

Wharton is confident that they have the race pace to be competitive in both the Sprint and the Feature, especially at a track where he won twice from pole in the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine.

“It's more just getting the peak of the tyre, making sure that I use the tyre in the right way,” said Wharton about how to improve his Qualifying form. “I think that's the biggest part about F3, you don't have many laps in quali, so you need to put the lap together at the peak.

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“But for sure, going to a track like Barcelona, where I am coming off a double win and double pole, I can't have enough confidence going to the track.

“I can't wait to get there and put a good weekend there in qualifying and be able to show my race pace at the end. I feel like all year the race pace has been really good, but we just haven't qualified where we need too.”