PREVIEW: Back in Barcelona for Round 5

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a familiar venue for all the teams and drivers, and hosts the final leg of the triple-header, that will bring us to the end of the first half of the season.

After the Monte Carlo weekend, Rafael Câmara and TRIDENT remain at the top of the Drivers’ and Teams’ Standings respectively, but their advantage has been reduced by the chasing pack.

With Nikola Tsolov and Campos Racing riding high after their Feature Race victory in Monaco, can they repeat the feat on the team’s home soil this weekend?

WHAT TO EXPECT

Round 5 gets underway on Friday with Free Practice kicking the Formula 3 action off. The green light is scheduled for 09:55 local time, before Qualifying sets the grid for both races later in the afternoon at 15:00 local.

Saturday’s 21-lap Sprint Race follows and gets going at 10:05 local time before the Feature Race brings the action to a close early on Sunday morning, with the grid set to get underway at 08:30 local time around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Scheduled for 25 laps, the Feature Race will put the drivers’ tyre preservation skills to the test.

STAT PACK

• PREMA Racing are the most successful F3 team in Barcelona, with seven wins since 2019
• After Nikola Tsolov’s Feature Race win in Monte Carlo, the top three in the Drivers’ Championship are now separated by just 16 points
• Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport is currently on the longest active scoring streak, scoring points in seven consecutive races dating back to the Melbourne Feature Race
• No driver to start the F3 Feature Race from third on the grid or further back has won the event, with every winner since 2019 coming from the front row
• Josep María Martí’s 4.463s winning advantage over Franco Colapinto in 2023’s Feature Race is the biggest winning margin in F3 around Barcelona

FROM THE GRID – Mari Boya, Campos Racing

“The new Barcelona is much more high-speed after they changed the last sector. We have the final two corners which are now super-fast corners after being a slow chicane before. Also it’s really technical and demanding on the tyres.

“The best place to overtake will be into Turn 1 after the long DRS zone. We’ll also have a good chance into T10. Everything I’ve raced here I’ve had my home fans, friends and family supporting me, so I’d say it’s the best race weekend of the year.”

TECHNICAL PREVIEW

Pierre-Alain Michot, FIA Formula 3 Technical Director

“With the teams and drivers well-versed with the Barcelona circuit following testing earlier this season, the small details will make the difference this weekend. The turns that make up the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya are mostly fast, long radius corners, so aerodynamic demand is fairly high. Tyre management will be crucial with the expected degradation levels, and the driver that manages them the best will be rewarded, especially in the longer Feature Race.”

PIRELLI PREVIEW

The Hard is once again the tyre chosen for Barcelona, because of the significant lateral forces generated in this circuit’s many fast corners. It will therefore present a real challenge for the young drivers in this category when it comes to managing degradation, especially on the front axle, as was the case last year. Those who had worked the tyres hard in the early stages, then struggled towards the end. Another factor to keep in mind is the air temperature, expected to exceed 25 °C. This should help during the warm-up phase and those who do the best job of getting tyres up to temperature quickly, could have an advantage.