Interview
Javier Sagrera is hopeful that his partnership with AIX Racing for the 2025 Formula 3 season will give him the chance to fight for race victories as he talked through his first few months with the team.
After a successful 2024 campaign in the Eurocup-3 Championship, where he won four races and scored an additional six podium, he now makes the “dream” move up to F3 with AIX.
“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity,” said Sagrera. “It's been a dream since I was a kid since I started in go karts. You look up to these people and these categories and it seems so far away and you see as the years go past, that you're getting closer and closer.
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“So, finally to get a deal with AIX it's a really good chance for me and for the team to start working together and I'm just looking really forward also to the new car, especially. Everyone starts from zero, so I'm just really excited to be given this opportunity.”
Speaking further about joining AIX, Sagrera revealed that he felt “comfortable” within the setup from the first few days of working with them at the post-season test in Jerez.
“I started working with the team for first time in Jerez at the postseason test,” he revealed. “I think one of the reasons I got that the deal done is because it was a really good test I did for them.
“It went really well in Jerez and Barcelona. I think AIX are really professional team as I've said, I believe in every individual in that team, I felt really comfortable. They were really familiar since day one.
“So really also our partnership has come together because we found out that we are both really professional, really mature, ready to put in the work, it gelled like a family.
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“It went really well and also the progression of the days, since day one in Jerez, everything was new for me learning the car. They taught me really well up until Barcelona and everything was getting much better.
“I'm just really excited to be working with them now. This winter preparation that we're doing to prepare, the team building we're doing, everything is gelling up to a hopefully successful season.”
Sagrera highlighted the heaviness of the brakes as one of the main differences between the Formula 3 car and anything he had driven previously, and after doing the four days of running, it took some time to get used to driving different machinery.
“One of the things I really also felt were the brakes,” he said. “It's much harder than what actually people think, you need to press it really hard.
“A funny story when I came back to the Eurocup-3 car because I still had a race left to do in Barcelona, I went into the first corner and I pushed the brakes like in the F3 car. I just completely locked everything up, it was a mess, so it's a bit different.”
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With just over a month till pre-season testing in Barcelona, Sagrera was speaking in between his two training sessions which he says he is very “strict” about as he gets ready for the upcoming campaign.
He also spoke of his plans to head to the team’s base in Germany to do some simulator work and seat fittings. But most importantly Sagrera is looking forward to getting to know each and every single AIX team member.
The 21-year-old believes the next month will be important to building step by step ahead of, and during, the season as he looks to achieve his 2025 goals.
“I think you go into each season and especially having become a champion in my category last season, you always have these high expectations,” Sagrera said. “Now you go into the next season, and you don't want to settle for less.
“But I'm also realistic about everything. It's my rookie year in F3, also the team is quite new for me. So, I would say my expectation for this year and what I want is to go bit by bit, learn with the team and progress with the team.
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“Ideally, I'll tell you beforehand I want to win, my goal is to step on the top of the podium, I'm not going to deny that, but I also want to keep myself realistic and humble and this needs to be backed up by a lot of work, a lot of progression, a lot of learning.
“So, I'm going there and every time I put my helmet on and I go on the track by myself I only have one goal and it's to win and then I shall do that with a lot of work and progression.
“I know it's a tough category, I'm going to have good weekends, I'm going to have bad weekends but just also try to capitalise on everything, whatever I can to do to get good results and to show to the people and also to prove myself that I can do well in higher categories.”