Round 3 Post Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 3: Hello and welcome to today's press conference following the FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race in third Gerrard Xie for DAMS Lucas Oil, Freddie Slater in second for TRIDENT and victory today goes to James Wharton for PREMA Racing. I want to start with you, James. This was the most welcome result, I would suppose.

James Wharton: Yeah, it's definitely a most welcome result for me and especially for the team as well. We've definitely had the pace all year, and we just need to qualify a bit better. At the end of the day, we had the opportunity to show what we have today, and I feel like we did a really good job of it. We showed that we can pass cars as well. So, I'm really happy and really happy for the team as well. So just looking forward to tomorrow and then for the rest of the season.

FIA Formula 3: So from today, what are you most pleased with, your race pace or the moves?

Wharton: To be honest, I think my maturity level. Maybe 12 months ago and maybe two years ago, I wouldn't have made those moves as clean as what they were and maybe would have rushed the moves. So going into 2026, I knew that it's my second season in F3, so rookie mistakes can't happen. I drove a clean race today and I did the best I could,

FIA Formula 3: It wasn't an easy, straightforward race. We had some Safety Cars out there as well. How difficult is it to maintain your composure?

Wharton: That was probably the top two worst race starts I've done in my career so far, which is not amazing. Freddie was definitely the wrong person behind me to do a start like that. So, lucky to get away with that. But at the end of the day, we had the pace today and I feel like we deserve the win.

FIA Formula 3: Thanks James. We'll go to Freddie Slater, the wrong person behind James. How pleased are you with your another podium?

Freddie Slater: Yeah to get three podiums already is great. I think the pace was not bad, but we struggled a little bit. Also here it's very difficult to stay close and use that DRS advantage. I think with the way the race panned out, we didn't have many consecutive laps. It was a lot of four push laps and then into another Safety Car. So it was very difficult to build the momentum and try and use that DRS towards the end of the race. But a very positive start to the weekend in the Sprint Race, and now we look forward to the Feature Race.

FIA Formula 3: You had a very strong start to the race. How difficult was it, to keep momentum? Because you yo-yoed a little bit through the top three.

Slater: Yeah, I think we all say the same thing. The deg is so big that you can't just keep on pushing once you pass someone. So it's quite difficult to manage that, and as a racer, you just want to keep pushing. But that's not how it works in this game. Once I passed Gerrard, then I knew I had to kind of be careful because I knew the cliff I was maybe going to get into, let's say. But we did a good job managing it.

FIA Formula 3: Are you aware in the car at the moment in this case, the championship leader has fallen away, and that this is a very important race for you?

Slater: I saw when I drove past with a Safety Car. But for me, my job as a driver is to go out there and maximise the points every single run in the cleanest way possible. That's what I did then. I tried not to take too many risks. I tried to finish where I could and maximise the pace, and we did exactly that. So, we'll see tomorrow.

FIA Formula 3: Absolutely. Gerrard, another podium. You're second in a few weeks. You're on a good roll.

Gerrard Xie: Yeah, first of all a big thanks to the team for the car. If you’d asked me at the end of last year, if I will be on two podiums in like three rounds, I would say you're joking. But no, a massive thank you to the team and for everyone who supported me.

FIA Formula 3: Take us back to the start. You've got a couple of quick guys behind you there as well. How stressful is it on a track like this to try to defend and keep your position?

Xie: No, at the start, I think it's really, really nice. I think we all race hard, but fair. By the end, I sort of hit the cliff first, and then I started to drop a little bit. But then I was like, OK, now I need to try to follow. But at the end, I think the Safety Car helped me a bit with the deg. Then I sort of came back at the end of the race.

FIA Formula 3: Are you looking forward to tomorrow, a longer race? Maybe similar conditions. It's quite hot out there.

Xie: Yeah, I think tomorrow will be definitely cooler because we start a bit earlier. But we'll see how the deg is. But even today, with two Safety Cars, the deg is quite insane, like we discussed. So, we'll see tomorrow.

FIA Formula 3: Is it mostly left front or is it also the rears?

Xie: I think for me, mostly left front. At the end, the last few laps, I was struggling a lot to turn to the right.

FIA Formula 3: It's Barcelona for you. Thanks all