After tackling six unfamiliar circuits, Louis Sharp is eagerly anticipating the upcoming rounds of the FIA Formula 3 Championship – starting this weekend at Silverstone, where he’ll be racing on tracks he already knows.
Though the talented young New Zealander has continued to impress, the high-pressure nature of F3 weekends, held as part of the Grand Prix undercard, offers little support for rookies. Limited track time and tyres give a notable advantage to those in their second or third seasons.
As a result, on the six new circuits encountered so far, the 18-year-old has focused primarily on gaining invaluable experience, something he hopes will pay off as he works towards his ultimate goal of reaching Formula 1.
Fortunately, Louis has previously raced at all three of the next circuits on the F3 calendar —Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, and Budapest —during his back-to-back British F4 and GB3 Championship-winning campaigns in 2023 and 2024.
Having stepped up to F3 at the beginning of the year with Rodin Motorsport, Louis is still seeking to replicate the winning form he achieved with the same team in the past. Nevertheless, he has already underlined his potential with points-scoring finishes on debut at Imola and Monaco.
With three familiar circuits ahead, he’s confident about adding more points to his tally.
Silverstone, in particular, holds significance for Sharp. He’s raced on the full Grand Prix circuit in both F4 and GB3 and spent two days there as a finalist in the 2024 Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.
It’s also the closest he has to a ‘home’ track. Although he competes under a New Zealand licence, Louis was born in Nottingham and lived in the UK before his family moved to New Zealand. He has since returned to live on the outskirts of London while pursuing his European single-seater career, to reach F1.
“It will be nice to start going to places where I have raced before, so I’m looking forward to the next few weekends and being back at some familiar tracks,” said Louis before switching his attention to this coming weekend.
“Silverstone is the closest thing to a home race for me. I was born not many miles away, and there will be lots of family and friends to support me, which will be nice. Hopefully, we can all have a really good weekend.”
Silverstone comes at a good time for Louis, following a frustrating weekend in Austria. With no prior experience at the Red Bull Ring, Friday’s 45-minute Free Practice was always going to be vital for learning.
Unfortunately, numerous red flags caused by other drivers meant Louis only managed a few laps before heading into Qualifying.
Given the limited preparation, qualifying just over half a second off the pole sitter was impressive. However, with the field so tightly packed, it left him a disappointing 21st on the 30-car grid.
Despite the setback, the Red Bull Ring offers multiple overtaking opportunities, and Louis remained optimistic heading into the races. Sadly, in Saturday’s Sprint Race, he was hit by a rival, who was later penalised, and forced into early retirement with a damaged car. It marked his first DNF (Did Not Finish) of the season.
Missing valuable race experience on Saturday, Louis adopted a more conservative approach for Sunday’s longer Feature Race. True to form, he gained several positions on the opening lap before settling into the midfield, focusing on building his knowledge of the circuit, which will undoubtedly be useful in the future.
“We didn’t get the laps in we wanted to in Practice due to all the stoppages, which put us on the back foot for the rest of the weekend. Even more so when we lost any meaningful laps in the Sprint race, so we had no reference going into the Feature race.
“I still went forward and made up some positions, which was a positive – so, all things considered, I managed the race fairly well, but obviously, I wasn’t where I wanted to be and should be,” admitted Sharp, who enjoys backing from New Zealand-based Rodin Cars, owner of Rodin Motorsport.
For this weekend’s Formula 3 schedule in NZT times and details, check out our weekly Motorsport Diary HERE.
Header Image: James Gasperotti Photography
