Seventeen-year-old Louis Sharp is set to make his debut in the FIA Formula 3 Championship this weekend in Melbourne. While he acknowledges the substantial challenges that await him, the talented Kiwi is keen to maintain his championship-winning momentum and pursue his aspirations in Formula One.
“I’m super excited,” he said ahead of his F3 debut in Melbourne, which comes only a week after his Race of Champions appearance in Sydney. “It’s a good progression in my career on the pathway to F1, which is where I want to be. I’m with Rodin Motorsport, the team I’ve been with ever since coming to Europe… and I couldn’t ask for a better place to be.
“It’s definitely a big advantage. I know the team super well. They are the ones that bought me over to the UK and, in the two full seasons I’ve done, I’ve won two championships with them – so it’s a 100 per cent winning success rate so far. F3 is a big step up, it’ll be tough but there’s no reason why we can’t go out and repeat the successes we’ve had.”
To continue his winning streak, Sharp will have to overcome his strongest competition to date with 29 equally ambitious rising stars on the F3 grid – the hottest young talents representing no fewer than 22 different countries from right around the world. While many have previous experience at this level, the championship has introduced a new 190mph Dallara-built single-seater racer for 2025 incorporating many F1 design philosophies, thus all the teams face a similar learning curve.
“All 30 of us drivers are super quick,” continued Sharp. “The ones that are able to be consistently in the top 10 are the ones who will be in contention for the top places in the championship. The new car definitely helps to level the playing field. Just because some teams have been strong or some teams have struggled in the past it really means nothing.”
To date, the F3 teams and drivers have just had three days of pre-season testing on the Barcelona Grand Prix circuit, where both Sharp and Rodin impressed. The first two days were dry and the Kiwi was the fastest of those with no previous F3 race experience in sixth place overall. It rained on the final day and Sharp was consistently among the pacesetters on a wet track.
“The Barcelona F3 test went as well as we could have hoped,” he confirmed. “The team did a really great job over the winter getting the new cars ready. That said, it’s still early days and everyone will be making huge improvements – but so far, so good.
“The new car is a big step up from GB3 but I really like it. It’s super rewarding and a lot of fun to drive with a lot more power (380bhp from a 3.4-litre 6-cylinder engine) and a lot more downforce.”
While Barcelona was a confidence builder, Sharp knows he is going to be in at the deep end come the opening round on the Albert Park Grand Prix circuit.
“Melbourne is going to be super tricky,” he admitted. “Being a street circuit it’s a track where no one can test and with the timetable we don’t get many laps before qualifying. I’ve done as much as I possibly can to prepare on the simulator but that’s never quite the same as being in the car. It’s going to be all about maximising the laps we have and making no mistakes.
“I want to start off the campaign as strongly as possible, picking up where I left off at the end of last season. I want to be at the front but, I know, it’s going to be very difficult. New championship, new car, new circuits and a new environment, so it will take some time to adapt… but I want to be fighting for points from the outset and hopefully in the mix for a race win.”
Looking further ahead, Sharp is targeting a ‘three-peat’ with a third successive title – an unprecedented feat that would truly cement his position as a future F1 star.
“My goal is to approach this season as I’ve approached every other season, wanting to win,” declared Sharp. “I want to be in title frame come the end of the campaign and I want to be the guy who wins the championship.
“The new car makes that slightly easier as it levels the playing field out a little bit – saying that, the second and third year drivers are still going to have a huge advantage compared to us rookies. Even so, there’s no reason why I won’t be fighting for the championship and that’s very much the objective.”
Sharp’s Formula 3 debut begins Friday with Practice, followed by Qualifying. The season’s opening Sprint Race starts Saturday at 1:15 pm NZT, with the Feature Race at 11 am Sunday.
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