
The Formula 1 TAG Heuer Grand Prix de Monaco 2025 weekend really gets underway on Thursday afternoon with three 45-minute free practice sessions for the support races: FIA Formula 3 at 1:10pm, Formula 2 at 3pm and Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at 4:30pm, to round off a first day with still a few grandstand seats available, for 30 euros only.
F2: Dunne and Browning lead the way
Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) and Luke Browning (HiTech) lead the Formula 2 field arriving in Monaco, having taken the first two spots in the feature race at Imola last Sunday, and the big points that went with them. The provisional podium is completed by 24-year-old “veteran” Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport), who also won a feature race, in Jeddah. Dunne is the only one to have already won twice, in seven races, since the feature race on Sunday morning in Australia was cancelled due to bad weather. And there have been six different winners, including Joshua Dürksen (Aix Racing) and Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing), who arrived from F3 and is closely followed by Red Bull, same as 17-year-old Arvid Lindblad (Campos).
So there are plenty of title contenders in a rejuvenated field, as six F2 drivers from last year have been promoted to F1 as fully-fledged regulars. These include the top two finishers in the 2024 championship, Brazil’s Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) and France’s Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), as well as 18-year-old Italian prodigy Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), who has only spent one full season in F2 (2 wins, 6th in the championship). Frenchmen Victor Martins (ART GP) and Sami Meguetounif (Trident), already seen here last year in F3, will be able to gauge their ambitions during free practice this Thursday.
F3: rookie Camara already in front
Just 20 years after Lewis Hamilton’s victory in 2005, a new motorsport hopeful may be burning up the track. Brazilian rookie Rafael Camara (Trident) won two feature races, the Sunday morning ones in Melbourne and Sakhir, and took points in the other one, but no point in the sprint races. He managed to open up a 21-point gap over Denmark’s Noah Stormsted (Trident), closely followed in the standings by Germany’s Tim Tranmitz. Camara, 20 at the beginning of May, seems the most serious candidate for the title in his first F3 season. He has a wealth of experience in single-seaters, after brilliant results in karting, and has contested an astronomical number of races over the last three years: 48 in Formula 4 in 2022 (Germany, Italy, Emirates), with team-mate Kimi Antonelli, and 70 races in Formula Regional Europe and the Middle East over the last two seasons. A frequent winner (20 successes) and consistently placed (52 podiums), he has the ideal profile to dominate F3, in Monaco too…
Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup: time for the youngsters!
The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is a highly spectacular category, the one and only top-of-the-range single-brand series to be run as a curtain-raiser to eight European Formula 1 Grands Prix. The soap opera will continue until Monza at the beginning of September, with new headliners as three-time champion Larry ten Voorde retired at the end of 2024. To ensure his succession, Lechner Racing is counting on compatriot Robert de Haan, best rookie of 2024, and Frenchman Marvin Klein. As for the French Schumacher CLRT team, 2024 champions with ten Voorde, they are still counting on Alessandro Ghiretti, now their top driver. And three cars are entered by another French team, Team Martinet by Alméras, including that of Mathys Jaubert. Engines.
The paddocks for the Support Races are easy to access and you can meet drivers easily there. You just need to walk…
Paddock Formula 2: Parking du Chemin des Pêcheurs, at the end of the Rock, just under the Old Town
(accessible in 10 minutes maximum, walking from the MGP Fan Zone)
Paddock Formula 3: Parking of the Monte-Carlo Country Club (tennis club, East of the Principality, a 20 to 30 minutes walk from the MGP Fan Zone)
Paddock of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup: Chapiteau de l’Espace Fontvieille (the same as for the Festival du Cirque de Monte-Carlo)
A few places left!
There are still seats available in the grandstands for Thursday, at the one and only price of 30 euros. You will be able to find them at the usual sales points near the track, at Direction du Tourisme & Rue Notari.