Voisin revels in positive opening day of running in Barcelona pre-season test

19 February 2025

Callum Voisin was delighted with how his and Rodin Motorsport’s first day at the Barcelona pre-season test went, with the Briton having topped the timesheets in the morning session.

The 18-year-old and his team were fastest out of the blocks in the new Formula 3 car, Voisin leading teammates Roman Bilinski and Louis Sharp in a Rodin 1-2-3 thanks to a 1:27.959.

Speaking at the end of the day’s running, Voisin said: “It's been a good day. It's nice to get back in the car, in the new car as well, which has been hotly anticipated for quite a long time now.

“But I think it was a good day, the car ran smoothly, and I feel at home. We got through what we wanted to do today, did everything, so from my side pretty happy.

“Obviously, there's still some things to work on, both my side, and the team is still collecting data all the time, but as first days in a car go, there's only so much you can do, so I'm quite happy.”

This is the start of Voisin’s second campaign in the Championship after his rookie year in 2024. So, as one of the more experienced drivers on the 2025 grid, he was well placed to offer his thoughts on how the new Formula 3 car compares to the previous generation of machinery.

Voisin achieved his and Rodin's first F3 victory at the Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race

“There are a few minute differences,” he explained. “It feels like a nice upgrade in general. In terms of the weight, you don't feel the added weight so much, which is quite nice and overall balance-wise, it's pretty similar to what it was before, maybe a little improvement, which is nice.

“But in terms of all the internal bits, certainly on the dash and stuff it's very similar to what we had before, so it's slightly different but not a huge amount. So, it's a good upgrade, I like it.”

Voisin comes into the year carrying some good momentum from 2024. After going point-less through the first six rounds, he did not finish outside of the points at the next three events, even winning the Spa Feature Race from pole, after also finishing third on Sunday at Silverstone.

Thanks to those results as well as their performance, which Voisin says made them one of the fastest teams on the grid, he and Rodin are riding a good wave of momentum into 2025.

“It gives us a lot of confidence going into this year,” said Voisin of their late season form. “Obviously signing again, having that continuity, knowing the team, knowing my engineer, knowing all the mechanics, it's very underrated and underestimated in motorsport in general.

Voisin is expecting an intense couple of days in Barcelona ahead of Round 1 in Melbourne

“I enjoy being around these guys and obviously they know me very well, they know what I like to get out of the car, and I think it works well together.”

Their focus now is on the next two days, which Voisin expects to be quite intense. But he and his team are up for the challenge of getting to grips with the new car ahead of Round 1 in Melbourne.

“It is extremely intense,” said Voisin of pre-season testing. “We only get three days of testing this brand-new car, of which nobody has driven until now.

“It's not a lot of days, especially before we go straight to a completely different track in Australia.

“It will be a big challenge for the team, but I am absolutely up for it. I have had a good day today, the next two days we are going to keep pushing and trying to collect as much data as possible and learn as much as possible but when we get to Melbourne it's going to be full blast.”