Guest Column
Van Amersfoort Racing Team Principal Bradley Joyce on the team’s Melbourne weekend
It could hardly have started much better in 2025 for Van Amersfoort Racing, as the team secured a race victory and another podium finish in Melbourne to kick off the new campaign.
The Dutch squad earned a points haul that puts them second in the Teams’ Standings, and Team Principal Bradley Joyce reflected on their Round 1 results and what the plan will be ahead of Sakhir in-season testing.
He praised Sprint Race winner Santiago Ramos and the Mexican’s mature drive to the top step, as well as Théophile Nael’s wet-weather podium finish in the Feature.
WINS AND PODIUMS
“We’re really happy with the results we’ve had this weekend for both Théo and Santi, they had strong races. Santi winning yesterday and Théo’s podium in his first F3 weekend – we’re more than happy with that.
“There was a lot of pressure on Santi, he drove a really good race, because he'd got himself a nice gap five-plus seconds in two laps. So, he'd done all the hard work, and then we had the Safety Car.
“Every Safety Car restart is a lot of pressure, so tyre-wise, it was difficult to manage in that race as well, but he did a really good job.
“And then for Théo, another strong result for the team. A strong result and in very tricky wet conditions, that – for it to be your first race weekend, it bodes well for what’s to come.
“He was very quick in winter testing in the wet, so we were hopeful that would show itself and would go on, but yeah happy with his results.”
STRONG START
“The testing results probably didn’t show it, but we were quite confident that we were understanding the car and thought that all three drivers have got a good chance of being in the top 10 if they have a good weekend. So, I think, hope and expect that they'll have more to come.
TESTING AND ROUND 2
“We’ll be looking at Bahrain but also going through the data from Melbourne. We’ve got a few days to do that and to work things out because it’s a new car for us on the F3-side.
“We’ve got a lot to go through and to come up with what we want to test in Bahrain. “This is a really strong start for us, we’re really happy within the team. It’s obviously a real milestone season for the company and coming to Australia is always nice. It’s a good event and to start this season as strongly as we’ve done, we’re very happy.”
READ MORE: Wurz praises ‘strong’ TRIDENT after positive Melbourne weekend With 29 points to their 2025 tally, VAR head to Sakhir in great form, behind only TRIDENT who themselves enjoyed a very impressive Sunday in Melbourne.
Three points-scoring results out of a possible six for VAR matched what the Italian outfit achieved, and they are 12 points clear of next-best AIX Racing going into the second race weekend of the year.
Joyce will be hoping they can recreate past form around the Bahrain International Circuit, where the team claimed their maiden FIA F3 Pole Position in the hands of Franco Colapinto back in 2022.