PREMA starting to regain ‘momentum’ says Sharp after positive Silverstone weekend

Louis Sharp was disappointed not to leave Silverstone with a trophy but was delighted to see the positive steps taken by both he and PREMA Racing.

The New Zealander had a strong weekend at the British venue, achieving his best Qualifying result in Formula 3 with P3.

In Saturday’s Sprint Race, Sharp finished eighth and followed that up with a competitive performance in the Feature and was contending for a place on the podium early on.

Sharp eventually crossed the line in eighth, but once post-race penalties took effect, he was classified in P4 – matching his personal best Formula 3 result from the 2025 Imola Sprint.

Reflecting on the weekend, the 19-year-old said: “I think there's heaps of positives to take away from this weekend. Really happy with the job we did as a team in qualifying.

“I think qualifying's been our weak point so far this year, so to turn things around into P3 was a really good result for the team and for myself, so really happy with that.

“We showed some really good pace in the two races, obviously P8 in the Sprint, and then fighting for a podium or even a potential win today. Was a shame for it to work out the way it did.

“I'd done a good job early on in the race to manage the tyres, and I think we had a good pace advantage at the end, so it's a shame to not really walk away with a trophy.

“I think we definitely deserved it this weekend, but there's still heaps of positives to take away, and I think going forward there's lots of confidence we can bring from this weekend.”

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It was Sharp’s first top 10 qualifying result of the season, and he revealed how he and PREMA turned their form around this weekend.

“I think obviously Silverstone's a track I know, so that helped,” he explained. “But I think in my mindset, I just approached the session a little bit differently, which helped, building into the session, and not trying to go out there and do anything crazy on the first set.

“I just took each set step-by-step and just built the confidence throughout the session, so I think that helped a lot.

“As a team, we did a good job of getting the car dialled in for one lap as well. As I said, this has been our weak point, but definitely this weekend we maximised it. Obviously, we still weren't the fastest, so there's still work to be done, but I think we're a lot closer.

“I'm really proud of the work the team's done this weekend, behind the scenes as well, they've done a really good job, so I'm really, really happy.”

After a difficult start to the season, Sharp was happy to finally be contending at the front, and he hopes it can continue for the rest of the year.

“Obviously coming in as a second-year driver with PREMA, we definitely wanted to be fighting for more than what we are at the moment,” he said.

“I think our potential from day one has been really good, but obviously with my injury in Melbourne and then having a couple of unlucky weekends where little things have gone wrong, we're not where we should have been.

“But I think now we're starting to get the momentum back and we can get everything back on our side and it's starting to click again and things are starting to work for us.

“There's still a lot of racing left to be done, we've still got a lot of work to do, but as I said, the potential has been there from day one, we just haven't really been able to put things together.

“We've been really unlucky as well, we've had a lot of bad luck this year, so I'm hoping that most of that is in the past and we can really focus on the last few rounds.”

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Next up is Spa-Francorchamps, one of Sharp’s favourite on the calendar.

“It's an awesome track spot, it's one of my favourites,” he said. “So qualifying is going to be tough, everyone's going to be looking for the tow, so it's going to be hectic.

“I'm sure there will be probably five-wide on the out lap to try and get a gap, so it's going to be tricky. But I'm really looking forward to it, it's an awesome track to drive, and I think as a driver you can make a difference around there, so bring on Spa, I'm excited.”