Rodin Motorsport aiming for a ‘three-peat’ with rookie Louis Sharp

14 February 2025

Continuing the trend of Rodin Motorsport signing a driver they won a championship with the year before, Louis Sharp is the team’s latest Formula 3 recruit for 2025.

The New Zealander is fresh off his GB3 title, having also won the British F4 crown the year before, and once again he is in Rodin colours. It’s a driver/team association that so far has brought success at every level.

This season, Sharp is aiming to achieve an incredible feat and go three in a row with Rodin. It’s a task he doesn’t take lightly, approaching his FIA Formula 3 promotion with an open mind and embracing the challenge ahead of him.

“I'm super excited,” he said reflecting on his promotion to F3. “It's a good step 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 for the last three seasons now, and I couldn't ask for a better place to be.

“It's definitely a big advantage. I know the team super well. They were the ones that brought me over to the UK, and that I've that I've raced with ever since being here.

“In the two full seasons I've done, I've won two Championships with them, so it's a 100% winning success rate so far. F3 is a big step up, it'll be tough to assume that's going to carry on, but there's no reason why we can't go out and repeat the success we've had.”

Sharp has already achieved plenty of success with Rodin Motorsport during his young career

Something that he feels plays into his and the team’s advantage is the potential for a competitive reset. The new 2025 car and new 16-inch Pirelli tyres are factors that could play into his and team’s strengths.

For that to happen though, he says they have to maximise pre-season testing in Barcelona, understanding the car as much as possible and identifying potential problem areas to work on ahead of Round 1 in Melbourne.

“I think it does definitely level the playing field. It's a complete start over for everyone. So just because some teams have been strong or some teams have maybe struggled for the last few years, it really means nothing.

“It's going to be super important for the teams, obviously, but also us as drivers to give good feedback about the car so we can get on top of it as quickly as possible. Because there's those first few days and Barcelona coming up and those are going to be so important to figuring things out and getting on top of it earlier.

“The teams that can figure it out early on are going to have such a huge advantage for the rest of the season. I think it's an exciting new opportunity for myself and the team to take a good step forward and going to shake things up a little bit.”

The New Zealander hopes to hit the ground running in testing to get up to speed as soon as possible

Helping in that endeavour is teammates Roman Bilinski and Callum Voisin. While the former is also gearing up for his maiden season in the F3 Championship, Voisin already has a year of experience to fall back on.

Sharp says that his baseline will be useful to learn from and, having worked with the Briton in the past, expects the team will be in a good spot arriving at testing.

“It's definitely useful. He's done a year in F3, so he knows a little bit more what it's like compared to myself and Roman. He's a proven race winner, a very, very quick driver so to have to have that kind of teammate to learn from and work - he's got that experience and that’s going to be good.

“All 30 of us are super quick. The ones that are able to be consistently in that top 10 are going to be able to take the championship"

“I've worked with Callum a little bit in the past, and we worked well together. So I think it's going to hopefully be a winning formula. And it should all come together nicely.”

Sharp was able to sample the previous generation of F3 car in the post-season tests of last year, and having adjusted a few stylistic things, says he has a good baseline to work from.

“The car is quite different to the cars I've driven in the past, a lot more power, more downforce, bit heavier as well. But, the cars are fantastic to drive, really, really enjoyable. We’re yet find out what the new car is going to be like, but I'm thinking it's going to be going to be on a similar sort of baseline.

Sharp says the competitive order could be unpredictable with the new car and tyres introduced in 2025

“There's definitely a few different driving techniques and driving styles that you have to adapt to, especially with the new car, there might be some differences again.”

Those experiences don’t automatically mean Sharp, or his Rodin teammates will be quickest from the off, with the 17-year-old under no illusions that the task of winning will be tricky.

He added: “All 30 of us drivers are super quick. That's a given. The ones that are able to be consistently in that top 10 or in that top five are the ones that are going to be able to take the championship or be high up in the standings.

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“The most important thing is to be fast. But in F3, with what can happen, the ones that are able to be consistently up there are going to be better off for it. My goal is to be as fast as possible, but the consistency is super important, if not one of the most important things.

“There's obviously goals we have in mind. I think it'd be stupid to say that every racing driver doesn't want to win. That is the goal for everyone. We all want to win. Coming off of two back-to-back championships, I've got good momentum behind me heading into heading into F3.

“We have the possibility to be fighting at the front and be fighting for wins but, coming in as a rookie with a new car and everything, it's hard to say exactly how it's going to go.

“I don't want to put too much added pressure or expectation on it. But in my first season, I want to be fighting at the front, and I want to be fighting for wins.”