Sophia Floersch ended her third FIA F3 Championship season with a 16th-place finish in Monza's race one, but an incident not of her own making led to her retirement in race two, wrapping up a character building season where she was nevertheless able to overcome a number of challenges to secure three top-15 results.
Alpine Academy driver Sophia Floersch closed out her third season in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with a strong drive at Monza. Narrowly missing out on a top-15 finish in race one, Floersch gained nine places from her starting position to take the checkered flag in 16th position despite her progress halted by two safety car periods.
A similarly hard-charging drive was on the cards in race two, before the Van Amersfoort Racing driver was caught up in an incident not of her own making, leading to an unfortunate retirement.
Floersch arrived at Monza aiming to end her FIA Formula 3 Championship season on a high, while looking to score her first points finish of the campaign. Monza had previously been an extremely strong circuit for Sophia having scored two top-15 results at the track prior to the weekend, with only one finish outside of the top-20.
The close nature of the racing, coupled with the powerful slipstream effect, ensures good overtaking opportunities. After undergoing a number of changes throughout the 2024 season, the FIA Formula 3 drivers would be among the first to experience the resurfaced and subtlety reprofiled circuit.
On-track action began on Friday morning with the single practice session at Monza. Many of the drivers were keen to get some early exploratory laps on the board, however the first half of the session was disrupted by virtual safety car and red flag periods. Floersch’s speed in the second half of practice was strong as she held down a position inside the top-15.
Ending the session in 15th position, her final flying lap was interrupted by a yellow flag following the spun car of Santiago Ramos. Nonetheless, Sophia had set one of the fastest first sectors of the entire field and there was good potential to improve further in qualifying.
In a change to the standard qualifying format, drivers were split into two groups at Monza in order to prevent issues with traffic. Therefore, the format resembled that used at Monaco with Floersch drawn into Group B and would be part of the second group of drivers to qualify.
With a little over five minutes of the fifteen-minute session remaining, drivers took the circuit for one run with the aim of two flying laps. Despite attempts to prevent slow-moving queues in qualifying as the drivers fought for the slipstream, all 15 drivers were almost stopped coming out of Ascari.
Floersch had worked her way into a good position for the first flying lap and was set for a strong time, before the drivers ahead slowed on the run down to the Parabolica. This led to the Van Amersfoort driver slowing to avoid Nikola Tsolov, before preparing for her second and final lap. The drivers continued to fight for track position and Floersch started her lap close behind fellow Alpine Academy driver Tsolov.
Sophia’s first sector was excellent, however her final two sectors were compromised by her track position and therefore she set the 14th fastest time in Group B and was therefore set to line up from 28th position in both races.
Following qualifying, grid penalties were handed to almost half of the grid with Tsolov penalised for impeding Floersch. As a result, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver started race one from 25th on the grid and was immediately looking to gain further positions.
Floersch made a good start to the opening race and negotiated a busy first lap to move into 21st position. Looking to challenge for a spot inside the top-20, Sophia had to take avoiding action after contact between her Van Amersfoort Racing teammates saw Noel Leon retire from the race, with AIX Racing driver Nikita Bedrin also in the gravel.
This incident brought out the safety car while the stricken cars were retrieved with Floersch now running in 23rd position. On the immediate restart, Floersch overtook teammate Smith who had also received a penalty for his contact with Leon.
Lap seven saw a number of position changes in the midfield, with Sophia losing out to Smith and Christian Mansell while moving ahead of both Callum Voisin and Cian Shields. After re-passing Smith once again, Sophia overtook Mansell and Joshua Dufek to elevate herself into the top-20 at the end of the ninth lap.
A great battle with the ART Grand Prix driver of Mansell then took place, with 20th position exchanged on multiple occasions. As Mansell cleared Floersch following an off-track excursion, he made contact with the Jenzer Motorsport car of Matias Zagazeta which led to a puncture for the Australian racer. Zagazeta lost momentum as a result and Floersch was able to pass her rival with the aid of DRS to claim 19th position.
Two more positions were then gained by the Alpine Academy driver as contact was made between Max Esterson and Piotr Wisnicki which led to both drivers retiring from the race. A second safety car was then deployed with good work from the marshals allowing the race to resume with one lap remaining. Battles were intense on the final lap and Sophia briefly moved into the top-15, before taking the checkered flag in 16th position to end a positive opening race of the weekend at Monza.
Floersch lined up 27th on the grid for the second race of the weekend following another penalty ahead and was aiming for another strong drive through the field. After dropping one position on the opening lap, the Alpine Academy driver quickly gained two positions as she overtook debutant Noah Stromsted, while capitalising on an off-track moment for Piotr Wisnicki.
Sophia was continuing to race well in the early stages and was quickly ahead of teammate Tommy Smith to move inside the top-25. As the drivers approached Ascari on lap three, Luke Browning spun and drivers scattered to avoid the stricken Hitech Pulse-Eight driver. Floersch remained on the racing surface, however a number of competitors rejoined the track unsafely with Sophia collected.
The Van Amersfoort Racing machine was stricken in the gravel with substantial damage and thus Floersch ended her campaign with an unfortunate retirement.
The Alpine Academy driver showed encouraging speed at Monza with her drive in race one a sign of this potential. Floersch was unlucky to get caught up in the incident during the second race of the weekend, where a finish inside the top-15 was a realistic possibility.
"Thankful for having raced one more season in one of the toughest championships in formula racing. Probably the toughest", Floersch wrote.
"Racing with 29 other great drivers on those amazing tracks definitely is fun. Like in every sport there is good and bad days. There is nothing else then gratitude and pride for everything I’ve done."
"To all my sponsors who support me day in day out, thank you", she added. "Last I thank you all for supporting me and crossing your fingers during race weekends. It is so special to have you all there behind screens at home or on track cheering me and us drivers on. I don’t take this for granted."
Overall, it has been a character building season in FIA Formula 3 Championship for Sophia, nonetheless she was able to overcome a number of challenges to secure three top-15 results with a best finish of 11th at the Red Bull Ring.
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