Known as ‘The Turnstile’ or ‘Monaco without the walls’ due to its notoriously limited overtaking opportunities, the Hungaroring hosted the final round before the summer break, and the penultimate event of the FIA Formula 3 Championship, for ART Grand Prix driver James Wharton.
Free Practice saw the Aussie clock an initial 1:35.001, later improving to 1:34.957, though slipping to P19 in the order. The session ended three minutes early due to a red flag caused by a stationary car, leaving the Australian in P24 without the chance to better his lap time.
Qualifying, held under overcast skies, began with a strong opening run: Wharton went fifth fastest with a 1:33.589, just two tenths off the session’s best. A faster lap in the second run was deleted for a track limits infringement at Turn 9. In the third and final push, Wharton delivered a 1:32.839, placing P10. A result that, under the reverse grid rule, promoted him to P3 for the Sprint Race start.
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Saturday, at lights out in the Sprint Race, the ART Grand Prix #9 driver held third, immediately engaging in a three-way battle with Hedley and Inthraphuvasak for the lead. A Safety Car was deployed late in lap one after a collision between Giusti and Ugochukwu at Turn 12. On the restart at the end of lap three, Wharton maintained proximity to the leaders. On lap seven, Ugochukwu executed a switchback at Turn 1 to take P3, after which Wharton began struggling with tyre degradation. In the closing stages, he reeled Hedley back in but, with tyres at the end of their life, was overtaken by the Trident driver Charlie Wurz, dropping to P5. A final-lap restart offered one last chance to attack Hedley, but Wharton crossed the line fifth, securing six points.
On Sunday, the Feature Race began behind the Safety Car with a rolling start due to a wet track. Wharton retained P10 on the opening lap, fending off Inthraphuvasak. Multiple Safety Car interventions followed: first for a clash between Benavides and Bilinski, then for another incident soon after, allowed Wharton to climb to P8. On the restart at the end of lap 10, he defended from Stromsted while eyeing an opportunity to pass Giusti ahead. A drop in pace saw him fall to P14, prompting a strategic call to pit for slicks as the racing line began to dry. The gamble, however, failed to pay off, and Wharton ultimately retired from the race.
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“It’s been a real mix of ups and downs. In free practice, we were well off the pace and not where we wanted to be at all, struggling quite a bit with the car. Going into qualifying, though, we made a strong step forward. I put together a great lap on the final set of tyres, felt confident with the car, and was happy to finish P10. During the Sprint Race, we still lacked pace but managed to bring it home in P5, solid enough. In the Feature Race, however, on the wet tyres, we simply didn’t have the speed we needed, and we’ll need to analyse what went wrong. Still, there are positives to take: qualifying was a step forward, I’ve scored my first top ten of the year in qualifying, and I had a solid Sprint Race. Now, I’m looking ahead to Monza”, James Wharton said.
With six points on the board and now sitting 17th in the driver standings, Wharton now heads into the break ahead of the FIA Formula 3 season finale at Italy’s Autodromo Nazionale Monza from 5–7 September.