Academy Report: Tough start to Sandro’s F3 season in Melbourne

Some promising pace early gave way to a challenging opening weekend as Alessandro Giusti leaves Melbourne without points

Published

09 MAR 2026

Est. reading time

2 min

Header imagery: MP Motorsport

Alessandro Giusti had a difficult start to his second Formula 3 season as the championship opened in Melbourne alongside the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

There were early signs of promise for the 19-year-old Frenchman during practice, where he had ended the session in P5. However, qualifying proved more challenging, with Sandro in P16 and plenty of work to do across both races if he was to score points at the season opener.

Saturday’s sprint quickly became an uphill battle. A tough launch off the line saw Sandro drop nine positions, falling to P25. He began to recover, working his way back to P21 by lap 8.

The race was then interrupted by a major incident at turn 5 involving the two Prema cars of Louis Sharp and James Wharton.With a red flag shown, the damage to the barriers proved too significant and the race was not resumed, with Sandro classified in P21.

Sunday’s feature race offered a chance to bounce back, and Sandro was making encouraging progress. Running as high as P12, he had worked his way into the fight for the final points-paying positions.

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However, a wide moment at turn 3 on lap 14 halted that momentum, with the off-track excursion dropping him down to P18, leaving him with another recovery drive ahead.

A late safety car would neutralise the race, and with the field tightly bunched at the chequered flag, Sandro ultimately moved up to P15 once post-race time penalties were applied to other drivers.

The Formula 3 season now pauses before returning in just over a month’s time in Sakhir.

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Academy Report: Tough start to Sandro’s F3 season in Melbourne

Some promising pace early gave way to a challenging opening weekend as Alessandro Giusti leaves Melbourne without points

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