Academy Report: Luke's Stunning Silverstone Sunday

Silverstone welcomed three members of the Williams Racing Driver Academy for a weekend of wild weather and frenetic racing.

A mixed bag for our trio saw Luke pick up a trophy, Victor claim pole position, and Sandro get stymied by a red flag.

With the rain affecting all our drivers from F1 to F3, here is how our Academy hopefuls handled their British trip.

A P12 qualification meant Luke had a lot of work to do at his home race, but the Briton was up for the challenge.

His Sprint Race began with wheel-to-wheel racing alongside Victor before Arvid Lindblad separated the pair, with Luke just behind in P9.

Luke made a brave pass on his compatriot after a multi-corner move that began at The Loop and ended at Woodcote to take P8 before setting the Fastest Lap of the race at that point to show his speed.

Unfortunately, a last-lap coming together between Victor and Luke hindered both drivers, and Luke fell to P12 after receiving a penalty.

Undeterred, a standout Sunday saw Luke up the order again, and he battled Lindblad once more, this time starting his pass down the Hangar Straight and completing it with an up-and-under at Club for P8.

Passes came thick and fast for Luke, who made an overtake on Richard Verschoor on the inside of Copse and then snatched P6 from Sebastian Montoya half a lap later at The Loop.

Roman Stanek was next to fall, with Joshua Durksen and Luke making a double pass at Copse. Durksen and Luke then had a multi-lap duel for P4 that ended when the Paraguayan went wide at Luffsield.

Luke and Victor again occupied the same part of track as the surface dried but avoided contact this time for Luke to complete his climb in P3 to stand on his home circuit's podium.

The doubleheader ahead of the summer break is next for Luke, who will head to Spa-Francorchamps 24 points from the top of the standings and brimming with confidence.

Victor's single-lap Silverstone speed took the Frenchman to pole position on Friday to make it two P1 starts at the track from three F2 appearances there.

Sadly for Victor, that would be the high point of his weekend, with both of his races ending with a damaged car.

Saturday began with a battle against Luke and Lindblad that had Victor up from P10 to P7 in the opening lap.

Holding position throughout the race, the intra-Academy racing resumed on the final lap to bookend the race, with Luke and Victor coming together at Luffield.

A P9 finish became a P8 classification after Luke's penalty, giving Victor a point to go with his pole-position bonus and leaving him with three in total from his Silverstone trip.

It seemed more points might come Victor's way in the Feature Race, but a slow start on the slippery surface had our French driver fall to P3 off the line.

He remained in P3 until going wheel-to-wheel with Luke again, this time without contact, and headed to the final laps looking set for points.

Unfortunately, front wing damage dropped Victor to P19 after a late Safety Car restart.

Spa-Francorchamps is next up for Victor, who can be encouraged by his Qualifying prowess this season. A mechanical failure in last year's Qualifying left him unable to set a fast lap, so he'll be looking for more in 2025.

Sandro's run of point-scoring rounds ended at Silverstone, but he still showed strong speed despite the setback.

A tenth separated the 18-year-old from reverse-grid pole, but his P14 qualification ended with two P17 starts after a grid drop for impeding a driver in Qualifying.

Nonetheless, Sandro gained those positions back in the Sprint Race, and was P15 by the end of Lap 1.

A pass on Brad Benavides at the inside of The Loop took him to P14, and he ended the race in P13 after overtaking Noah Stromsted on the penultimate lap.

Sunday's heavy rain had the field split on tyre choice. Sandro opted for the Wet compound tyre, but a Lap 1 spin demoted him to the back of the field.

The grooved rubber proved the right call, however, and he returned to P17 by the end of Lap 2, eventually taking a P14 classification by the time the race was red flagged for the conditions on Lap 12.

The Formula 3 season heads to its final phase, starting with the Spa-Francorchamps and Hungaroring doubleheader. With just three rounds remaining for Sandro in 2025, he'll be looking to secure more points in Belgium at a track he took victory at in 2022.