Campos Racing and Its Drivers Make a Strong Start to FIA Formula 3 Post-Season Testing in Jerez
Campos Racing has completed the first instalment of FIA Formula 3 post-season testing, held last Monday and Tuesday at Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto. Ernesto Rivera, who will remain with the team for 2027, and new signings Mattia Colnaghi and Salim Hanna were able to complete an extensive testing programme. The 478 laps covered by the trio underline the amount of work carried out, with Hanna completing 164 laps, Colnaghi 160 and Rivera 154.
On Monday morning, despite the track surface still having room for improvement, Rivera quickly moved to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1m31.217s. No other driver managed to beat his benchmark, allowing the young Mexican Red Bull Junior Team driver to remain fastest until the end of the session. Fellow Red Bull Junior Team member Colnaghi finished third with a time of 1m31.518s. Meanwhile, Colombian driver Hanna opened the day with a personal best of 1m31.840s.
In the afternoon session, Rivera once again set the early pace as soon as the pit-lane lights turned green. Lap times gradually improved, and Campos Racing's drivers once again featured among the frontrunners. Colnaghi finished second with a lap of 1m31.171s, just nine thousandths of a second ahead of Rivera. Hanna, meanwhile, posted a best time of 1m32.123s.
Tuesday morning followed a similar pattern, with Rivera provisionally taking the lead in the early stages after stopping the clock at 1m31.584s. As track grip improved, lap times continued to come down, and Colnaghi moved to the top with a lap of 1m30.037s. At the end of the three-hour session, the Argentine-Italian driver was fourth with that benchmark, while Hanna and Rivera also improved to 1m30.219s and 1m30.350s, respectively. The level of competition was underlined by the fact that 28 drivers finished within one second of each other.
The afternoon programme was entirely different, with the focus shifting from qualifying simulations to long-run race simulations. Working on tyre degradation analysis, Colnaghi set a best time of 1m33.573s under these conditions. Hanna, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, posted a lap of 1m33.709s, while Rivera recorded a best time of 1m33.843s.
The team will now analyse the data collected and draw conclusions ahead of the next two days of testing, which will take place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 26 and 27 October.
