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Home F1 Formula 3

Wharton and Sharp rue lacklustre Austria qualifying

Qualifying proved costly for James Wharton and Louis Sharp at the Austrian Grand Prix as Prema’s pace in the FIA Formula 3 Championship went largely unrewarded at the Red Bull Ring.

Ben Waterworth
Ben Waterworth
30 Jun 2026
Ben Waterworth
//
30 Jun 2026
// F1
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Wharton and Sharp rue lacklustre Austria qualifying
James Wharton scored more points in Austria but narrowly missed a podium. Image: XPB Images


Wharton finished the weekend with points after placing fourth in Saturday’s sprint race, but missed out on a podium after starting from reverse-grid pole and leading much of the contest.

The Australian was then left just outside the points in Sunday’s feature race, finishing 11th after starting 12th and spending much of the race stuck in traffic.

“We didn’t quite have the pace again today so overall a quite tough Sunday,” Wharton said after the feature race.

“We got stuck in a DRS train, which is very normal around the Red Bull Ring but hard to make many moves.

“We need to work hard for Silverstone and come back better next week, and we will.”

Wharton’s weekend had started with a qualifying result of 12th, which gave him pole for the reverse-grid sprint race.

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He converted that into the lead on Saturday and held the position through the early stages before Ernesto Rivera eventually found a way past on Lap 14.

Wharton remained in the podium battle late on, but a mistake on the penultimate lap at Turn 8 left him vulnerable on the final lap as Pedro Clerot and Jin Nakamura both found a way past, dropping him to fourth.

“Overall, it was probably not the best race from my side. I definitely could have done a little bit more and would probably have had a podium, so it was a tough day,” Wharton said after the sprint race.

 

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Sharp’s weekend was also shaped by qualifying after the New Zealander lined up 20th for both races.

He recovered to 15th in the sprint race and set the fastest lap before making further progress in Sunday’s feature race to finish 13th.

“It was another good recovery drive today and nice to show some strong pace coming through the pack again,” Sharp said after the feature race.

“A similar story to yesterday in that it’s quite difficult to overtake in the DRS train but it’s good to confirm that our race pace is really strong.

“Looking forward to Silverstone next week. Qualifying is going to be super important and we need to maximise that, but it’s nice to know the race pace is there, we just need to nail quali.

“Good moves today and some strong speed shown.”

Sharp had also pointed to Prema’s race speed after Saturday’s sprint race, where he set the fastest lap despite conceding overtaking was difficult in the pack.

“It was a decent race and we made up a good few positions, it was pretty tricky in the dirty air to do much more,” he added.

“Really happy to get fastest lap though, I think it just shows the race pace we do have. We were quick, it was just hard to overtake in traffic.”

Wharton sits 14th in the drivers’ championship with 14 points, while Sharp remains on two points in 21st place, as the duo now head to Silverstone this weekend for the British Grand Prix.

Tags: austrian gpjames whartonlouis sharpprema racing

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