Ivan Domingues, a Portuguese rookie in the FIA Formula 3 World Championship, finished the Sprint Race of the Italian Grand Prix in 25th place today, in a day full of incidents, marked by misfortune, in which he once again showed his resilience.
In the first race of the weekend (tomorrow the Feature Race of this third stage of the calendar in Imola), the young driver from Leiria, who started from 24th place on the grid, went on the attack, immediately gained a position, but an off-track run on the first lap, pushed onto the grass in a dispute with an opponent, made him fall to last place and lose more than 30 seconds.
The entry of the safety car on lap 5 allowed Ivan Domingues to get back to the pack, advancing from then on to the possible race. The VAR driver recovered another position, the safety car returned, but the 18 laps of the Sprint Race were over with Ivan Domingues finishing 25th.
“It wasn’t the happiest return to Imola. Qualifying wasn’t the best either; it ended with a red flag and didn’t give us the space we wanted for a lap that would have allowed us to start further ahead. Then, in the race, that dispute and early exit ended up hampering any recovery. In any case, we took advantage of the opportunity once again to race and gain experience. Formula 3, with 30 cars on the track, is just that: extremely competitive and with lots of incidents. What’s certain is that this Sunday we’re back in the fight”, says Ivan Domingues.
The Italian Grand Prix schedule continues this Sunday, with the Feature Race, which takes place at 9:30 am in Lisbon.
About Ivan Domingues
Ivan Domingues (Leiria, 5/5/2006) started karting, inspired by his father and brother, when he was just 8 years old. At the age of 9, he took part in Portugal’s first championship. He won the Brazilian Karting Cup and was National Vice-Champion in 2017, 2018 and 2019. At the age of 14, he moved to Italy to professionalise his training and make the leap to Formula 4. Last season, in 2024, already in FRECA (Formula Regional Europe by Alpine), he stood out as one of the best rookies (two podiums and best rookie in 3 races). In 2025, he made the jump to the FIA Formula 3 Championship, one of the main antechambers to Formula 1, to complete the full season with the prestigious Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR), thus becoming the first Portuguese in the category in 12 years. His role models are Ayrton Senna and Max Verstappen. In addition to cars, he is passionate about sports and animals.
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