Academy Report: Picking up a Podium Down Under

There was silverware to start the season for the Atlassian Williams Racing Driver Academy in Melbourne over the weekend.

Luke Browning's full-season F2 debut saw the Briton fly out of Australia with a trophy, while Alessandro Giusti was just tenths away from a point-scoring F3 start.

Here is how our pair fared around Albert Park.

There was just one race for Luke to tackle after the long journey to Australia, but our Academy's most senior member maximised his running to end up on the podium.

Luke and his new Hitech TGR teammate Dino Beganovic locked out the fourth row after qualifying, which let our hopeful start the reverse grid Sprint Race from P3.

That 23-lap dash around Albert Park saw plenty of distractions, with an early VSC and then a full Safety Car, but Luke kept his cool and stuck to the rear wing of F3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli until a second slowdown on Lap 16.

Nailing the second Safety Car restart kept the Williams livery in P3, and Luke spent the final laps keeping F2's most experienced driver, Richard Verschoor, at bay to secure his P3 finish.

Rain cancelled Sunday's Feature Race, meaning Luke sits P3 in the standings after Round 1.

Sandro drove the new Formula 3 car in a competitive session for the very first time, and the Frenchman showed he has speed in the refreshed Dallara chassis.

A top-10 finish in practice preceded a P14 qualification that had Sandro in the midfield fight for both races.

He rapidly ascended through the order during Saturday's Sprint Race, reaching P11 when an early VSC slowed down the race after his rivals tangled, and he then moved to P10 when a full Safety Car came to clear a three-car crash.

Running as high as P9, Sandro unfortunately fell back after running off the racing line when attempting an overtake, and eventually finished P11, just three-tenths from points.

The wet Feature Race on Sunday didn't have many racing laps, but our 18-year-old racer climbed to P11 as others fell off the track, but sadly was spun around after a brave overtake in the tricky conditions.

A ten-second penalty for the other driver didn't help Sandro, who crossed the line in an unrepresentative P25.

While Luke and Sandro won't be in Shanghai, Lia Block will be, as F1 Academy begins its 2025 season in China.