Benavides on first F3 pole and the “unconventional" path that got him there

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Formula 2

Drivers who come up through the ranks of the F1 feeder series come from all over the world, but they almost all follow a fairly similar path.

Most of them start karting at a young age, five or six years old. Then, in their early teens they transition into single-seaters, maybe to one of the many iterations of the Formula 4 category. From there, they hop around between Formula 4s and Formula 3s and Formula Regionals until they’re ready for FIA Formula 3.

Once they’ve proven themselves in F3, they make the step up to Formula 2. From there, if they’re very lucky, they’ll head to Formula One.

This basic template is the story of almost every F3 driver. But not Brad Benavides.

Getting to now

Now freshly 24 years old, Benavides only began karting at the age of 16. He made his single-seater debut two years later, as an 18 year old in the final round of the 2018 Euroformula Open championship.

After three seasons of hopping between lower level feeder series categories, Benavides secured an FIA F3 seat for 2022 with Carlin Motorsport. In his rookie season of F3 he was able to do something that he had not yet done in any single-seater category: finish an entire season.

Benavides finished 23rd in the F3 standings that year, a lone eighth-place finish (At Spa-Franchorchamps, coincidentally) his only points-grabbing result.

In 2023 he made the step up to Formula 2, partnering Roy Nissany for what was supposed to be a full-year campaign.

But again, results refused to appear for the American racing driver, and after nine points-less rounds he was replaced. A best placed finish of 10th in the Baku Sprint race was the high point of that year for Benavides.

For 2024, Benavides took a step back and returned to the series he made his single-seater debut in - Euroformula Open.

And it was here, with Team Motopark, that he was finally given a chance to shine. At 23 years old, Benavides took nine race wins and took 19 total podiums over 24 races to claim his first title by almost 100 points over his nearest rival.

Fresh off the back of a maiden title, Benavides signed with AIX Racing to return for a second season of F3, though not only three rounds into the year.

“It’s been a bit unconventional,” Benavides told DIVEBOMB this weekend when speaking about his career so far. “But at the same time I started motorsport quite late. 

“I started karts when I was 16, and then I scaled into single-seaters also quite late when I was 18. And then COVID year hit, so I didn’t race then. I basically only did half a year in 2019 and half a year in 2021, and then 2022 was my first FIA Formula 3 year. 

“And then F2, I was relegated after eight rounds. Then last year I did Euroformula. So it hasn’t been that much, it’s definitely been unconventional. But in terms of raw experience I haven’t had much experience, even though I am getting quite old, my birthday was just a week ago.”

Credit: AIX Racing

Today’s result

In the five F3 rounds that he’s competed in so far this year, Benavides has one points finish (ninth place in the Feature Race in Austria), but he has three top 12 finishes and qualified second for the round in Austria.

Then, in Belgium this weekend, the American driver took his first pole position in F3, securing the top starting spot for Sunday’s Feature Race.

“I never really expected to come in here and do that,” Benavides said after the session. “But in all fairness, it is only one [place] up on Austria. 

“But, as I said last time I never really approach races with expectations, but this is definitely a good shocker, so I expect the unexpected.”

Tthe whole day was unexpected for all the F3 drivers, as qualifying was moved to the end of the day after practice had to be postponed.

While the schedule change may have thrown some drivers off, Benavides enjoyed being able to get not one, but multiple naps in throughout the day.

He said: “I got a mega nap, I napped like three times today! To be fair, on the technical aspect, I wouldn’t really know what changed much. To me it was just like, okay well I’ll set the time and that’s pretty much like that.”

In qualifying, having already set a lap good enough for provisional pole, the traffic and chaos that ensued in the final moments of the session was almost fun for Benavides.

“On the second push, when F3 decided to go mob mode, I almost got sandwiched like four times," he said. "It was crazy, I’ve never experienced that… As soon as I saw it was that much havoc I was like ‘Yeah bro, it’s in the bag.’

“Nobody’s going to be improving after doing what they did on that cool lap. Honestly in my mind I was like ‘Yep, this is a good time to enjoy it.’ Never say never, but I was like yeah, this is it, this is pole position, even before the second push.

“It was fun actually, the second push. I was overtaking cars, people were overtaking me, people were locking up. I swear I don’t understand how they didn’t crash. It was crazy, you guys should have been in my shoes to witness what I witnessed. It was lockups everywhere.”

Credit: Formula 2

Motivational quotes and conversations

Looking at the numbers, it’s easy to imagine Benavides getting discouraged with the way his career has gone. But more than once this year, he’s talked about the things that have kept him going.

Speaking to DIVEBOMB after qualifying second in Austria, Benavides acknowledged the reality of his situation.

“First off, the underlying truth, the elephant in the room if you will, is that I’m quite old already for this championship,” he said.

“And yes, a few years ago in Formula 2, things didn’t go as well as we hoped. So I was relegated to Euroformula and I did well, I won that championship for whatever it was worth. 

Obviously to me it added on a lot of experience and good technical knowledge. The Euroformula is a really good car obviously. Formula 2 and Formula 3 drivers actually tend to use this car to test themselves representative for their own car.

“So that was a good result last year and somehow that was able to give me this seat as a sort of redemption comeback this year. And I’m really happy for it, because obviously it’s not ideal, but for whatever it’s worth, P2 today is a good thing.

“The way I like to see it, my racing career has always been defined by going one step forward and then two steps back. But if you visualize this sort of analogy as if it were an arc, technically it’s there for building up to something good, ultimately right at the bullseye. 

“So that’s all I can hope for. I have a quote actually it’s ‘against today’s disparity or sorrow lies an infinitely greater hope for tomorrow.’ So this is what I run by.”

And it isn’t just that quote that has been an encouragement for Benavides. After securing his first pole position, he recounted a conversation that he had recently with one of his AIX Racing teammates, Nicola Maringaneli.

“I was talking to my teammate the other day, Nicola, and we were discussing my career trajectory path up to the current day. And he told me ‘don’t get your head too down, keep your chin up. Always keep your dreams set, the sky’s the limit.’ This is literally what he told me, he said ‘if you’re good you’re good. No matter where, if you’re good, you’re good for it.’ So that’s kept me in the race, literally.”

Benavides will be hoping to follow up on Friday’s pole position with a win in Sunday’s Feature Race, which will take place at 8:30 local time in Belgium. On Saturday he’ll start 12th in the Sprint Race because of the reverse grid format, which begins at 9:15 local time.