Red Bull star’s car turns into 180mph flamethrower at Australian Grand Prix

Some early drama to kick things off in Melbourne

Chris Deeley

Friday 6 March 2026 09:43

Popular young Argentine driver Mattia Colnaghi has produced one of the most visually alarming moment of the Australian Grand Prix weekend so far.

The youngster, who signed last year to the Red Bull Junior Team, was taking part in his first practice session as an F3 driver for MP Motorsport when his car gave up in spectacular fashion.

Colnaghi was coming down the start-finish straight at the Albert Park circuit when his engine decided to express its displeasure in spectacular style, belching out a huge gout of flame from the back of the car.

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The 17-year-old's engine had already clearly given up the ghost by that point, spewing great billows of smoke into the Melbourne morning, but it was the pyrotechnics that drew the eye.

Red Bull red faced

The car, apparently not yet satisfied, let off another couple of bursts of flame before running out of steam (if not smoke) as Colnaghi pulled it over to the side of the track.

F3 cars are capable of reaching speeds of up to 300km/h (186mph) which, coincidentally, is exactly how fast you should start moving if you're near a car that starts shooting fire.

Colnaghi comes into F3 with some real momentum, having won the Spanish F4 title at the first time of asking in 2024 before doing the same thing in the Eurocup-3 championship in 2025.

Impressively, his mechanics were able to fix up his car in time for Friday afternoon's qualifying session, where he managed to put his car a thoroughly commendable sixth on debut.

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Red Bull Formula 3