FORMULA 3 ™
F3 ™
The route to the pinnacle of motorsport is not easy , but those in Formula 1 ’ s second-tier feeder series , FIA Formula 3™ , have a good shot at rising to the top , being in full view of the Grand Prix teams each and every round they race
↗ Williams Driver Academy ’ s Luke Browning races for Hitech Pulse-Eight . He won last time out and leads the series
The F3™ category has been a recognised F1 ® talent pool for decades , Since its launch as GP3 in 2010 , all champions have graduated to either GP2 or Formula 2™ , with many taking the final step to Formula 1 ; Valtteri Bottas , Esteban Ocon , Charles Leclerc and George Russell , to name a few .
This specific Championship was re-launched in 2019 when the FIA ’ s European F3™ Championship merged with GP3 , which had run alongside GP2 and F1 ® to create FIA Formula 3 as the clear base level entry to the motorsport pyramid .
2020 F3™ Champion Oscar Piastri went on to win Formula 2™ just one year later before making his F1 ® debut with McLaren . Other notable F3 alumni include Yuki Tsunoda , Liam Lawson , Logan Sargent and 2019 Champion Robert Shwartzman who is now a reserve driver for Ferrari . 2021 Champion Dennis Hauger , 2022 winner Victor Martins and 2023 ’ s rookie victor Gabriel Bortoleto now reside in Formula 2 .
TEAMS AND DRIVERS
There are ten teams in the series , with eight having sister squads to the F2™ outfits . Each team runs three drivers , creating a grid of 30 cars , and the level of professionalism is one of the key factors for success .
In 2019 the Italian PREMA Racing squad ended French ART Grand Prix ’ s GP3 winning success and racked up 3 backto-back Formula 3™ Drivers ’ titles of their own before ART grabbed the crown back in 2022 with Victor Martins .
While PREMA were Team Champions again last year with Paul Aron , Dino Beganovic and Zak O ’ Sullivan , it was the fellow Italian team of Trident whose Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto took home the 2023 Drivers Championship honours .
This season has once again started very competitively . Winners so far have included Arvid Lindblad ( PREMA ),
Luke Browning and Martinius Stenshorne ( Hitech Pulse-Eight ), Dino Beganovic ( PREMA ), Oliver Goethe ( Campos Racing ), Sami Meguetounif ( Trident ) and Gabriele Minì ( PREMA ). And Nikola Tsolov of ART Grand Prix stood on the top of the Monaco podium as his home Bulgarian national anthem rang out for the first time at an F1 ® event . And it was played again last week for him in Austria !
THE CARS
The Dallara-built cars are all identical , just as in F2™ , but they are smaller with simpler aerodynamics and a lower-powered 3.4-litre V6 normally aspirated Mecachrome-built engine that produces 380bhp ( 240bhp less than F2™ ). Weighing in at just 698kg , including driver and fuel , these cars pack impressive performance , with a 0-100kph time of 3.1 seconds – just 0.2 seconds slower than an F2™ car – and a top speed of around 300kph .
The reduced downforce compared to F1 ® and F2™ means cornering speeds are lower , yet the cornering forces still reach around 2.6g – and this is still more than twice what you would experience in a fast road car on a track .
Just like the F1 ® and F2™ cars , these racers are built around a carbonfibre and honeycomb survival cell with deformable cockpit sides , and they have a halo head-protection system rising from the front of the cockpit .
They have the same Drag Reduction System ( DRS ) as F1 ® and F2™ , which allows the driver to raise a section of rear wing to reduce drag and gain a boost in acceleration when within a second of the car ahead in the same F1-designated zones around the track .
TYRES
Pirelli provide three specific compounds of tyre to the Formula 3™ Championship . The Soft , Medium and Hard specifications . Of these , four sets of the singular nominated compound for each round are provided to the teams , along with two sets of wet-weather tyres .
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