Formula 3 is back this weekend with the series heading into its final round of the 2024 Championship in Monza, Italy. After nine rounds of intense racing, maiden wins and heartbreak, the grid head out on track for the grand finale with seven drivers in contention for the title. We’re here to give you a recap of what has happened leading up to the final showdown and who is in contention for the coveted win.
Championship Contenders:
Leonardo Fornaroli:
19 year-old Italian driver, Leonardo Fornaroli, leads the championship heading into the final round of the season, with a home race to close out his second year in Formula 3. With 129 points accumulated and not a single victory at this point of the season, his consistent point scoring has allowed Trident driver to keep at bay his fellow countryman Gabriele Mini.
A stand-out moment for the Italian in his FIA Formula 3 campaign comes from the Spielberg Round. Despite qualifying for the Feature Race in 24th position, he managed to blast his way through the field, utilising mistakes from fellow competitors to finish the race in ninth place.
In order to take the title, Fornaroli needs at least a podium position finish and to outscore Mini in both races, as his lead is only by a mere one point. Additionally, taking pole position and the fastest lap point in either races would only strengthen his chances to make it back-to-back Drivers’ Championship accolades for the Trident team.
So it begs the question, with six podiums and only two races outside of the points, can Fornaroli take his maiden Formula 3 victory? Or will he become the first driver to claim the championship without a trip to the top step of the podium?
Gabriele Mini:
19 year-old Italian driver, Gabriel Mini, currently sits in second place in the Drivers’ standings going into the final race weekend of the season. The PREMA Racing driver heads into Monza only one point behind fellow countryman Fornaroli on 128 points.
A crucial moment during the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship came in Monte Carlo, with Mini taking pole position for the Feature Race and battling through three safety car restarts to take his first and only victory of the season so far.
In order to take the Drivers’ Championship victory at the end of the Monza weekend, Mini needs to outscore Fornaroli by at least one point. Ideally a victory in either race and additionally extra points from pole position and fastest laps could help the PREMA Racing driver secure the championship.
With one race win and 5 podiums has Gabriele Mini got what it takes to clinch the title in the final round? Or will he be destined to stand on the second step of the podium and hear his anthem play out for his fellow countryman?
Luke Browning:
The oldest championship contender this year, 22 year-old Luke Browning, currently sits in third place in the standings on 123 points, trailing behind leader Fornaroli by just six points. Since his last victory in Spielberg, the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver’s results have been mixed, with only three point-scoring results following – his best being at the Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race where he finished in sixth place.
A stand-out moment from his 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign came from Spielberg, Austria. The Briton managed to take pole-position for the Feature Race, before taking to the track for a lights-to-flag victory to take his second win of the season.
In order to take the championship title, Browning needs to close his six-point gap to Fornaroli. He likely needs to take a win in either races, preferably the Feature Race, alongside a strong points finish in the Sprint Race, with a pole position or fastest lap point only strengthening his chances.
With two wins, three podiums, two pole positions and two fastest laps, does Luke Browning have what it takes to add the FIA Formula 3 Championship title to his list of accolades?
Arvid Lindblad:
The youngest championship contender this year, 17 year-old Arvid Lindblad, currently sits in fourth place in the standings on 113 points, behind Championship leader Fornaroli by 16 points. The PREMA Racing rookie has taken to his debut season in category like a duck on water, with the most victories of the season (2 Sprint Race and 2 Feature Race victories), showing that the British driver should not be taken lightly in terms of his capability to race the flat-out sprints and the strategy-dependant feature races.
One of his most notable performances came from the Silverstone Round where he took the victory in both the delayed Sprint race and the Feature race. His clean sweep of wins made his history as he became the first driver in Formula 3 history to take both race victories during a single race weekend.
In order to take the championship victory in his rookie year, its essential for Lindblad to take victory once again in both the Sprint and Feature race, and ideally take the points from pole-position and both fastest laps, whilst his title contenders would need to underperform.
Although Lindblad has the chance to take the Championship title, it shouldn’t take away from a stellar debut season for PREMA Racing rookie, in what looks to be a promising career for the British racer!
Dino Beganovic:
20 year-old Swedish racer, Dino Beganovic, currently sits in fifth place in the championship standings on 100 points, 29 points behind leader Fornaroli. His team PREMA Racing have already wrapped up the Team’s Championship title after a strong 1-2 finish in the Sprint Race in Spa-Francorchamps.
The most notable memory of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship for Beganovic came in the Melbourne round, when he took his maiden F3 victory in the Feature Race on the Sunday after a mid-race overtake on now-Championship leader Fornaroli.
In order to take the championship victory, its essential for Beganovic to take victory in both the Sprint and Feature race, and take the points from pole-position and both fastest laps, whilst his title contenders would need to underperform.
After taking two wins, four podiums, one pole position and 2 fastest laps eligible for points, can the Swedish driver take the Drivers’ Championship title to add to PREMA Racing’s Team Championship accolade?
Christian Mansell:
19 year-old Australian racer, Christian Mansell, currently sits in sixth place in the Championship standings heading into the final round in Monza on 97 points, 32 points behind Championship leader Fornaroli. Mansell is the only other Championship contender to have not taken a victory this season.
One of the most notable moments of his 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign came in the first round of the season in Sakhir, with the Australian racer charging through the pack from eighth place on the grid to take second place at the line after failing to overtake race-winner and fellow contender Luke Browning.
Whilst it may seem unlikely, Mansell has a mathematical chance of winning the Championship in the final round of the season in Monza. It’s essential for the Australian to take victory in both the Sprint and Feature race, and take the points from pole-position and both fastest laps, whilst his title contenders would need to underperform.
With a mathematical chance and the saying of ‘you have to be in it to win it’, will we see the first Australian F3 Champion since Oscar Piastri in 2020?
Oliver Goethe:
The final championship contender comes in the form of 19 year-old German racer, Oliver Goethe, who sits in seventh place on 94 points, 35 points behind leader Fornaroli.
His most notable moment of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship came from Round 3 of the season in Imola, Italy. A late safety car in the race gave Goethe his opportunity to take the lead of the race, which he did thanks to faster reaction times. His victory was initially taken away from him, before later being reinstated.
Whilst it may seem unlikely, Goethe has a mathematical chance of winning the Championship in the final round of the season in Monza. It’s essential for the German racer to take victory in both the Sprint and Feature race, and take the points from pole-position and both fastest laps, whilst his title contenders would need to underperform.
With a 12-race point-scoring streak, one race win, three podiums and two fastest laps, it’s mathematically possible for Goethe to win the Championship. Will we see our first German Champion of the FIA Formula 3 Championship crowned this weekend in Monza?
Season Recap
Round One – Sakhir
Sakhir hosted Round One of the 2024 Formula 3 Championship at the Bahrain International Circuit being held in support of the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
The season began with Dino Beganovic taking the feature race pole position after setting the fastest time in qualifying, followed by Luke Browning and Gabriele Mini. Laurens van Hoepen qualified twelfth on the day meaning he would start the sprint race on reverse-grid pole.
The Sprint race saw ART Grand Prix driver Nikola Tsolov take the lead into the first corner, battling with pole-sitter teammate van Hoepen for much of the race. Arvid Lindblad had a strong opening stint after starting fourth and took advantage of the battle at the front of the race and overtook both drivers to claim the lead. This lead converted into the race win on his FIA Formula 3 debut. He was joined on the rostrum by van Hoepen – another debutant to the series – and Leonardo Fornaroli, who managed to pass Tsolov in the closing stages of the race.
The Feature race saw pole-sitter Beganovic encountering an issue off of the start line eventually seeing the Swedish driver overtaken by the entire field before the first corner. Browning consequently took the lead with Sami Meguetounif and Tim Tramnitz following through to the podium positions. Christian Mansell charged through the field from eighth-place at the start to claim second place by Lap 5. Despite Mansell’s best efforts to overtake the Brition, Browning took his first FIA Formula 3 victory, with Tramnitz rounding out the podium on his debut weekend.
With Round One concluded, Luke Browning (Hitech Pulse-Eight) led the Drivers’ Championship by four points over Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport).
Round Two – Melbourne
Round Two saw the Formula 3 grid head to Melbourne, Australia in support of the 2024 Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit.
Leonardo Fornaroli qualified in pole position for the Feature Race ahead of Gabriele Mini and Dino Beganovic.
Laurens van Hoepen started the Sprint Race once again from reverse-grid pole position, battling with Martinius Stenshorne in the early laps of the race with the pair exchanging the lead multiples times between themselves. Stenshorne ultimately came out on top and managed to hold onto the position, keeping Arvid Lindblad behind – the Briton having managed to take second place after starting from fifth on the grid. – with van Hoepen having to settle for third place at the finish line. Stenshorne’s maiden victory came in hand with his first FIA Formula 3 podium finish.
Pole-sitter Leonardo Fornaroli lead the start of the Feature Race and continued his lead through the first restart after the safety car was deployed in order to recover the stricken cars of Tommy Smith and Joseph Loake after a collision between the pair. Dino Beganovic made an overtake stick on Lap 14 of the race to overtake Fornaroli for the lead. Mini had lost his third-place position to Luke Browning but managed to recover the final podium place on the penultimate lap. Beganovic’s victory was his maiden win in the FIA Formula 3 category and saw him promoted to fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship.
At the end of Round Two, Browning and Fornaroli were both tied on points at the top of the championship standings – with Browning in the P1 position due to his race win – the duo ahead of Mini by five points.
Round Three – Imola
Round Three of the 2024 Formula 3 Championship took place in Imola, Italy in support of the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix around the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
Trident managed to take a 1-2-3 classification in qualifying, with Santiago Ramos taking the Feature Race pole position ahead of his teammates Leonardo Fornaroli and Sami Meguetounif. Kacper Sztuka finished qualifying in twelfth place, therefore taking the reverse-grid pole position for the Sprint Race.
Whilst Sztuka started the Sprint Race from pole, he was overtaken at the first corner by Noel Leon. Leon managed to hold onto the lead of the race ahead of Oliver Goethe and Tim Tramnitz through the four safety car restarts. On the penultimate lap of the race a virtual safety car was deployed for a collision between sixth-place Browning and Sztuka, with the Briton retiring from the race in the gravel trap. The race resumed on the final lap, with Goethe taking the race win due to a faster reaction that Leon. Goethe was penalised for a safety car procedure infringement, however, this penalty was later reversed and his position was reinstated.
Feature Race pole-sitter Ramos held the lead of the race initially, but was overtaken by Fornaroli on Lap 3 before dropping down the order to eighth-place at the end of the race. Goethe started seventh before making his way through the grid to second place before ultimately taking the lead after Fornaroli began to slow with a mechanical issue. Meguetounif saw himself through to second place, before passing Goethe for the lead with four laps of the race remaining. Meguetounif took his maiden win and podium in the FIA Formula 3 category, being joined by Goethe and Fornaroli – with the latter managing to recover positions.
Leonardo Fornaroli left the weekend leading the Drivers’ Championship by three points over Luke Browning.
Round Four – Monaco
The 2024 Monte Carlo FIA Formula 3 round was the fourth outing for the Championship, being held in support of the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix at the Circuit de Monaco.
Jenzer Motorsport announced prior to the weekend that GB3 Championship race winner James Hedley would stand in for Matias Zagazeta after the Peruvian driver was ruled out of the round due to appendicitis.
Gabriele Mini took pole position after setting the fasted qualifying time of both groups for the second consecutive year, with Christian Mansell setting the fastest time of the second group. Nikola Tsolov qualified twelfth to take the reverse-grid pole position for the Sprint Race.
Tsolov maintained the lead of the race from the start, with Tim Tramnitz taking second place from Laurens van Hoepen at the first corner. Christian Mansell and Arvid Lindblad collided at the Casino Square corner, with both drivers retiring from the race, whilst also eliminating Dufek, Dunne and Shields, who were caught in the incident after having nowhere else to go. The race was red-flagged in order to remove the cars from the circuit and clear the track, with Tsolov holding onto the lead of the race when racing resumed, Another safety car was called after Kacper Sztuka retired from the race, with Tsolov continuing to hold onto the lead to claim his maiden victory in the series ahead of Tramnitz and van Hoepen.
Pole-sitter Mini lead the start of the Feature Race ahead of Mansell and Browning. The race saw three safety cars called; first for the collision between Piotr Wisnicki and Charlie Wurz, second as a result of Sami Meguetounif crashing as a result of trying to avoid the collided cars of Sprint-race winner Tsolov and Noel Leon, and third when van Hoepen made contact with the wall after attempting an overtake on Joseph Loake. The top-three driver managed to maintain their positions despite all of this, with Mini taking his first win of the season.
Mini’s victory saw him promoted to the lead of the Drivers’ Championship ahead of Luke Browning by four points.
Round Five – Barcelona
Round Five of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship took the grid to Barcelona, with the weekend being held in support of the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Christian Mansell achieved his maiden FIA Formula 3 pole position for the Feature Race in qualifying, ahead of Arvid Lindblad and Nikola Tsolov. Santiago Ramos finished twelfth to take the reverse-grid pole position for the Sprint Race.
Whilst starting the Sprint Race in pole-position, in the opening laps of the race, Sami Meguetounif collided with Ramos in an attempt to overtake, calling for the first deployment of the safety car whilst allowing Mari Boya through to take the lead. Boya managed to maintain his lead until the chequered flag, which ultimately finished under safety car conditions due to a collision between Sebastian Montoya and Gabriele Mini. Boya’s win was his maiden in the FIA Formula 3 category, being joined by Alex Dunne – his maiden podium finish – and Oliver Goethe.
Christian Mansell started the Feature Race in pole-position and lead from the lights out before being overtaken by Lindblad on Lap 5. Luke Browning overtook Tsolov for third place early on in the race but ultimately lost out of the podium position to Leonardo Fornaroli in the closing stages of the race. Lindblad claimed his second victory of the season, followed by Mansell and Fornaroli.
Championship leader Mini failed to score any points in this round at Barcelona, dropping down to third in the standings, whilst Fornaroli’s podium promoted him to the top of the standings, five points ahead of Browning.
Round Six – Spielberg
Round Six of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship took place in Spielberg, Austria in support of the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.
Luke Browning took pole-position for the Feature Race after qualifying fastest, followed by Lindblad and Tim Tramnitz, with Championship leader Fornaroli qualifying in 24th.
Martinius Stenshorne started the Sprint Race in reverse-grid pole position but was overtaken by Christian Mansell at Turn 1 and then was overtaken once again by Nikola Tsolov later on in the first lap. Mansell and Tsolov engaged in a battle for the lead of the race until the closing stages of the race, passing each other multiple times. In the closing laps, a high-speed collision between Sebastian Montoya and Alex Dunne whilst battling for fourth place brought out the safety car, which would continue till the end of the race. Tsolov and Stenshorne managed to make overtakes on Mansell before the racing was neutralised, meaning Tsolov took his second win of the season.
At the start of the Feature Race, pole-sitter Luke Browning held onto his lead, with Dino Beganovic managing to make his way through the grid from fifth place to the podium positions. Noel Leon started the race P13 and managed to carve his way through the field to fourth place by Lap 13 of 26, however, contact with Oliver Goethe gave the Mexican driver a puncture, dropping him to outside of the points. Browning led the entire race distance to take his second victory of the year, followed by Gabrielle Mini and Dino Beganovic.
Luke Browning’s win and pole position promoted him back into first place in the Drivers’ Championship, 11 points ahead of Mini.
Round Seven – Silverstone
Round 7 of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship took place in Silverstone, with the championship being held in support of the 2024 British Grand Prix at the Silverstone Circuit.
Luke Browning took his second pole position for the Feature Race in as many weekends, with this one being a pole position at this home race, ahead of Max Esterson and Sami Meguetounif.
Heavy rain around the circuit caused the Sprint Race to be rescheduled from its morning slot to the evening. Noel Leon started on reverse-grid pole position for the Sprint Race but was quickly passed by another home favourite Arvid Lindblad at the first corner. The race was interrupted on Lap 4 by the safety car, with racing neutralised after an accident involving Max Esterson and Oliver Goethe. Following the race restart, Lindblad continued to lead for the rest of the race to take his third win of the season, followed by Leon and Matias Zagazeta, with the latter taking his maiden podium in the series.
Rain fell once again before the start of the Feature Race leading to most of the drivers starting the race on wet-weather tyres, though a fast-drying circuit prompted some of the grid to pit after the formation lap to switch to the slick tyres, including tenth-place starter Arvid Lindblad. Callum Voisin who started in eighth-place, was one of the few drivers who had opted to start the race on the slick tyres originally, quickly making overtakes on a drying track to take the lead of the race by Lap 3. The first incident of the race came in the form of a collision between Alex Dunne, Dino Beganovic and Sophia Floersch, bringing out the safety car on Lap 5, however with the rain beginning to play a part once again, the wet-tyre runners continued to stay out allowing pole-sitter Browning to regain the lead from fellow Briton Voisin. Another collision between Joshua Dufek, Sebastian Montoya and Dunne brought out another safety car on Lap 8. Track conditions once again begun to change, with the asphalt drying in the closing laps, handing the advantage back to the slick runners and allowing Voisin once again to take the lead. Voisin eventually crossed the line in first place, but was penalised by the stewards for making an off-track overtake earlier in the race, demoting him to third place and handing Arvid Lindblad his fourth win of the season. Gabriele Mini finished second after starting from 14th on the grid.
Mini’s second-place finish gave him the lead of the Driver’s Championship, with Lindblad’s double victory promoting him to second in the standings, six points behind Mini.
Round Eight – Budapest
Round Eight of the FIA Formula 3 Championship saw the grid take a trip to Budapest, Hungary in support of the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.
Laurens van Hoepen took pole-position for the Feature Race after qualifying fastest ahead of Nikola Tsolov and Leonardo Fornaroli, whilst the main title contenders all qualified outside of the top 12.
Dino Beganovic started the Sprint Race from reverse-grid pole position. Beganovic held onto the lead of the race at the initial start, but was quickly passed by the conclusion of the first lap of the race by Bedrin, who would retain the lead until the end of the race, earning his maiden FIA Formula 3 victory. The virtual safety car was deployed to neutralise the race after contact for Matias Zagazeta left the Jenzer Motorsport car unable to continue. Inthraphuvasak managed a pass on Beganovic on Lap 10 of the race after Beganovic ran wide off the track whilst attempting to complete an overtake on Bedrin. He eventually finished in second place to take his first points finish and his maiden podium in FIA Formula 3. The Budapest Sprint Race gave AIX Racing a 1-2 finish whilst also meaning all teams had stood on the podium in the 2024 season.
Feature Race pole-sitter Laurens van Hoepen struggled at the start of the race, wheel-spinning off the line, with teammate Tsolov utilising this mistake going into Turn 1. Van Hoepen continued to lose out as he ran deep into Turn 1, losing out on the elad to Tsolov as well as second place to Noel Leon, before retaking P2. A late safety car was deployed to neutralise the race due to contact between Arvid Lindblad and Matias Zagazeta on Lap 21. With little time remaining, the decision from Race Control came that racing conditions would not be resumed in time for a final lap shootout, resulting in Tsolov taking his third race win of 2024 and his maiden F3 Feature Race victory, ahead of van Hoepen and Noel Leon.
Despite scoring no points this round, Gabriele Mini managed to hold onto the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, 4 points ahead of Luke Browning.
Round Nine – Spa-Francorchamps
The penultimate round of FIA Formula 3 Championship came as Round Nine at Spa-Francorchamps in support of the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Callum Voisin took the Feature Race pole position after qualifying fastest ahead of Alex Dunne and Leonardo Fornaroli.
With Beganovic on reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race, Gabriele Mini took the lead of the race going into Turn 1. The safety car made its appearance early on into the race as a result of Max Esterson making contact with the barrier at Eau Rouge after a slow spin. Starting Lap 9 of 12, the top six were all within two and a half seconds of each other, with teammates being allowed to battle each other. The final lap of the race saw Beganovic and Mini with a two second advantage over the rest of the grid, with Leon managing to pass Tramnitz on the Kemmel Straight to take P3, with this order being the result at the chequered flag. Beganovic’s win was his second victory of the season with PREMA Racing enjoying a 1-2 finish.
Feature Race pole-sitter Callum Voisin had a great start from the lights out, with Montoya joining him after jumping from fourth place to second. A collision between Oliver Goethe and Gabriele saw the Championship leader spin, with the Campos of Goethe being forced to pit with a puncture. The first safety car of the race neutralised racing on Lap 3 due to Martinius Stenshorne spinning at Stavelot. Tukka Taponen – in his debut Feature Race to replace the banned Nikola Tsolov (who raced in a different series at the same track without permission) – had his own coming together with Joshua Dufek before collecting Stenshorne as a result. The second safety car followed as a result of a collision between Sophia Floersch and Joseph Loake, with both drivers spinning off the track at Turn 9 and Floersch stuck in gravel whilst Loake was unable to continue. They say everything comes in three’s and the third safety car made its appearance after another collision between Championship contenders Mansell and Lindblad, saw the Australian driver make contact with the rear of Lindblad’s PREMA before sending the Briton into the gravel at Turn 9. Simultaneously, Charlie Wurz made contact with Mari Boya, giving the Campos driver a puncture before sending him into the barriers at Turn 11. Voisin took his maiden victory in Formula 3 at the chequered flag ahead of Sebastian Montoya and Leonardo Fornaroli in second and third place respectively.
Fornaroli’s third-place finish means he goes into the final round of the season in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, ahead of Mini by only one point. PREMA Racing were crowned the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Team Champions with too big of a points gap to be chased heading into the final round in Monza.
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