Everything Trackside

Written in collaboration with Fardeen Ahmed.

Halfway through the 2024 Formula 3 Championship, this season has proved very competitive with still another five rounds to go. The result sheets have seen nine different winners in the first five rounds, with the winner of the first race of season winning again in the feature race in Barcelona. As we reach the midway point of the 2024 Formula 3 Championship, let’s look back on the ups and downs of the season so far.

The Sprint winners list includes Arvid Lindblad, Martinius Stenshorne, Oliver Goethe, Nikola Tsolov, and Mari Boya. Additionally, as for the Feature races, the winners are Luke Browning, Dino Beganovic, Sami Meguetounif, Gabriele Minì and Arvid Lindblad.

Along with this we have had five different pole sitters, with an additional three different drivers on reverse grid pole. Those drivers on pole who also get a two crucial points to the championship are Beganovic, Leonardo Fornaroli, Santiago Ramos, Minì and Christian Mansell. On reverse pole, Laurens Van Hoepen, Kacper Sztuka and Nikola Tsolov.

Drivers Standings Formula 3 2024

Moreover, the 2024 Drivers’ Standings display a ‘tightly spaced’ table with only 13 points separating Fornaroli in P1 and fourth-placed Lindblad. Firstly, Fornaroli is in the top spot with 84 points, whilst Luke Browning (P2) and Minì (P3) have 79 and 72 points respectively. Furthermore, at P4, Lindblad has 71 points, just six points more than P5-placed Beganovic (65 points).

There are currently 31 Drivers classified. James Hedley replaced Matías Zagazeta due to an appendicitis and was ruled out from racing in Monaco.

Teams Standings Formula 3 2024

PREMA Racing leads the 2024 F3 Team’s Standings with 208 points with a comfortable lead over Trident who are in second with 140 points. However the battle for third is close between ART Grand Prix (117 points), Campos Racing (115 points) and Hitech Pulse-Eight (96 points).

#	TEAM	POINTS
01	PREMA Racing	208
02	Trident	140
03	ART Grand Prix	117
04	Campos Racing	115
05	Hitech Pulse-Eight	96
06	MP Motorsport	71
07	Van Amersfoort Racing	22
08	Jenzer Motorsport	15
09	Rodin Motorsport	8
10	AIX Racing	6

Currently only PREMA, Trident and Campos are the only constructors that have scored in each race of the season.

As the competition got more intense after the Spanish sprint, the podium finishers revealed their personal insights on F3’s current ‘fierce’ battle. The Sprint race also held a record for the Campos team by having a Spaniard on their team win a race at home in Barcelona for the last three years – a feat no other team have been able to achieve in the 100 races of the F3 Series.

Let’s review by round what has unfolded throughout the season so far:

Round One – Bahrain

The season started off in Bahrain following a few rounds of post 2023 season and pre 2024 season testing. For F3, the Bahrain International Circuit is one of the tracks unknown to most of the rookies. Most have moved from most likely European only circuit racing. However, the rookies were out to prove from the start that they want to battle for the 2024 Formula 3 Championship title. Dino Beganovic, in his second year racing for PREMA, started well securing pole alongside returning driver of Luke Browning in the Hitech Pulse-Eight.

In fact, in the first race of the season it was a rookie and also the youngest driver in the F3 2024 driver lineup that took the top spot. Reb Bull junior driver of Arvid Lindblad in the PREMA was joined by fellow rookie Laurens van Hoepen in the ART Grand Prix and one of the top favourite to win the Championship, Leonardo Fornaroli in the Trident.

It’s not a feeder race without any penalties. There was only one this time around for Matias Zagazeta, who received a five place grid penalty for the feature after causing a collision.

In the Feature race, Beganovic was unable to convert the pole to a win. However, it was the other driver on the front row that took the top spot – Luke Browning was P1 with Christian Mansell in ART Grand Prix P2 and Rookie Tim Tramnitz in the MP Motorsport in P3. Nikita Bredrin received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits multiple times. It did not affect his 2024 Formula 3 Championship this far, as he was already out of the points.

1	Luke Browning	25
2	Tim Tramnitz	21
3	Christian Mansell	18
4	Leonardo Fornaroli	15
5	Arvid Lindblad	14

1	Trident	38
2	ART Grand Prix	35
3	PREMA Racing	28
4	Hitech Pulse-Eight	25
5	MP Motorsport	23

Round Two – Melbourne

Returning for a second year Formula three went racing in Melbourne, Australia. It was another tricky circuit for all drivers due to the fast nature of the circuit. With minimal racing last year due to red flags and Safety Cars, drivers returning were particularly keen to put on a good performance.

Fornaroli took pole with Martinius Stenshorne on reverse pole for the Sprint race. Nikola Tsolov received a three place grid penalty for causing a collision in the free practice session.

Stenshorne was able to convert the pole to a win in the Sprint race with fellow rookies of Lindblad finishing P2 and van Hoepen in P3. However, there was multiple penalties given that also affected drivers points positions. Beganovic originally finished sixth, but was given a five-second time penalty for forcing driver off track. He therefore dropped down to 13th and out of the points. Nikita Bredrin originally finished in the last points paying position of eighth, but was given a ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He dropped to 21st. Max Esterson, although finishing out of the points, was given five-second time penalty for track limits and Tommy Smith was given ten seconds for causing a collision.

Similar to the first feature race, the driver on pole did not convert the win. Beganovic finished first with Fornaroli finishing second, and Minì rounding out the podium.

1	Luke Browning	37
2	Leonardo Fornaroli	37
3	Gabriele Minì	32
4	Dino Beganovic	28
5	Arvid Lindblad	23

1	PREMA Racing	83
2	Trident	60
3	Hitech Pulse-Eight	47
4	ART Grand Prix	46
5	Campos Racing	39

Round Three – Imola

After last year’s Imola race being cancelled due to serve flooding, drivers returned to their first European circuit. It was a more familiar track than the first two for most of the drivers.

It was a good Qualifying session for Trident with all three drivers taking the top three spots in the constructors’ home race. The rookie driver Santiago Ramos took pole with Kacper Sztuka on reverse pole for MP Motorsport.

Tsolov and Voisin were given three place grid penalties in practice for failing to respect minimum ECU times during red flag conditions. Alex Dunne, who originally qualified fifth, was disqualified later on due to a breach of technical regulations. He was noted for his car failing to conform with the anti roll bar links as stated in the regulations.

For the Sprint race, Oliver Goethe was able to take his first win of the season with Tim Tramnitz and Noel León joining on the podium. The Feature race saw Sami Meguetounif take his first ever F3 win for Trident at home, with Goethe getting another podium and Fornaroli joining them.

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak was given a post-race drive through penalty, which was then converted to a 20-second time penalty for restarting the car after support from the marshals. Callum Voisin received a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision.

1	Leonardo Fornaroli	52
2	Luke Browning	49
3	Dino Beganovic	45
4	Gabriele Minì	45
5	Oliver Goethe	41

1	PREMA Racing	122
2	Trident	107
3	Campos Racing	72
4	Hitech Pulse-Eight	59
5	ART Grand Prix	49

Round Four – Monaco

One of the most iconic tracks for a driver to race in is on the streets on Monaco. Returning for only the second time on the F3 calendar, Monaco provided great racing and opportunities for overtaking in their smaller cars compared to the their F1 counterparts.

For both Formula 2 and Formula 3, qualifying in Monaco is split into two groups to allow spacing between the drivers. The fastest time in each of the groups determines the grid. There was also a driver change for the Jenzer Motorsport team. Matías Zagazeta suffered an appendicitis, ruling him out of racing. Replacing him was GB3 Championship race winner James Hedley.

Gabriele Minì was the fastest in group A and Christian Mansell was fastest in group B. Between the two drivers, Minì was fastest overall thus taking pole for the feature race. On reverse pole was Nikola Tsolov.

Tsolov was able to convert the reverse grid pole to take his first win of the season, with Tim Tramnitz and Laurens van Hoepen joining him on the podium. James Hedley received a five-second penalty for not maintaining the minimum time delta during the Safety Car. Sophia Flörsch received a five place grid penalty for the Feature race after causing a collision. The Sprint race had one of the largest amounts of retirements in an F3 race, with eight drivers retiring. The majority were due to collisions or damage caused by a collision.

Gabriele Minì was able to convert the Feature race pole to a win. Joining him on the podium was Christian Mansell and Luke Browning. There were minimal retirements in the compared to the Sprint with only three drivers failing to finish.

1	Gabriele Minì	72
2	Luke Browning	68
3	Leonardo Fornaroli	64
4	Dino Beganovic	58
5	Arvid Lindblad	44

1	PREMA Racing	174
2	Trident	119
3	ART Grand Prix	85
4	Campos Racing	85
5	Hitech Pulse-Eight	78

Round Five – Barcelona

Barcelona kicked off the first of three consecutive race weekends for Formula Three, as well as celebrating the 100th race of the series in the Feature race. Drivers returned to another well-known circuit, as Formula 3 uses the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for testing and driver development.

Christian Mansell took pole position for the first time, lining up in P1 for the Feature race. Santiago Ramos started on reverse grid pole for the Sprint.

In the Sprint race, for the third year in a row, Campos Racing took the win with a Spanish driver. It was Mari Boya on top of the podium this year. Alongside him making history as the first Irish driver to get a podium was Alex Dunne, and Oliver Goethe was able to take P3. Santiago Ramos was on track for the win but DNFed after a collision with his teammate in second, Sami Meguetounif. Meguetounif received a five place grid penalty for the collision that was served in the Feature race. Nikita Bredrin also received a five place grid penalty for causing a collision that was served in the Feature race.

The Barcelona Feature race marked the 100th race in Formula 3 since it’s launch in 2019. It was Robert Shwartzman in the PREMA that took the win in the first race in 2019, and it was PREMA once again winning with Arvid Lindblad. Lindblad’s second win of the season ended the streak of a new race winner each race. Christian Mansell was able to finish second with Leonardo Fornaroli in P3. Fornaroli’s P3 finish means he now sits in the lead of the 2024 Formula 3 Championship at the halfway point of the season.

1	Leonardo Fornaroli	84
2	Luke Browning	79
3	Gabriele Minì	72
4	Arvid Lindblad	71
5	Dino Beganovic	65

1	PREMA Racing	208
2	Trident	140
3	ART Grand Prix	117
4	Campos Racing	115
5	Hitech Pulse-Eight	96

More details of each of the races can be found in our archive.

We go back racing this weekend in Austria, will we have a new race winner? Will the 2024 Formula 3 Championship standings change again?

Photo credit: James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images

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