This weekend Formula 3 returns to Barcelona to start their triple header after last racing in Monaco. Returning to a historic track for racing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya marks a key milestone in the Formula 3 series. This is their 100th race and coincidentally, Barcelona is where the first Formula 3 race took place back in 2019. So let’s look back over the last five years of racing.
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First Year 2019
In March 2017, it was announced the merger of two third-tier single seater racing would take place. The GP3 Series and the FIA Formula 3 European Championship merged to create Formula 3 in support of Formula One races. The new series was announced in March 2018.
The inaugural season of Formula 3 consisted of 16 races held across eight rounds at European Circuits starting on May 11th at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and ending September 29th at Sochi Autodrom. This year also marked the first year of the Halo device in the Formula 3 series. There was also a non-championship race in Macau in November.
There were 11 teams with three drivers (however, there were driver changes within the season at teams). Key constuctors who are still racing are ART Grand Prix, MP Motorsport, Trident, Hitech Grand Prix, Campos Racing, PREMA Racing and Carlin Buzz Racing. Three teams who were also debuting were Jenzer Motorsport, Sauber Junior Team by Charouz and HWA Racelab. These teams have either changed names or sponsorship over the years.
Drivers
Some key names debuting in 2019 were, for ART, Max Fewtrell (now working with Lando Norris) and Christian Lundgaard (Indycar Driver). In MP Motorsport, Liam Lawson (Reserve driver for Redbull and RB) and Richard Verschoor (Formula 2 Driver). HWA Racelab: Bent Viscaal (Endurance racing driver) and Jake Hughes (Formula E Driver). Jenzer Motorsport had Yuki Tsunoda (RB F1 Driver). Trident had Devlin DeFrancesco (Former Indycar driver currently IMSA Driver). Hitech Grand Prix debuted Yifei Ye (Endurance Racing Driver) and Juri Vips (Former Indycar Driver). PREMA noteably had one of the most recognised line ups of Marcus Armstrong (Indycar Driver), Jehan Daruvala (Formula E Driver) and Robert Shwartzman (Ferrari Reserve Driver and Endurance racing). Finally, Carlin Buzz Racing Felipe Drugovich (Reserve driver for Aston Martin) and Logan Sargeant (Williams F1 Driver).
2019 Race Winners and Champion
In the 16 races there were ten different race winners: Robert Shwartzman, Jehan Daruvala, Juri Vips, Jake Hughes, Leonardo Pulcini, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Armstrong, Pedro Piquet, Yuki Tsunoda and Richard Verschoor.
Robert Shwartzman won the championship with 212 points, followed by Marcus Armstrong with 158 points and Jehan Daruvala with 157 points. PREMA Racing won the constructors with 527 points over 300 points ahead of Hitech Grand Prix.
Second Year 2020
The first race of the calendar was scheduled for Bahrain in March. Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the first three races were postponed, a new calendar was published in June covering 18 races across nine rounds. Thus, the season began in Austria at the Red Bull Ring in July and finished at Mugello Circuit in Italy in September.
Drivers
Constructors remained the same except Sauber Junior was rebranded to Charouz Racing System. Notable drivers racing this season were for PREMA. Oscar Piastri (McLaren F1 Driver), Frederik Vesti (Mercedes Reserve driver and Endurance Racing), and Logan Sargeant returning. Hitech Grand Prix Max Fewtrell and Liam Lawson returning alongside Dennis Hauger (F2 Driver). ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pourchaire (Stake F1 Reserve Driver and Former Indycar Driver) raced against Trident’s David Beckmann (Reserve FE Driver) and Olli Caldwell (Endurance Racing). HWA Racelab Jake Hughes returned alongside Enzo Fittipaldi (F2 Driver) and Jack Doohan (Alpine Reserve Driver).
MP Motorsport had Richard Verschoor returning alongside Bent Viscaal. Jenzer Motorsport had a new line up with Calan Williams (GT Racing Driver). Charouz Racing with new branding brought countrymen Roman Staněk (F2 Driver) and David Schumacher (Only raced round 1-6). Carlin Buzz had Clément Novalak (Endurance Racing) and David Schumacher (rounds 7-9). And Campos Racing brought the first woman to race in Formula 3 with Sophia Flörsch.
2020 Race Winners and Champion
Alongside to navigating the 2020 season while handling the pandemic, there were nine different winners for the 18 rounds. Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, Frederik Vesti, Theo Pourchaire, David Beckmann, Logan Sargent, Bent Viscaal, Jake Hughes and Lirim Zendeli.
Oscar Piastri in his rookie year went on to win the 2020 F2 Championship with 164 points, close behind him were Theo Pourchaire with 161 points and Logan Sargent with 160 points. PREMA won the constructors again with 470.5 points, followed by Trident with 261.5 points.
Third Year 2021
In a cost cutting measure and with disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic in the previous year, the race structure was changed to seven rounds with each round consisting of three races, totaling 21 races and aligning to the 2021 F2 Championship.
We returned to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Formula 3 Barcelona weekend in May 2021 and originally planned to end at Circuit of the Americas in October. Unfortunately, that race was cancelled and the season ended with the replaced round at the Sochi Autodrom in September.
Drivers
There were no changes to the constructors names and title sponsors. Key racers for this season included, PREMA’s Dennis Hauger and Olli Caldwell returning alongside Arthur Leclerc (Endurance Racing, brother to Charles Leclerc). Trident had all three drivers returning. Jack Doohan, Clément Novalak, and David Schumacher. ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti returned with Juan Manuel Correa (F2 Driver) returning following the horrific accident in Spa in 2019. Hitech Grand Prix Roman Staněk returned with two rookies of Jak Crawford (F2 Driver) and Ayumu Iwasa (Super Formula driver).
HWA Racelab had two new rookies of Oliver Rasmussen (Endurance Driver) and Rafael Villagómez (F2 Driver). MP Motorsport had a full rookie lineup of Victor Martins (F2 Driver) and Caio Collet (IndyNXT Driver). Campos Racing notably had Amaury Cordeel (F2 Driver) racing for them. Carlin Buzz Racing Jake Hughes returned with Jonny Edgar (Endurance Driver) and Kaylen Frederick (Super Formula, former IndyNXT). Jenzer Motorsport Calan Williams returned for another season. Finally, Charouz Racing had Logan Sargent returning (only driver to remain the whole season). Alongside, he had numerous teammates of Enzo Fittipaldi, Hunter Yeany (USF Pro 2000 Driver), and Ayrton Simmons (Ultimate Cup Series).
2021 Race Winners and Champion
In the 21 races across seven rounds, there were 12 different race winners. Alexander Smolyar, Olli Caldwell, Dennis Hauger, Arthur Leclerc, Jack Doohan, David Schumacher, Frederik Vesti, Ayumu Iwasa, Matteo Nannini, Lorenzo Colombo, Victor Martins and Logan Sargent.
In his second year Dennis Hauger won the championship comfortably ahead of Jack Doohan with 205 points and 179 points. Rounding out the top three, Clément Novalak finished third with 147 points. Trident was able to take the top constructors spot, beating Prema with 381 points to 377.
Fourth Year 2022
Returning back to normalcy for the 2022 F2 racing calendar it returned to the pre-2021 race format of two races per round across nine rounds. This introduced the current format of a sprint and feature race weekend format. All constructors beside HWA Racelab returned, this was now rebranded as Van Amersfoort Racing.
Drivers
Trident returned following the constructors win in 2021 had Jonny Edgar return (Rounds 1,4 and 9) with Oliver Rasmussen filling in. Roman Staněk returned and rookie to the season Zane Maloney (F2 Driver). PREMA had Arthur Leclerc and Jak Crawford returning with rookie driver of Ollie Bearman (Haas/Ferrari Reserve Driver, F2 Driver). ART Grand Prix Victor Martins and Juan Manuel Correa returned with Grégoire Saucy (Endurance Driver). MP Motorsport had Caio Collet, Alexander Smolyar return and rookie Kush Maini (F2 Driver). Charouz Racing like the 2021 season had various driver changes. Ayrton Simmons for a round, David Schumacher for 2 rounds, and Christian Mansell (F3 Driver currently) for 2 rounds.
Hitech Grand Prix had Kaylen Frederick returned with rookie Isack Hadjar (F2 Driver). Campos Racing ran similar to Charouz with various drivers in the 3 seats. David Vidales (GT Driver), Hunter Yeany, Oliver Goethe (F3 Driver currently), Sebastian Montoya (F3 Driver currently) and Pepe Martí (F2 Driver). Carlin had three rookies of Zak O’Sullivan (F2 Driver), Brad Benavides (Euroformula Driver) and Enzo Trulli. Lastly, new constructors Van Amersfoort had Rafael Villagomez return, alongside rookies of Franco Colapinto (F2 Driver) and Reece Ushijima.
2022 Race Winners and Champion
Nevertheless the new format provided 11 different race winners across the nine sprint and nine feature races. Isack Hadjar, Victor Martins, Franco Colapinto, Roman Staněk, David Vidales, Arthur Leclerc, Jak Crawford, Caio Collet, Alexander Smolyar, Ollie Bearman, and Zane Maloney.
Furthermore, the race format changes led to a change of distribution of points. However it was Victor Martins who took the championship with 139 points, Zane Maloney narrowly missed the top spot with 134, alongside Ollie Bearman with 132 points. PREMA took back the constructors titles with 355 points ahead of Trident with 301 points.
Fifth Year 2023
With the increase in popularity, circuit changes were made. This introduced the historic track of Monaco to the calendar and two first ever non-European race in Bahrain and in Melbourne, Australia. There were ten scheduled rounds, each with a sprint and feature race format. However, Imola, originally on the calendar, was cancelled due to severe flooding with no replacement announced. Furthermore, for its fifth year, the non-championship race of Macau returned.
There were two constructor changes; Carlin became Rodin Carlin with new sponsorship, and Charouz Racing System were sold to PHM Racing.
Drivers
PREMA, following the win, had Zak O’Sullivan returning with rookies Paul Aron (F2 Driver Currently and FE) and Dino Beganovic (F3 Driver Currently). Trident brought onboard Leonardo Fornaroli (F3 Driver Currently), Gabriel Bortoleto (F2 Driver Currently) and Oliver Goethe (F3 Driver Currently). ART had two drivers return of Kaylen Frederick and Grégoire Saucy, alongside Nikola Tsolov (F3 Driver Currently). MP Motorsport Franco Colapinto returned with Jonny Edgar and rookie Mari Boya (F3 Driver Currently). Hitech Pulse-Eight, with new sponsorship, included a full rookie lineup of Sebastian Montoya (F3 Driver Currently), Gabriele Minì (F3 Driver Currently) and Luke Browning (F3 Driver Currently).
Van Amersfoort Racing brought back Caio Collet, and Rafael Villagomez alongside Tommy Smith (F3 Driver Currently). Rodin Carlin had changes; Hunter Yeany for rounds 1-5, Max Esterson (F3 Driver Currently) for rounds 6-7 and Franceso Simonazzi for the last 2 rounds. They teamed up with rookie of Oliver Gray (Endurance Driver and commentator). Campos retained Josep Maria ‘Pepe’ Martí and Christian Mansell. Hugh Barter raced 1-8 rounds before being replaced by Joshua Dufek (F3 Driver Currently). Jenzer Motorsport introduced a full rookie lineup including Nikita Bedrin (F3 Driver Currently), Taylor Barnard (Current Formula E Driver/ Reserve, and F2 Driver), and Alex García (Endurance Driver).
Lastly, with new ownership, PHM Racing, had Sophia Flörsch return following the accident in Macau. Finally, notably Piotr Wisnicki (F3 Driver Currently) and McKenzy Cresswell (GB3 Driver) sharing a seat.
2023 Race Winners and Champion
With the nine rounds of the 2023 season there were ten different race winners. Pepe Martí, Gabriel Bortoleto, Zak O’Sullivan, Gabriele Minì, Paul Aron, Franco Colapinto, Oliver Goethe, Caio Collet, Taylor Barnard and Jonny Edgar. Luke Browning won both the Macau races as well.
Gabriele Bortoleto won comfortably with two races to spare with 164 points, followed by Zak O’Sullivan with 119 points and Paul Aron 112 points. Subsequently, PREMA won the constructors with 327 points ahead of Trident with 308 points.
Current Sixth Season
We are nearly halfway through the 2024 season, Barcelona is round five out of the ten scheduled on the Formula 3 calendar. Currently leading the championship is Gabriele Minì with 72 points ahead of Luke Browning of 68 points and Leonardo Fornaroli with 64 points. PREMA is ahead in the constructors with 174 points ahead of Trident with 119.
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Photo Credit: Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images