Bringing every adventure home: Mari Boya designs his dream F3 weekend

11 August 2023

Revelling in each new experience in his rookie Formula 3 season, Mari Boya has added several new tracks to his racing CV before the 2023 campaign concludes at the more familiar surroundings at Monza.

Having grown fond of several circuits on the calendar and some from his earlier days, the MP Motorsport driver was deep in thought when we tasked him with creating his own dream race weekend.

WHERE WOULD THE RACE BE HELD?

“For sure it would be in Jerez or a place close to Jerez. It’s a perfect place for me because I’m a Spanish driver and it’s the place in Spain that I love the most. Also, the weather there is amazing – good food and good weather!”

WHEN WOULD YOU HOLD THE RACE?

“In the summer in the hot conditions. Maybe summer in Jerez might be too much, so I’d go with April or May. In Spain during the summer, it can be a nightmare, really bad, but spring is fine.”

DAY OR NIGHT?

“A night race if it’s possible. I’d really love to have the opportunity to race at night, so maybe I could choose the summer but racing at night would be perfect.”

STREET TRACK OR PERMANENT CIRCUIT?

“If I could change the current track, it would be ideal. I really like Jerez but for the races, I think it isn’t the best of tracks. Maybe I’d have a permanent layout like Spa-Francorchamps, it’s one of the best for races and it’s also a track that I really like.”

WET OR DRY RACE?

“A dry race because it’s more interesting for the people watching. Even if I put in long straights and hard braking to have the opportunity to overtake in the rain, it’s still a bit harder to do.”

HOW WOULD THE TRACK BE LAID OUT?

“I’ve recently driven in Silverstone so I would take Maggotts and Becketts from there for sure. 100% they are two corners that need to be there! I would also take from Spa, the section from Turn 10 to Turn 13 – the path out of Les Combes, to Pouhon and Pif-Paf, which I really like. It’s not on the calendar, but I really like a corner in MotorLand Aragon which goes downhill, I don’t know how it would match with everything else.

“Also, maybe something from Barcelona, either the last corner or the one going uphill. For sure I’d have Turn 6 and all of Sector 2 from Melbourne, it was really good for overtaking. If you nailed that corner, it was a really easy spot to overtake and I have good memories from there.

“Let’s say 100% a corner from Mugello. I would take Turns 6 and 7 and the two Arrabbiatas. I don’t know if they would be flat corners or not with our car, but I have really good memories from there and I really like that part of the track. I always love fast corners or those with high minimum speeds.

“Maybe I will put in some hard braking because I didn’t put anything in and I think it’s really good for racing. Turn 3 from the Red Bull Ring would be a good option going uphill and this corner is really good to overtake on. I love this dream track!”

WHAT TYRES WOULD YOU PICK?

“I don’t know, maybe the hard compound to be able to push harder in the race and not worry about the tyres.”

WHICH CELEBRITIES WOULD YOU INVITE TO THE RACE?

“This is a hard one for me. I’d invite Pedri (Pedro González López), Iker Casillas, he was my favourite goalkeeper or Fernando Torres, I really like him. For sure, I’d have reggaeton being played, I really like this type of Latin music. Maybe I’d have Bad Bunny or Myke Towers performing.”

WHAT WOULD THE PODIUM AND TROPHIES LOOK LIKE?

“The trophies would be big – super big! I really like trophies when they are big. It doesn’t matter the meaning that they have, but if you see a big trophy, it always seems like a big achievement. For the podium I’d maybe go for something in the style of Monaco. I really like that it’s in the middle of the city so that everyone could see it, doesn’t matter if it’s from their houses or something like, it would be super cool.”

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD INCLUDE?

“I really like the environment they had at Australia with many people being able to enter our support paddocks zone. I really like to have a lot of support from people and a good environment, so if I can have that, it would be perfect.”