Change at the top: F3 Weekend Wrap-Up

As Gabriel Bortoleto builds on his lead in the 2023 Formula 3 Drivers’ Championship, his rivals fight to track him down before the Monza finale. Meanwhile, PREMA Racing didn’t have things their own way, with Trident finding familiar form as it did one year ago.

Here is how things stand heading to Budapest for Round 8 of in 2023.

NEW LEADERS

It’s all change at the top as Trident’s impressive Silverstone weekend and misfortune for PREMA Racing has meant it’s the former that now leads the way in the Teams’ Standings. Trident added a second 1-2 finish of the season and remains the only team to achieve that in 2023. Oliver Goethe was a winner for the first time in FIA Formula 3 with a Feature Race victory, while Leonardo Fornaroli scored his third podium finish in the Championship alongside his teammate.

Gabriel Bortoleto keeps the top spot in the Championship, with a healthy 38-point advantage over his closest rival. The Brazilian’s run of consistency is hugely impressive and has formed the foundations to a stellar rookie campaign so far. He still is yet to finish a race outside of the top 10 since race one of the year. Can anybody catch him is the big question?

REVERSAL IN FORTUNES

There was little to shout about for PREMA Racing at Silverstone after a disappointing weekend by the Italian outfits very high standards. Paul Aron was the closest the team got to pole position, while Dino Beganovic’s weekend was made all the more difficult after issues in Qualifying. Zak O’Sullivan had a scrappy home race weekend, and for the first time this season, no PREMA driver featured on either the Sprint or Feature Race podium across a race weekend. It means that the team has slipped behind Trident in the Teams’ Standings.

Aron is the highest placed of the PREMA trio in the Drivers’ Championship, climbing up to fourth and 77 points while a non-scoring Round for Beganovic means he is now fifth on 75. O’Sullivan is seventh on 73 points and, while the team is the only one on the 2023 grid with all three of its drivers in the top 10 of the Drivers’ Championship, rivals Trident appear to be hitting their best form at the moment.

FRUSTRATIONS AT HOME

As one of the two British teams on the FIA Formula 3 grid, Hitech Pulse-Eight would have been hoping for a better time of things on home soil. Unfortunately for the team, things didn’t pan out as hoped. Gabriele Minì lost further ground in the Drivers’ Championship battle as the team struggled to identify an ideal setup to unlock speed to compete with Trident. He will need a big couple of weekends in order to claw back the lost ground to Bortoleto, with the Italian driver now 51 points behind the leader.

Luke Browning was looking extremely comfortable in Free Practice, but his weekend only got worse with each session, unable to show his true pace and potential around the Silverstone circuit. Teammate Sebastián Montoya had been managing things out front in the Sprint Race, but contact with Taylor Barnard relegated the Colombian down the order. He put up a great fight to rise back up to P8, but the wait for a first F3 win goes on.

FIGHTING FOR THE POINTS

It’s as you were at the top of the Drivers’ Championship after Silverstone, with Josep María Martí matching leader Bortoleto’s points total at the weekend, 17 points apiece. So, the gap remains the same but is the Campos Racing driver beginning to find his best form at the perfect moment? The Spaniard has outperformed the Trident driver in two of the past three Feature Races, including his Barcelona sweep with pole, fastest lap and Feature victory that weekend. He has to keep up that kind of consistency to stand a chance of closing down the gap in the Championship, still at 36 points with six races remaining in 2023.

Teammates Christian Mansell and Hugh Barter scored their best F3 finishes with the former securing a maiden podium with third place in the Sprint. Barter followed him home in sixth position in the Saturday race, a big boost for them to carry into the remaining rounds ahead of the summer break.

BACK TO WINNING WAYS

After losing a win earlier in the season in Melbourne, Franco Colapinto and MP Motorsport stood on the top step of the podium once more with Sprint Race victory at Silverstone. The Argentinian driver was in top form during a tough dry-to-wet race, keeping himself out of trouble to take his first win of the season. The team has found improved pace in recent Feature Races too, and Colapinto is one of the five drivers vying for a top three spot in the Drivers’ Championship to be separated by just four points, with Minì in third on 77 and O’Sullivan seventh with 73.

Jonny Edgar endured a very difficult weekend on home turf, slipping out of the top 10 having started on the front row in the Sprint Race while Mari Boya likewise couldn’t add any points to his total.

FAILED GAMBLE

There was a great sense of trepidation as the cameras peeled back from Grégoire Saucy’s ART Grand Prix car to reveal the Swiss as the only driver on the grid fitted with wet tyres on Saturday. Rain was falling but was it enough to benefit him over everyone else on slicks? Unfortunately, the gamble didn’t pay off and Saucy ended up 21st by the chequered flag, but he rebounded to a P9 finish on Sunday.

Teammates Nikola Tsolov and Kaylen Frederick went without points in Silverstone, with the Bulgarian coming closest with P11 on Sunday. The Hungaroring was a stronger circuit for the team last year, achieving four points scores of a possible six across the 2022 weekend. Will the French outfit replicate that form once again?

IMPROVED SPEED

Things didn’t go completely to plan for Van Amersfoort Racing at Silverstone, but the team was at least happy with the higher levels of performance it has enjoyed as of late. Caio Collet is hitting his best form of the year so far, with the team impressed with his recent races, even if he didn’t add to his tally in the Silverstone Feature Race following a post-race time penalty.

Likewise, Tommy Smith and Rafael Villagómez have both made steps forward this season, with the Australian close to his first F3 points at the weekend before he too dropped down the order post-race. VAR is looking to the remainder of the season to solidify their current position and build on some bright spots that the team has experienced lately.

CLOSE TO THE MARK

Taylor Barnard had been fighting Sebastián Montoya for Sprint Race victory until the Safety Car restart where he tapped the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver into a half spin. The Briton eventually ended the Sprint 30th and Feature Race in 21st.

Teammate Alejandro García was so close to his first points of the season. 11th in the Sprint Race, Campos’ Martí beat the Mexican driver to the line by under a tenth of a second to deny the Jenzer Motorsport driver his first F3 points. Nikita Bedrin had a scrappy weekend but he fell down the order after a post-race time penalty demoted him to 17th.

A POSITIVE WEEKEND

Ido Cohen’s P9 finish in the Silverstone Sprint Race was Rodin Carlin’s first scoring result of 2023 and well earned. After falling to the rear of the pack in the early stages, Cohen was able to capitalise when the rain began to ease, keeping his car on track in the wetter areas and making the most of his slick tyres while those ahead on wets had burned up their rubber as the track continued to dry.

Teammates Oliver Gray and Maxwell Esterson experienced tougher weekends, but the latter made a great effort considering his lack of F3 experience. Going forward, Esterson could continue to find improvements as he gets more acclimatised to the Rodin Carlin car.

LOOKING TO BUDAPEST

Sophia Floersch couldn’t carry the momentum she gained in Spielberg across to Silverstone, with P19 in the Sprint Race and 23rd in the Feature. Home driver McKenzy Cresswell was consistent but unable to break into the top 20 in just his fourth Formula 3 start with PHM Racing by Charouz.

Roberto Faria suffered a crash in the Feature Race to cap off a tough weekend for the team, but efforts will now refocus onto Round 7 and improvements ahead of the summer break. Two quickfire rounds will follow, and there’s plenty of time to secure another scoring result in 2023.