Feature
The 2022 FIA Formula 3 season was a closely fought affair with seven drivers battling it out in the final round of the season for Drivers’ Championship glory. It was the most of any F3 season but that isn’t the only intriguing stat from the ‘22 campaign.
From individual honours to team efforts, the season included plenty of standout moments and even record-breaking races. Here are a few of the eye-catching statistics from this season and a deeper look at the title contenders.
No driver in F3 history had won three-consecutive Feature Races until Zane Maloney in 2022 (Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort, Monza).
The five-point gap between 1st (Martins) and 2nd (Maloney) is the second smallest gap between Champion and vice champion in F3 history, after Oscar Piastri and Théo Pourchaire in 2020 (3pts).
There were just five races in 2022 without a PREMA Racing driver on the podium. Despite that, the 355pts total is the lowest a Teams’ Champion has accumulated on the way to the F3 Teams’ title.
7 different pole sitters is the most in a single FIA F3 season (Franco Colapinto, Zane Maloney, Roman Stanek, Zak O’Sullivan, Isack Hadjar, Alexander Smolyar, Caio Collet).
Victor Martins’ total of 139pts is the lowest total points accumulated by an FIA F3 Champion on the way to the title.
7 drivers contending for a title in the final round is the most in an FIA F3 season (Victor Martins, Isack Hadjar, Roman Stanek, Arthur Leclerc, Zane Maloney, Oliver Bearman, Jak Crawford).
Maloney and Hadjar joined the list of drivers with three wins in a single FIA F3 season (Robert Shwartzman, Marcus Armstrong, Jüri Vips, Frederik Vesti, Liam Lawson).
Victor Martins is tied with Dennis Hauger for most F3 fastest laps on 4.
Isack Hadjar and Zane Maloney enter the top five for winning percentage in FIA F3, tied on 16.67%.
Roman Stanek holds the record for consecutive finishes in FIA F3, with his record standing at 45 races. It extends from the 2020 Spielberg Feature Race up to the 2022 Silverstone Feature Race.
Isack Hadjar was the only driver in 2022 to manage a hattrick (pole, fastest lap, race win), securing the feat in his Spielberg Feature Race victory.
Victor Martins holds the record for most FIA F3 races led with 8. Caio Collet is second in that list with 7.
Victor Martins holds the record for most podiums in Formula 3 with 12.
PREMA Racing has an impressive average when it comes to wins per season. The Italian team currently posts 6.25 wins/season.
Oliver Bearman ranks third on the list of podiums in F3 with eight in his rookie campaign. The Briton ranks behind Robert Shwartzman (9, 2019) and Théo Pourchaire (8, 2020).
PREMA Racing is the only team in F3 history to win the Teams’ Championship without taking a pole position during the season in which it won the title.
2022 is the first season in FIA Formula 3 in which the Drivers’ Champion hasn’t driven for PREMA Racing.
Victor Martins’ title win is ART Grand Prix’s first Championship of any kind in FIA Formula 3.
23 nationalities were represented by drivers throughout the 2022 FIA Formula 3 season.
With four wins in 2022, Trident moves above Hitech Grand Prix into second for total wins in FIA Formula 3.
PREMA Racing holds a winning percentage of 34.72% in FIA Formula 3 dating back to 2019.
MP Motorsport became the fifth team in FIA Formula 3 history to take successive race victories in the Championship (Caio Collet, Budapest Sprint Race & Alexander Smolyar Budapest Feature Race).
PREMA Racing’s five consecutive podiums from the Bahrain Sprint to the Barcelona Sprint Race is the third longest such streak in FIA Formula 3. PREMA holds the top two spots also (8 in 2019, 6 in 2021).
The seven title protagonists entered the final round of the season at Monza with a mathematical chance of winning the Drivers’ Championship. Looking closer at each driver’s individual statistics and we see who truly stood out in Qualifying and who fought back on race days.
(Jak Crawford’s Qualifying statistics are taken from the eight sessions he finished after stopping on track at Spa-Francorchamps).
Average Qualifying position - Championship contenders
Martins – 7.1 / Maloney – 4.2 / Bearman – 6.8
Hadjar – 9.4 / Stanek – 5 / Leclerc – 10.6 / Crawford – 8.25 (8 Qs)
Average Qualifying gap to pole - Championship contenders
Martins: +0.601 / Maloney: +0.198 / Bearman: +0.491
Hadjar: +0.703 / Stanek: +0.281 / Leclerc: +0.829 / Crawford: +0.440 (8 Qs)
Average finishing position – Championship contenders
Martins – 6.13 / Maloney – 7.36 / Bearman – 6.78
Hadjar – 8.67 / Stanek – 8.24 / Leclerc – 8.39 / Crawford – 9.11