Formula 3: Everything You Need To Know

The FIA Formula 3 Championship was established in 2019, combining both GP3 and European Formula 3. It acts a feeder series for F2 and then F1, nurturing some amazing driving talent! There are 10 teams, each with 3 drivers and the single-seater championship act as a support race for F1. Here is everything you need to know!

The Race Weekend

The race weekend consists of:

Friday: Practice and Qualifying

Saturday: Sprint race 1 and 2

Sunday: Feature Race

F3 uses a reverse grid method to decide the grid for the sprint races. Sprint Race 1 reverses the top 12 finishers of the qualifying session (So P1 becomes p12). Sprint Race 2 then reverses the top 10 finishers of sprint race 1 (so the winner of the first sprint race starts P12) with Sunday's Feature Race uses Friday's qualifications.

There are points available for the top 10 finishers in the sprint races in a 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 grading, with the usual FIA point system in place for the feature race. There are 2 points available for fastest lap in each race and 4 points for pole qualifier on the Friday.

The Schedule

Formula 3 acts as a support series to F1, with each round seeing 3 races. Here is the rest of the calendar for 2021:

27-29th August: Spa (Belgium)

3-5th September: Zandvoort (The Netherlands)

22-24th October: Austin (USA)

F3 has also raced in at Barcelona (Spain), Le Castellet (France), Spielberg (Austria) and Budapest (Hungary) this season.

Teams and Drivers

Prema: Hauger, Leclerc (A) and Caldwell

Trident: Doohan, Novalak and Schumacher (D)

ART Grand Prix: Vesti, Smolyar and Correa

HiTech GP: Crawford, Iwasa and Stanek

HWA Racelab: Nannini, Rasmussen and Villagómez

MP Motorsport: Martins, Collet and Van der Helm

Campos: Tóth, Colombo and Cordeel

Carlin Buzz: Cohen, Hughes and Edgar

Jenzer Motorsport: Williams, Hoggard and Ugran

Charouz Racing Systems: Sargeant, Fittipaldi (E) and De Gerus

One thing that makes it a little more confusing is that some of the drivers are part of F1 Driver Academies. This often means their car liveries and race suits are that of the F1 team and not of their F3 team. Here are the drivers in academies:

Red Bull: Doohan, Crawford, Iwasa, Hauger and Edgar

Mercedes: Vesti

Ferrari: Leclerc (A)

Alpine: Collet and Martins

The Car

F3 is a spec series, which means all the cars are identical. The drivers use the 2019 F3 Dallara chasis, using Mecachrome engines and Pierelli tyres, with three compounds (soft, medium and hard) available to the drivers. The top speed is 300 km/h with acceleration 0 – 100 km/h: 3.1 seconds and acceleration 0 – 200km/h: 7.8 seconds.

Where To Watch

F2 is available to watch on Sky Sports F1 in the UK, ESPN in the US, and a variety of channels across the world which you can view here. You can also tune in on F1TV!

Formula 3 has some incredible talent, so is absolutely something to watch. Make sure you tune into their race in Monza!