Despite difficult track conditions all weekend and few opportunities to overtake, Formula 3 still managed to provide impressive racing entertainment throughout the weekend.  Feeder Series looks at the main points from the eighth round of the season at the Hungaroring. 

By Tori Turner

ART continue their resurgence

ART Grand Prix proved once again why they’re fighting to solidify their place as the second best team on the grid this season with their remarkable efforts in Hungary. Their weekend truly began during Friday’s qualifying session where they kept in consideration how crucial starting positions are for tracks such as the Hungaroring. All three of their drivers successfully delivered in qualifying, with Laurens van Hoepen claiming his first pole position, Nikola Tsolov finishing just behind him in second and Christian Mansell ensuring all drivers placed within the top ten in eighth.

Van Hoepen’s result in qualifying marked a potential turning point for the Dutch driver, who has struggled to match his teammates’ success in the second half of the season. Even though he scored two podiums in the first two rounds and another in Monaco, he had since failed to score any higher than fifth.

Mansell was able to capitalise on his reverse grid position on Saturday which saw him start fifth on the grid. His race consisted of several battles to maintain his position against MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz. He ended up losing the position to Tramnitz for good on Lap 8, but was able to overtake Callum Voisin on Lap 12 to regain it. Mansell attempted another move on Tramnitz again which proved to be unsuccessful. His teammate van Hoepen was able to make up a total of three positions at the start of the sprint, putting him up to ninth where he added two points to his weekend total.

Trouble came for Tsolov early on in the race when he made contact with Prema’s Gabriele Minì, causing him to pit for a new front wing. He was later handed a 10-second time penalty on Lap 12 for causing a collision. As a result of the penalty, the Alpine Academy driver is now one penalty point away from a race ban.

During Sunday’s feature race, it was Tsolov who managed to get the best launch off the line, moving himself up into first as van Hoepen chose the outside line and ran wide as a result. The two teammates were able to maintain an ART 1-2 throughout the entire race, despite van Hoepen asking the team to swap their positions. Starting back in eighth, Mansell was able to make up two positions on the opening lap, putting him up to sixth. On Lap 4, Mansell executed a lunge on Trident’s Santiago Ramos to take fifth where he would remain for the rest of the race. As the chequered flag was waved, Tsolov took his first feature race win of his career, taking his F3 career total up to three.

Shortly after the podium ceremony on Sunday, van Hoepen was disqualified from the feature race after his car was found to be 4.0kg under the required minimum weight. Mansell was swift to defend ART on social media as the news broke, revealing that the loss in weight was a result of a “radiator issue that leaked out water during the race.” As a result of van Hoepen’s disqualification, Mansell was promoted up to fourth in the race. 

Across the two races and the two points from van Hoepen’s pole, ART scored a total of 48 points in Hungary, the most of any team. With Mansell also continuing his consistent top-five finishes throughout the weekend, he inches closer towards title contention. After this weekend, he sits fifth in the standings with a total of 97 points, putting him 22 points behind championship leader Minì.

10 teams on the podium

Despite there still being two rounds left of the 2024 championship, F3 set yet another record in the series to celebrate at the Hungaroring. For the first time since its inaugural season in 2019, all 10 teams that compete in the championship have now stood on the podium within a season. Before this weekend’s achievement, F3 had only ever had nine teams standing on the podium across one season. This previously occurred during the 2020 season where Charouz failed to score a podium, as well as the 2021 season where Carlin was also unable to reach the podium. 

AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak’s 1-2 finish during Saturday’s sprint completed this statistic. Their result also ensured that the 2024 season will have the most number of individual drivers to achieve a podium finish in F3. Over the 16 races that have been held so far, 19 drivers have stood on the podium. With four more races to go, this number could potentially increase.

Saturday’s third-place finisher Dino Beganovic spoke about how these results reflect the competitiveness of F3 as a whole. 

“It’s always been quite a competitive championship. It’s great news that all the teams have been on the podium this year,” Beganovic told Feeder Series. “It’s great news for the sport and the championship. It shows the competitiveness in Formula 3.” 

“It comes from single-seater categories that you come from before, so Formula Regional, F4 and then everybody comes together in Formula 3 with all the best drivers in the world. Then you take the step up to F2. I think that’s the reason why it’s so competitive as well.”

Fornaroli bounces back

Heading into Hungary, Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli was 26 points off championship leader Minì after scoring minimal points in Spielberg and Silverstone. After Sunday’s feature, Fornaroli had cut the deficit by 19 points, now only seven points away from the championship lead. Whilst he was unhappy with some aspects of this race weekend, it’s undeniable that the two races were crucial in keeping his title dreams alive.

Fornaroli gave himself the advantage he desperately needed over his fellow title rivals in qualifying. With a lap time of 1:34.173, he put his Trident into third on the grid and ahead of Minì and Arvid Lindblad, who were unable to place themselves in the top 12. 

A charge through the pack during Saturday’s sprint allowed him to score four crucial points, taking him from his starting position of 10th to eventually finish in seventh. Two of these positions were made up on the opening lap after a perfect start from the Italian. He was able to overtake Trident teammate Sami Meguetounif after being able to close up the gap due to the VSC restart on Lap 3. The move was eventually made at the start of Lap 4 and Fornaroli stayed in seventh for the duration of the race.

The feature race was Fornaroli’s main chance to gain points against his rivals which he succeeded in, even after a difficult start to the race. Fornaroli locked up into Turn 1 on the opening lap, allowing Noel León to overtake him around the outside and snatch third place away from him. He was unable to regain that crucial podium position throughout the race as he focused on managing his tyres and was faced with few opportunities to overtake. Fortunately, van Hoepen’s post-race disqualification played directly into his hands, handing him third place and the 15 points to go with it.

With both Minì and Lindblad failing to score all weekend – and Browning only managing a total of three points – Fornaroli was able to catch up immensely thanks to his efforts. The top four in the championship are now separated by only seven points, making the title fight closer than ever.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency