Christian Mansell’s decision to switch to ART Grand Prix for his second season of Formula 3 has proven to be the right choice. The Australian has proven to be a championship contender this year, helping the French outfit go back to their usual performance after a tough 2023. The 19-year-old spoke to Feeder Series about his season so far and the atmosphere within the team.

By Daniele Spadi

Together with other household names of the series, Mansell has fought for podiums and race wins throughout 2024. From taking home second place in the opening feature race of the season in Bahrain to taking pole in Barcelona on his way to another podium, while also fighting for the win around the streets of the Principality.

Though success has eluded the Australian so far in his F3 career, he is currently sitting in fifth in the drivers’ standings, with four podiums and three further top five finishes to his name. Despite being 22 points behind championship leader Gabriele Minì, he is still fully in contention for the title as he goes back to the track that gave him his best result to date in the series last year.

Finding a new home

Ultimately, choosing to leave Campos to join ART gave new life to Mansell, who presented a developed, more complete version of himself to the world once the 2024 season started.

However, the decision to switch teams wasn’t as easy as it sounds. “To be honest, when I first joined ART, I’ll admit it was a risk,” Christian said to Feeder Series, “because the car was very very different to anything that I’d ever driven before, and that sort of scared me.”

The Australian bravely opened up about the feelings he felt at the start of the season, and how this helped him become a better version of himself. “In fairness, most of the time I’ve been fuelled by passion of motorsport and determination,” he told Feeder Series. “But for the first time, I was fuelled by fear, and I think that was a very important turning point in myself. I started to be fuelled by fear – the fear that maybe I can’t get this car to work, maybe I can’t get on top of it.”

A change for the better

Despite his fears, the 19-year-old was soon able to find his footing, as ART proved to be able to find their form again. The French outfit has been nothing short of outstanding this season, as they sit in second place in the teams’ standings with three victories.

Mansell has been the biggest points contributor so far, and he thanks the relationship with his team for it. “When the team want it as bad as I do, I think at the end of the day you can genuinely achieve anything, as far as getting back to normal proceedings of where ART belonged. And that is at the front of the pack, because we’re a proven race-winning team and a potential championship-winning team.

“I think I not only owed it to myself to do a good job this year, but seeing how hard they work and seeing how hard I work for this, there’s definitely an element of passion that comes with being here.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency