The GB3 Championship, formerly known as British Formula 3, has spent the past decade searching for a stable identity. Can the F1 prospects lured to the series for one-off appearances help it find one?

By Michael McClure and George Sanderson

In 2021, new Haas F1 recruit Ollie Bearman stormed to a historic dual title win in Italian F4 and ADAC F4. His sheer dominance in his second year of cars helped him find a place in the Ferrari Driver Academy and set him on the path to F1.

But there was a notable but lesser-known element to his breakout year: his three-round cameo appearance in the GB3 Championship. Over his nine races with Fortec Motorsports at Brands Hatch, Snetterton and Silverstone, he claimed one victory and three second-place finishes.

That race victory was in itself historic, as the series had changed its name at the start of August 2021 from British F3 to GB3. By winning the first race at Snetterton, Bearman became the first driver to win a race in the series under its GB3 moniker.

Those cameo appearances went largely unnoticed by the wider motorsport world, in stark contrast to his March 2024 cameo in F1 with Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that launched him into international stardom. When he returns to Jeddah with Haas in 2025, he will be the first GB3 driver to have graduated to a full-time F1 seat.

Bearman is not the first to dip his toes back into British waters. In the early stages of his single-seater career in 2016, Lando Norris participated in 11 British F3 races, picking up four victories and a total of eight podiums with Carlin. But amid title wins in the Toyota Racing Series, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC that year and 17 wins and 34 podiums from just 45 races across those three series, his cameo appearances in British F3 were also largely forgotten.

Suddenly, in 2024, others now look to be following a similar path – the first part at least. Of the 28 drivers who have entered a GB3 round so far this season, 10 have done so as part-timers alongside full campaigns in other series or while standing in for another racer. 

Compare that to 2023, when the only mid-season driver changes occurred in the latter half of the year, or to 2022, when only two drivers joined the championship at all after the first round of the season.

Half of these part-time or one-off drivers have come to the third car at Chris Dittmann Racing, whose team boss, Chris Dittmann, believes the trend reflects the series’ strong value proposition.

“Everyone has now appreciated how good the car is, how good the package is, how well the championship is run and obviously the circuits it’s on,” he told Feeder Series from the GB3 paddock at the Hungaroring. “Drivers are A) getting experience for other things and B) learning circuits. We’d prefer to have a full-time driver for the year, but it’s nice to have these other drivers come in.”

Present at the Hungaroring in CDR’s third car was Eurocup-3 championship leader Javier Sagrera, who told Feeder Series that the opportunity to drive in GB3 was “really good because of future experiences” and that it could be useful for his ambitions.

“You never know when you’re going to come back [to a circuit]. It’s a track that, you know, a lot of categories come here, so [having] track knowledge is really good,” he said.

“My goal is to keep progressing, and that’s obviously through FIA F3, F2, or whatever it is, as the ultimate goal is F1. So, you know, we’ll keep fighting and pushing for this, but that should be my next step [making the move to F3].”

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Of the eight GB3 rounds in 2023, five – the overseas rounds at Spa-Francorchamps, Hungaroring and Zandvoort as well as the two at Silverstone – are held at circuits F1 visits. It’s a record number for a series that, in its British F3 days, held only one international round per year at Spa.

The calendar is a key selling point for drivers aiming to reach series above GB3, particularly when their main campaigns don’t take them to venues such as Silverstone. Formula Regional Europe has never raced at a British circuit since it was launched in 2019, and Formula Renault Eurocup’s traditional Silverstone stop was left off the FR Europe calendar after the two series merged in 2021. Rival series Euroformula Open likewise dropped its Silverstone round for 2020, while new Formula Regional–level series Eurocup-3 never went there. 

The primary factors behind this are Brexit, or the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic weeks later. Since then, it has been logistically easier for European series to race solely in mainland Europe rather than make the trip across the English Channel. Drivers hoping to experience Silverstone – a fixture of the F1, F2 and F3 calendars – have to look elsewhere.

It is what ultimately drove James Wharton, an 18-year-old in his first season in FR Europe with defending champions Prema Racing, to join Fortec Motorsport for GB3’s two Silverstone rounds. At the first event in April, he finished 20th and 11th in the two races held; the third one was cancelled because of adverse weather.

“I’m not doing this track in FRECA this year, so it’s good to get here and learn,” he told Feeder Series.

“[There’s] a bit of a learning curve as well, get ready for F3 just not having many practices, and try and get on pace as soon as possible. I think that’s the biggest reason why I’m here, but it’s good to just have something different and enjoy something else.”

Current Hitech GP F3 driver Martinius Stenshorne also raced in Silverstone as the second of four drivers to fill CDR’s third seat this season. The Norwegian, who finished ninth and 14th in the two races, told Feeder Series he had come “to learn the track for F3 because there’s not much practice” during an F3 weekend. But that reasoning came with an ironic twist that illustrates the risk of such cameo appearances. 

Per article 10.4 of the 2024 F3 sporting regulations, F3 drivers must have the authorisation of the FIA and the F3 promoter in order to race at a circuit F3 visits in another single-seater championship. Neither Stenshorne nor Hitech had asked for permission.

As a result, on 16 May – the day he was announced as a McLaren junior – he was barred from competing in the F3 weekend at Silverstone in July. Two other F3 drivers who participated in the pre-event test sessions for that Silverstone GB3 round – Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad of Prema and, doing so covertly, Trident’s Santiago Ramos – escaped with a €20,000 fine and no penalty respectively.

Speaking on the 22 May episode of the Feeder Series Podcast, Stenshorne said that it was “something you can’t really be sad about.”

“It was organised by the team around me in the end, but we didn’t have the administration around the outing. It wasn’t complete,” he said.

“I think if we would’ve asked, we probably could’ve been allowed, but that’s what we missed and that’s the rules.”

Despite the ban, Stenshorne was still in the paddock at Silverstone.

“I’m here to try to learn as much as I can while not driving, and I’ve also been in Hitech on the sim,” he told Feeder Series while there. “Still keeping busy, but I wish I could’ve driven here.”

The driver who replaced him for the round was, incidentally, Wharton, whose GB3 outing at Silverstone back in April suddenly came in handy months earlier than expected. Because F3 was not his main campaign, he was not beholden to the same authorisation rules as Stenshorne was.

F3 cars are, of course, faster and more powerful than GB3’s, but the Tatuus MSV-022 still receives praise from drivers in a variety of series. Stenshorne said, “It has quite a lot of downforce – not as much as F3, of course. F3 also has more power and also a bit softer tyres. But in general, it’s a really nice car and it fits really nicely with this track as well.”

Wharton said GB3’s car was “on paper a little better” than the Tatuus F3-T318 used in FR Europe. “It’s a lot lighter, a lot more downforce, maybe a little bit less power but the corner speed is so much higher, so it’s a little bit closer to F3.”

Sagrera, who races the F3-T318 chassis with an updated body kit in Eurocup-3, expressed similar sentiments. “This GB3 car is a lot lighter than the one I’m used to [in Eurocup-3], so definitely I think it’s a car that in the high-speed stuff and change of direction it’s quicker. The driving style is everything a bit more… it’s fun!

“It’s much more fun, it’s nimble, it’s light. And the Eurocup-3 car is a bit heavier, and everything has to be a lot later and it’s just quite lazy. So overall, it’s such a nice car to drive. I really enjoyed it.”

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As was announced last month, GB3 is introducing a new car for the 2025 season. The Tatuus MSV GB3-025 conforms to the new Formula Regional technical requirements and takes inspiration from the current generation of F1 cars.

It is part of the series’ goal to become the leading series on the rung of the ladder below F3 alongside an even more international calendar. With it could come more cameos from drivers looking for direct preparation for F3.

Take, for example, McLaren junior Ugo Ugochukwu, who is racing in four GB3 rounds this year with Rodin Motorsport alongside a full-season campaign in FR Europe with Prema Racing. He sits seventh in the points in GB3 despite missing the past two rounds because of clashes with his FR campaign. Many believe he will one day go to F2, if not all the way to F1.

Ugochukwu is used to bouncing between series. In 2023, he raced in the full seasons of F4 UAE, Italian F4 and Euro 4 for a total of 45 races before ending the year with an appearance in F3 machinery with Trident at the Macau Grand Prix. That was “quite a big step” for him, he said at the time, especially since “the downforce compared to F4 is a really big difference.”

The step up to GB3 was less drastic, particularly after a winter campaign in Formula Regional Middle East, but it exposed him to new conditions. On his debut weekend, the season opener at Oulton Park, he experienced heavy rain in the second and third races, in which he finished fourth and third.

“The two wet races gave us some good experience in the rain,” he told Feeder Series. “It was really challenging because of how much water there was so the visibility was quite low, but yeah, the last one was definitely good. [I] made up a lot of positions and I think it was overall a strong weekend.”

Besides Stenshorne and Sagrera, CDR also fielded F4 graduate Rishab Jain in the season opener at Oulton Park and FR Europe rookie Kanato Le at Spa. Only the two full-time CDR drivers, Sebastian Murray and Flynn Jackes, raced at Zandvoort. USF2000 graduate Jacob Douglas is set to join the pair this weekend at Silverstone and in September at Donington Park having already tested with the team at several venues earlier this year.

Dittmann doesn’t believe the team needs to change their management style for each cameoing driver despite the vast differences in each one’s experience.

“We have the same procedures, same structure of the team,” he explained. “They all bring their own experience and knowledge from different things, different teams they’ve been working with. They generally settle in really quickly, which is obviously good for us, showing that we do a good job and make them feel comfortable.”

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Others on the grid are noticing the increase in visiting drivers too.

Speaking on the 2 May episode of the Feeder Series Podcast, third-year GB3 driver John Bennett, currently racing for JHR Developments, said each cameo driver is “just another name on the lap sheet” for full-season competitors. The more notable effect they have is on the reputation of GB3 – and its drivers – in the global single-seater landscape.

“Having these European names is great just to kind of bolster the reputation of GB3 a bit. I think it really just highlighted how competitive the championship is,” he explained.

“Stenshorne is a very talented driver, vice champion of FRECA, F3 race winner, but… he did find the GB3 grid competitive. And then same with Wharton and Ugo. It’s great having them there.”

That such drivers flock to GB3 illustrates the grid’s increased strength and competitiveness, Bennett argues, and whilst there “have always been standout drivers,” domination is harder to come by.

Luke Browning, the 2022 champion, was 46.5 points ahead of Joel Granfors in second and 143.5 points ahead of Tom Lebbon in third. Only Browning still races in single-seaters.

In 2023, champion Callum Voisin won by only 18 points over Alex Dunne and 67 over Joseph Loake. The three former title rivals are racing in F3 this year and have each scored top-five race finishes.

With three rounds remaining this year, Bennett sits fourth in the points, just 30 off championship leader Tymek Kucharczyk. Separating the two are rookies Louis Sharp and Will Macintyre, themselves title rivals in British F4 last year. One race win could vault Bennett to the lead.

“When you look at the grid [in 2022], there were only a handful of drivers at the top who could challenge,” he said. Whereas then you move into next year, obviously the grid just gets more competitive the further down you look.

“And then this year again. I think the fact that Stenshorne was qualifying P14 or something and Wharton P18, obviously they’ve very low levels of experience in the GB3, but I think it just speaks volumes about how competitive the grid is.”

Between Browning, Lindblad and Italian F4 championship leader Freddie Slater, England has no shortage of young drivers who could realistically set their sights on F1. In pursuing their dreams, however, many have had to eschew the domestic racing scene in favour of a career in mainland Europe.

GB3’s stated goal of becoming the prime gateway to F3 leaves it with a reckoning – a need to balance its growing international renown and its evidently British heritage. Perhaps, through its assortment of visiting drivers popping by for a round or two, it can bridge the gap and find an answer to its existential question.

Additional reporting by George Brabner and Martin Lloyd

Header photo credit: David Lord Photography