Formula 3 saved the best for last around the historic Monza circuit, delivering the closest championship battle in the history of the series. But what other drivers delivered headline-worthy performances – for better or for worse – in the 2024 season finale?

By Tori Turner

Heading into the 10th and final round of the season, seven drivers remained in contention for this year’s championship: Leonardo Fornaroli, Gabriele Minì, Luke Browning, Arvid Lindblad, Dino Beganovic, Christian Mansell and Oliver Goethe. That number equalled the seven who fought for the 2022 title, which Victor Martins secured at the end of the final race.

Seven drivers became six before the weekend began when Oliver Goethe stepped up to F2 to fill the MP seat vacated by F1-bound Franco Colapinto. Sitting seventh in the standings with a 35-point deficit to championship leader Fornaroli, Goethe was a long shot for the title anyway.

How the other title contenders dropped out

After an intense and controversial qualifying session split into two groups, the potential outlook of the championship became much clearer. Separated by one point atop the standings, Fornaroli and Minì also took the top two places in Group A, with Fornaroli on outright pole, while none of the other contenders finished in the top three of either group.

The highest-placed driver among the other four was Mansell, who managed a lap time of 1:38.905 to go fourth in Group B. After the session, Mansell was investigated for impeding Beganovic and was subsequently handed a three-place grid penalty for the sprint. 

But it was all for naught when a gear selection issue on the formation lap forced Mansell to start from the pit lane. Though he made up a few positions throughout the race and finished in 22nd, his non-score ruled him out of mathematical title contention.

Despite his disastrous sprint result, Mansell’s drive in the feature was memorable for the show he put on against Fornaroli and Minì during the final laps. Despite nose damage, Mansell ran as high as second and finished third following Minì’s post-race disqualification.

Beganovic had the advantage of starting second on the grid for the sprint race, the highest of any of the title contenders, due to qualifying fifth in his group with no penalties. With the opportunity to challenge for a win, he had put himself in a great position to keep his championship hopes alive.

But Beganovic lost a position on the opening lap of the race to Sebastián Montoya, which he never regained despite several attempts throughout the initial laps. His hopes of a podium then faded away when Trident’s Santiago Ramos overtook him on lap six. Meguetounif and Dunne passed him at Turn 1 on laps 12 and 13 respectively, and though he overtook Meguetounif again on the final lap, it wasn’t enough for a podium.

A five-second post-race time penalty for Montoya promoted him to fourth and earned him seven points, but once Fornaroli took the start of Sunday’s race, Beganovic was out of contention. 

Beganovic’s final feature race of the season began by losing a total of five positions on the second lap. After cutting across the gravel at Ascari to avoid Browning’s incident on lap three, he lost a further two positions. The Swede made up a few more places in what became a recovery race, and whilst he would only reach 13th by the end of the race, post-race penalties put him ninth in the final classification.

Lindblad struggled greatly during Friday’s qualifying session, finishing ninth in Group B and 18th overall. His hopes for scoring points in the sprint, however, improved after fourteen drivers were penalised, promoting him to 12th on the grid.

Even with this advantage, he struggled to make up ground throughout the race and finished 12th, where he started. He had a 22-point gap to Fornaroli on Sunday with 26 still on offer, meaning he would have needed to win.

Lindblad charged through the pack during Sunday’s race, finishing just outside of the points in 11th after the 22 laps. Despite his pace in the second half of the race, Lindblad collided with Voisin on the final lap, ruining the Rodin driver’s race. The stewards deemed the incident was Lindblad’s fault and gave him a 10-second time penalty, though he still finished fourth in the points and as the highest-placed rookie.

Luke Browning – third in the points, six behind Fornaroli entering the round – qualified seventh in Group A, which put him 13th for the feature race grid. He was one of 11 drivers to receive a four-place grid penalty for the sprint race for driving unnecessarily slowly in qualifying.

Taking into account his starting position, Browning had the perfect drive on Saturday to make up 11 positions and keep the championship alive. He overtook the likes of title rivals Minì on lap one at Turn 2, Lindblad on lap 10 before Turn 4 and Fornaroli on lap 17 at Turn 2 before the penalty for Montoya moved him up to sixth in the final classification.

He was only seven points back from Fornaroli ahead of Sunday’s feature but with significant ground to make up once more. Browning, Tim Tramnitz and Joseph Loake battled just outside the points in the opening laps, but on lap three, Browning spun entering Ascari and tapped the Rodin driver, damaging his front wing and extinguishing any remaining hopes of the title.

He continued the race and fought his way back to 12th before being handed a five-second penalty for a safety car infringement and a 10-second time penalty for the incident with Loake, demoting him to 20th.

Dunne finishes on a high

Alex Dunne had an up-and-down rookie season in F3 highlighted by a standout drive in the sprint race in Barcelona that earned him his first podium. But following a disastrous round at Silverstone two weeks later, Dunne only found the points once before Monza.

In qualifying, Dunne took to the track second as part of Group B. He dodged the traffic that affected several rivals and shot to the top of the group with a lap time of 1:38.818, though it was five-tenths slower than Group A pole-sitter Fornaroli’s.

“To be completely honest, I was surprised that I was pole in my group. It wasn’t one of the best laps that I’ve done,” Dunne said after the qualifying session. “It’s nice to have pole in your group and still have more in it, which is always a positive.”

The post-qualifying penalties promoted him to seventh on the grid for the sprint race. On the second lap, he passed Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak entering Lesmo 2 when the Thai driver ran wide. He took advantage of safety car restarts to pass and re-pass Sami Meguetounif on laps six and 17, losing the position only on lap 10 when Meguetounif overtook him into Ascari. Dunne crossed the line in fourth – adding a pass on Beganovic on lap 13 – but found himself picking up his second podium finish of the year after Montoya’s penalty.

Starting second for the feature race, Dunne challenged championship contender Fornaroli throughout the opening lap before taking the lead into Parabolica. Even with this move, Fornaroli stayed right on the back of Dunne, attempting to steal first place back after the safety car restart on lap seven. The Irishman’s chances of a win faded when Fornaroli’s Trident teammate Meguetounif overtook him on lap 10 heading into the first corner.

Dunne went backwards from that point on degrading tyres, conceding positions to Mansell on lap 11 at Turn 4, Fornaroli on lap 15 at Turn 1 and Minì a lap later at the same place. With Minì’s disqualification, Dunne was moved up to fourth overall, and the 20 points he earned from the weekend were his highest total of the season.

Stenshorne charges through for points

Martinius Stenshorne finished in the points on just three occasions prior to Monza, but he added two more to his tally with charges through the field.

Stenshorne qualified 10th in Group B, almost a second slower than Dunne, but was boosted to 13th on the sprint race grid, which became 12th with Mansell’s pit lane start.

Stenshorne made up one position on the opening lap despite having to cut across the Roggia chicane, then passed AIX Racing’s Joshua Dufek on lap two just before the safety car came out. After the restart on lap six, he overtook Inthraphuvasak and Loake – the latter after the Rodin driver went off in the gravel – but later lost positions to title contenders Fornaroli, Browning and Minì. Montoya’s penalty promoted the Norwegian to 10th.

With only one penalty promoting him to 19th on the feature race grid, Stenshorne faced a bigger challenge, but he made up 13 positions on the track, one of the largest numbers in the field.

With a strong start, the Hitech driver made up two positions on the opening lap and one more on lap two. As he held Lindblad off for 16th, Stenshorne earned four more places following the incidents at Ascari for Browning, Loake, Beganovic and Nikola Tsolov, then gained a further two at the restart on lap seven after Campos teammates Montoya and Mari Boya came together.

He spent the next three laps locked in battle before setting the fastest lap on the 11th tour, and he passed Inthraphuvasak and Voisin on the 12th while in a DRS train fronted by Tramnitz.

Just before Trident’s Santiago Ramos spun at Roggia on lap 17, Stenshorne overtook the Mexican driver for seventh. Two laps later, he made his final move of the race to pass sprint race winner Tramnitz on Lap 19. He finished the race three laps later in sixth, but Minì’s disqualification meant it was a fourth top-five finish in F3 for Stenshorne, who ended the season 18th.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency