Christian Mansell was one of seven drivers who began 2024 with a full-time Formula 3 seat before moving to Formula 2 for the final three rounds of the season. The Australian, competing for Trident ahead of a move to Rodin for 2025, he spoke exclusively to Feeder Series on the eve of the Qatar Grand Prix weekend.

By Martin Lloyd

Mansell made his F2 debut in Baku in September alongside fellow F3 graduates Gabriele Minì and Luke Browning, having played a critical role in the last-lap F3 title swing two weeks before in Monza. 

He qualified 10th, which put him on pole for the reverse-grid Saturday sprint race. 

“To be completely honest, I didn’t expect anything from that weekend just on the basis that it was the first one,” he told Feeder Series on reflection.

“I did a really good job in qualifying; it wasn’t a mistake that I was in that position, it wasn’t by chance, it felt like a nice lap.

“It also cements just how good F3 was this year. Not only did Gabriele qualify P8 and Luke qualified P11, [but] in our first race in Baku, we’re all inside the top 12. It just goes to show that we were really on it that weekend.”

While Mansell was not able to hold onto his position at the front of the field, he scored his first point with an eighth-place finish. He followed this with another point on Sunday by finishing tenth in the feature race.

These were precious points for Trident, who sit ninth in the teams’ standings. Mansell’s predecessor Roman Staněk had only scored three times all season. 

Baku was not Mansell’s first strong street showing of the season. He had already finished on the F3 feature race podium at Monaco with ART. Does Mansell have a particular affinity for street tracks?

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Monaco’s such a cool environment,” he said. “I just love it a little bit more, but I love dancing with the walls, as dangerous and irresponsible as that sounds!

“It’s something that I quite like. I don’t really find it fearful. I think the only time I’d find it fearful is if the balance is not on my side, which is completely understandable. But I’ve been really lucky in that I’ve had a really good car at Monaco with ART Grand Prix, and I’ve had a really strong package with Trident at Baku, so I’ve been a very lucky boy.”

Mansell’s move to Trident was not the only change at the Italian team during the autumn. Between the Baku and Qatar rounds, Richard Verschoor switched to MP Motorsport, for whom he will also race in 2025.

To replace the Dutchman, Trident brought in Max Esterson, who most recently finished 21st in F3 with Jenzer in his rookie season. The American narrowly beat teammates Charlie Wurz and Matías Zagazeta and is also thought to be a candidate for Trident’s 2025 F2 squad. 

Mansell said he and Esterson did two days of simulator work before flying out for the final two rounds of 2024. 

“We didn’t do five days on the sim or something crazy like that. Two days on the sim is a fairly normal amount for any driver. Obviously you go through a bunch of stuff with the team where we want to do changes that we [would have] potentially liked to have done at Baku and previous events.

“Obviously it’s quite hard for me because Baku was my first event, so in a way, I’m a little bit out of the loop in some things, but more in the loop than Max. I try to help as best as I can even though I’m very limited in my experience of Formula 2.”

In 2025, Mansell will race for Rodin Motorsport, with whom he competed in British F4 and GB3 in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Ahead of his first full season in F2, Mansell visited the Rodin factory in Farnham in southern England to say hello to his former and future team. 

“A lot of faces are very familiar from when I drove with the team when it was called Carlin back in 2020,” he said. “A lot of the people that were there when I was there are still there. It was quite nice.”

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency