Potential, speed, and ability but can Hitech Pulse-Eight put the pieces together?

One returnee and two rookies comprise Hitech Pulse-Eight’s 2024 FIA Formula 3 lineup that holds plenty of potential and combine for what the team hopes will be a title-contending campaign.

Luke Browning returns after completing his rookie season in the Championship and adding the F3 Macau World Cup to his impressive CV. New teammates in Martinius Stenshorne and Cian Shields boast their own single seater successes in their own right to form a promising trio of drivers.

Will Hitech Pulse-Eight take a step towards Championship contention this year though? 2023 had plenty of high points but the team couldn’t quite sustain a title bid last time around. The ingredients are there for the team to push on in 2024.

Browning was reflective of his up and down rookie campaign at the end of last year and will no doubt be working hard to put the lessons learned into practice this time around. The Williams Driver Academy talent has been busy at the Formula 1 team’s base at Grove, ramping up preparations for the upcoming season.

The aforementioned Macau success at the tail end of last season was a statement victory in a field that was stacked with familiar talent as well as a number of returning F2 drivers.

His win will no doubt have given him confidence heading into his second go around in Formula 3, with such a mature drive to victory the exact kind of performance he’d do well to replicate once the 2024 campaign starts proper.

Browning was a points scorer just six times last season, but that betrays what his true potential was in terms of raw speed. Taking just one podium finish across the season also, Browning has plenty of room to improve this year in his second attempt, but the Briton is very capable of putting together a consistent campaign that may well have him contending at the top.

One of two new rookies to the team, Martinius Stenshorne arrives in Formula 3 fresh from competing for the Formula Regional European Championship title, ultimately finishing as runner up in the Drivers’ Championship.

The Norwegian will hope to follow in compatriot Dennis Hauger’s footsteps in becoming an F3 Champion himself, and while that might be a tough ask in his rookie season, he made more than a splash in FRECA in the same position.

Taking five wins across the season and a further six podium finishes, Stenshorne was comfortably the highest-placed rookie of last season, ending up 39 points adrift of eventual Champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli, though equalled the Italian in race wins.

READ MORE: Pre-season expectations: What each team will be aiming for in 2024

Stenshorne made a promising start to life in F3, going fastest in the afternoon session of the post-season Jerez test and was in and around the top 12 fairly often across the rest of the sessions.

He is currently competing in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship in his preparations for the 2024 campaign and is second overall in the standings. With four podiums and a streak that means he’s yet to finish outside the top five, Stenshorne has been sharpening the skills he’ll need in F3 come Sakhir and lights out.

Cian Shields arrives in Formula 3 after impressing in Euroformula Open and finishing as runner up in 2023. The British driver began his single seater racing career with Hitech, so will feel right at home as he learns the ropes in FIA Formula 3. In his inaugural season in GB3, he secured two podium finishes en route to P13 in the standings.

A winner on four occasions last season, Shields has race-winning experience around familiar venues in Spa-Francorchamps and Spielberg, while he was on the podium in Budapest and Barcelona during the Euroformula Open campaign.

That kind of experience will count a lot in his favour with such limited practice time available on each race weekend in F3. Going back to his 2022 GB3 campaign to include Silverstone, Shields has been on the podium around five of the 10 venues on the 2024 calendar.

While he ultimately ended up short of eventual 2023 Euroformula Noel León in the standings, it will have been a confidence boosting campaign to experience going into a maiden F3 season.

Hitech have yet to string together a title-contending campaign in F3, with a best finish of second in the inaugural F3 campaign the high-water mark for the British outfit so far. While the team have taken victories in the intervening years, the prospect of securing a first Teams’ trophy is surely the next step for the experienced campaigners.