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SEASON ANALYSIS: How Leonardo Fornaroli won the 2024 Formula 3 title
It has been the key ingredient to any F3 driver’s success in recent years and the magic word remains ‘consistency’. That is how Leonardo Fornaroli built his title challenge, impressing throughout the season from start to finish.
That magic ingredient was more valuable than ever with six different drivers entering the race weekend with a shot at the title.
READ MORE: Leonardo Fornaroli’s Championship-winning Monza weekend in his words
Here is a look at how the Trident driver became the first Italian to claim the F3 crown.
QUALIFYING PACE
It all starts on a Friday, not just Free Practice but in Qualifying and this has arguably been the backbone of Fornaroli’s ability to be consistent across the races.
The Italian achieved two Pole Positions this year – tied for the most with Luke Browning – one coming at Melbourne and arguably the most important of the season considering the stakes, in Monza.
But the most important statistic is that Fornaroli qualified in the top 10 in nine rounds this year – more than any other driver this season.
The only time he did not line up in the top 10 was in Spielberg when his fastest time was good enough for P8, but he exceeded track limits on his flying lap so dropped down to P24.
But despite that, it has arguably been Fornaroli’s strength - the ability to make sure he is always in positions to score points. With so many cars to contend with, getting caught up in the midfield can lead to incidents, so starting as far forward as possible is key and the Italian knew that.
POINTS MEAN PRIZES
But Fornaroli’s race record in 2024 is just as remarkable. The Trident man finished on the podium in seven of the 20 races this season and, while he missed out on a victory, was in the points in every single race bar two.
Those two races – the Imola and Spielberg Sprint Races, he finished 11th and 12th respectively, so wasn’t miles away from a scoring result.
If it hadn’t been for a blip down the main straight in the Imola Feature Race, he’d have likely won on home soil already, but his presence of mind to overcome the issue in the moment speaks to his mental strength.
Rather than panic and pull over into retirement, Fornaroli had the foresight and capacity to right the issue on the steering wheel, and he carried on to finish P3 and earn his third podium in as many rounds.
IMPROVED RACE MANAGEMENT
Trident Team Manager Giacomo Ricci was effusive in his praise of Fornaroli on Sunday at Monza. His driver had just made a miracle move at the final corner to secure the title, a moment that will live long in the memory.
But that overtake on Christian Mansell was ironically only necessary because the race had gone away from Fornaroli, one of the only occasions in the 2024 season that occurred.
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That’s because Fornaroli made great improvements in his race and tyre management compared to his 2023 rookie campaign. The team were able to see that with his data throughout the campaign, and that is what led to his regular points finishes and title contention.
“Since the first year he has improved massively,” Ricci said of Fornaroli’s improvements in race management.
“I still remember in the first official post-season test we did in Jerez, even physically he was struggling. He has been quick since the first time we tested him, very fast but he was really struggling physically.
“But from that moment on he always worked hard. When he saw that he had a weakness or things that were not at the top level he always worked hard, always asked for more, spent more time with the engineers, with us, with everyone.
READ MORE: 2024 Champion Leonardo Fornaroli graduates to Formula 2 with Invicta Racing
“The biggest improvement for me from the first season compared to the second one was the race pace and tyre management because this year he has been very strong on this while last year, I have to say on the tyre management he was a little bit poor.
“But this year he learned to manage the tyres, he was more in the game with this and that's why he has been so consistent and so competitive.”