What We Learned: The key talking points from our weekend in Monte Carlo

28 May 2024

Round 4 of this 2024 Formula 3 season headed to the famous Monte Carlo streets with the drivers going head-to-head to see who would come out on top in the Principality.

It was a weekend full of drama and action, and while some left Monaco happy with how things went, others will have their eyes set on rebounding in Barcelona.

But before we start thinking about Round 5 let us look back at this weekend and some of the key storylines.

A MONTE CARLO DOUBLE

Winning from pole position once in Monte Carlo is a dream for most drivers but being able to do it twice in a row is on another level.

That is exactly how Gabriele Minì will be feeling as for the second consecutive year the PREMA Racing driver took Pole before securing victory in the Feature Race.

He left it late in Qualifying, beating title rivals Luke Browning and Leonardo Fornaroli to go fastest in Group A on his final flying effort. He was then made to wait to see if his teammates Dino Beganovic and Arvid Lindblad as well Christian Mansell would beat his time.

But they could not and from then on, he managed things well in the Feature Race, dealing with three Safety Car restarts on his way to standing on the top step once more.

This also puts the Italian at the top of the Drivers’ Championship and after a slightly quiet but consistent start to the season, this victory could be the catalyst Minì was looking for heading into the next portion of the year.

Minì took his second consecutive Feature Race victory in Monte Carlo

ART FIGHTING AT THE FRONT

It was a particularly good weekend for ART Grand Prix who continue their fight back to the front after finishing seventh in last year’s Championship.

The weekend started well, with Mansell fastest in Group B, leaving him to start from second in the Feature Race while Nikola Tsolov and Laurens van Hoepen lined up on the front row in the Sprint.

FEATURE RACE: Minì becomes eighth winner in 2024 with Monte Carlo victory

Tsolov made that reverse grid Pole count as he went on to seal his maiden Formula 3 victory, while van Hoepen crossed the line in P3, giving him his third Sprint Race podium of the season.

Mansell on the other hand pushed Minì all the way in the Feature but just could not make his way past the PREMA driver, leaving him to cross the line in second.

It’s the Australian’s second P2 result of the year, after the Sakhir Feature Race, and it lifts ART to third in the Teams’ Standings, tied with Campos Racing on 85 points.

Their 36 points scored in Monte Carlo was only bettered by Championship leaders PREMA and it should give the French outfit plenty of confidence going forward.

ART scored the second most points this weekend with all three of their drivers standing on the podium

RODIN GET OFF THE MARK

Coming into the weekend, Rodin Motorsport had been the only team in the paddock yet to score a point so far. However, speaking to the team, they were nothing if not extremely positive about their performances this year.

Monte Carlo showed exactly why, with Joseph Loake, on his first visit to the Principality as a driver, qualifying in P8 – his best result of the season.

Loake: Best F3 Qualifying result evidence of Rodin progress

This put the Briton in contention to score some good points across the weekend and he did exactly that, finishing fifth in the Sprint before taking the chequered flag in ninth place in the Feature Race.

He also made the highlight reel with a spectacular overtake at La Rascasse on the Campos of Mari Boya. While that would have made Loake and Rodin happy, they confirmed what they had been saying for a while which is that if they keep it clean, they can battle for points.

It also gives them a great platform for the rest of the season to achieve Team Manager Sam Waple’s target of points at every weekend.

Loake scored his and Rodin's first points of the 2024 season

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP HEATS UP

For the third time in four rounds, we have a new Drivers’ Championship leader as Minì’s pole position and victory in Monte Carlo put him on 72 points and at the top of the Standings.

He is now four points clear of Browning in second, who was the leader after the opening two rounds. Fornaroli, who was tied with the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver after Round 2 and at the top by himself heading to Monaco, is now in third place, eight points adrift of Minì.

Behind them Beganovic is fourth, Lindblad’s in fifth and Oliver Goethe is sixth and not that far off the leader either, with the gap from Minì to 11th placed Boya at 42 points.

This means that one victory could put you right into the mix giving all of these drivers plenty of hope heading into the last six rounds and setting us up for an exciting end to the season.