Minì aiming for final F3 flourish and Drivers’ Championship crown

27 August 2024

One of two Italians fighting for the Formula 3 Drivers’ title on home soil, Gabriele Minì is gearing up for his second home event of the year and it could be his crowning moment.

The PREMA Racing driver heads to Monza second in the Standings after losing the lead to compatriot Leonardo Fornaroli following Spa-Francorchamps, but is just one point in arrears, 129 to 128.

Despite dropping back in the Championship, Minì says nothing has changed in his mind, with the Alpine Academy driver preparing the same way he always does despite the title on the line.

“I feel pretty chilled out. I don’t have to do anything extra than what I’ve done. The goal is always the maximum, so my approach won’t change for this final weekend.

“I don’t have to do 110%, it’s just 100% and maximise what I have. Like I said, the mistake I made last year was when I couldn’t get Pole or win, I was trying still and there would be one time when it went well, and then three times when it didn’t.

“So, for these final races, I feel calm, we need to avoid making mistakes, but I just need to do a good job, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Minì admits that while he won’t be changing anything for the final race weekend, his approach did change from 2023 to 2024.

Last season in Hitech Pulse-Eight colours, the Italian ended up seventh in the Standings after taking two race victories across the season.

Minì has taken one victory and several podiums across the 2024 campaign

He returned for a second FIA F3 campaign with experience in hand, and with the focus on consistency over anything else. “It’s my second season so I have to win. The goal is always to win so of course it’s nice to go into the final round in contention for the title.

“It’s never easy to change your approach but it’s something that you know if you don’t change, your career might not go forward.

“It’s something I’ve done for this season and even though I’ve made that change, it doesn’t mean I’ve been perfect. I know where I have to work on every time I go into a weekend or get into the car in general and we try to work on it. So, it wasn’t easy to do but it was necessary.”

It’s an approach that has paid off as one more strong showing to add to his five podiums in 2024 along with his Feature Race victory in Monte Carlo could hand him the title.

Minì says that he feels vindicated in his change of tactic, explaining that even though he hasn’t been able to maximise every result across the season, his approach has put him in a position he wouldn’t have reached if he’d returned to F3 with the same mentality as in ’23.

“I think this season I have been much more consistent and getting myself into less trouble compared to last year. That’s something I wanted to improve and something I think I’ve done.

The PREMA driver says consistency has been the difference between '23 and '24

“For example, this season I’ve gained around 30 points just in the Sprint Races, last year it was pretty much all or nothing, especially in Qualifying.

“This season has gone a lot more smoothly. Not everything has gone as planned though, we’ve had some low weekends like Barcelona for example, a small issue on the last run ruined the weekend. The Red Flag in Budapest in the final run also.

“But overall, this is what has been improved upon compared to last year. The goal is to win every race you do but that’s not possible. So it’s important to maximise and that’s what I’ve done I think for sure there was some more left on the table in some races. That’s not all been down to me, sometimes circumstances have played a role.

“But we’ve always been top six in almost all of the Feature Races, and today with eight points less, I would be third in the Championship and not one point off first. So, we’ve always been quite strong, but we could have had more.”

Looking specifically at the challenge that awaits, the PREMA driver admits that the one-point gap between himself and Fornaroli won’t matter much with the Temple of Speed renowned for throwing up an unpredictable weekend.

Qualifying could prove crucial with the grid split into two, but the long straights mean both the Sprint and Feature Races are likely to be decided by fine margins.

The Alpine Academy driver says Monza will be a 'lottery'

With two Italians vying for the title, the home support could play a role too.

“For me, it’s nice to have all the fans there, knowing you’re at home though doesn’t change much. It’s more something that you feel when you’re outside of the car. When you’re inside the car, you’re just focused on the driving and going out and taking every corner as you should. The rest doesn’t really change.

“The fight is really close, we are only a point behind and the top four are close, so you can go from P1 to P4 in just one race. The pressure is high, and you have to deliver and do well. But, as drivers we are used to it. It’s important that we’re here and able to fight for the title.

“Monza can be a bit of a lottery with the slipstream games, you don’t have many laps in Qualifying if all goes well. Then there could be Red or Yellow Flags in Monza, and with a slipstream you can gain four or five tenths, so it will be a bit of a lottery, and we will see.

“It would be great to win, it would mean a lot to win. At the moment it’s too good to think about so I just don’t want to think about it. I want to think about trying my best, if we can do it we will do it. If it doesn’t go our way, we have to move on.”