Road to 100: Bortoleto unstoppable as PREMA fend off Trident challenge

17 June 2024

The upcoming Feature Race in Barcelona will mark the 100th race in FIA Formula 3 history, and we’re charting the journey to this point and up next is the 2023 campaign.

Rookie Gabriel Bortoleto arrived on the scene and was the irresistible force, taking two race victories early on and going the distance, winning the Championship in Monza. His Trident team couldn’t quite celebrate a title double, as a season-long fight with PREMA Racing went the way of their compatriots.

Here is the 2023 season in review.

BORTOLETO AT THE DOUBLE

There was a stumble out of the starting blocks for the Brazilian as contact in the Sakhir Sprint Race with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagómez put him out of points contention. Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí earned Sprint victory on Saturday, but the Trident driver rebounded on Sunday. Going from second on the grid, Bortoleto challenged Hitech’s Gabriele Minì for victory though ultimately couldn’t find a route through. His pressure told though, as the Italian was handed a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. A late-race Safety Car wiped out Minì’s lead, handing the first Feature Race victory of the year to Bortoleto.

Up next was a trip Down Under as FIA Formula 3 visited Australian shores and Melbourne for the first time in Championship history. The tone was set in Qualifying though as Bortoleto was the one to earn Pole Position around the tricky Albert Park circuit. In the Sprint, Zak O’Sullivan became a first-time winner in F3, taking PREMA’s first victory of the campaign ahead of Campos’ Sebastián Montoya and teammate Paul Aron. Bortoleto made it two in a row in Feature Races, resisting a resurgent Grégoire Saucy, who applied late pressure in the ART Grand Prix car but couldn’t prevent the Trident taking the win.

Martí was a contender for the majority of the campaign but wound up fifth in the Standings

EUROPEAN DOUBLE HEADER

A return to Europe and Minì got his momentum back on track with Pole Position around the Principality in Monte Carlo. The Italian was sublime over his flying lap, over half a second clear of the pack. Reverse grid Pole sitter Martí earned his second Sprint victory of the year, leading a convincing performance from the front row and winning by eight seconds. Minì’s hard work on Saturday put him in prime position to win on Sunday, and he duly converted, leading home PREMA duo Dino Beganovic and Aron. Minì’s teammate Luke Browning earned P4 for the team ahead of Championship leader Bortoleto in fifth.

Onto Barcelona right away and on home soil, Martí was on the charge for Campos. The Spaniard put his car on Pole by a quarter of a second from Jenzer Motorsport rookie Taylor Barnard, with MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto in third. On Saturday, O’Sullivan was back on the top step for PREMA, earning his second win of the year before Martí converted his Pole Position into a maiden F3 Feature Race win. It moved him onto three for the year and cemented him as an early title contender. Bortoleto led the Drivers’ Championship on 92 points at this stage ahead of Martí in second on 68, with Beganovic third a further seven points back.

O'Sullivan was second with teammate Aron third in the end

A BUSY SUMMER

Into the heart of the European phase of the campaign and the Championship battle continued to flow in the direction of Bortoleto, who added valuable podium finishes to his 2023 record. Up first was the Spielberg Sprint Race with Aron becoming the newest winner of the year. Having started eighth, the Estonian carved his way through the pack and took the lead late on to earn the win. Sunday brought one of the races of the season with several overtakes for the lead, though Bortoleto was an ever-present in the top positions as Aron and Saucy suffered contact, while Beganovic fell backwards having led earlier. O’Sullivan arrived on the scene later in the race and cleared the Trident driver to seal his third win of the year ahead of Bortoleto and Van Amersfoort’s Caio Collet.

Onto Silverstone for Round 7 of 2023 and Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli earned his maiden F3 Pole Position ahead of teammate Oliver Goethe. Colapinto took his first win of the year ahead of Bortoleto in P2 in a dramatic Sprint Race impacted by rain. A mid-race switch to wet tyres for some gave them an advantage until the very final laps where the track dried out enough to swing back towards slick tyres. On Sunday, Fornaroli led the pack early on until Goethe was able to find a route through on his teammate to secure his first F3 victory ahead of the Italian, with Martí in third.

A final race ahead of the summer break took the paddock to Budapest and O’Sullivan continued to build on his recent results with a maiden F3 Pole. A fight for the lead after losing out to Nikita Bedrin of Jenzer was won by Minì, as he captured his first victory since Monte Carlo with Budapest Sprint win while Bortoleto added yet another podium to his record with third place. O’Sullivan put in his most emphatic performance to win from the front on Sunday, leading every lap for his fourth triumph of the campaign, tying the record for most wins in Championship history. It lifted the Briton up to second in the Drivers’ Championship, one point ahead of Martí, though Bortoleto was now 43 points clear of the pack.

After taking the lead of the Championship, Bortoleto could not be caught in 2023

CLOSING ROUNDS

After the break, F3 returned to Spa-Francorchamps where Bortoleto had the first chance at sealing the Championship. He’d be made to wait as he suffered a difficult Qualifying, winding up 15th overall as title rival Martí put Campos on Pole. The Sprint Race was peppered with Safety Car interventions, the latter coming courtesy of Bortoleto’s first non-scoring result since Sakhir’s Sprint Race after a technical fault put him on the sidelines. Collet earned his first win of the year for VAR.

Sunday’s Feature was split on strategy, with pre-race rain leaving some opting for slick tyres and others further back on wets. Jenzer gambled on the full wet tyres, and it worked for the Swiss outfit as all three of their drivers climbed up the order. Aron was the driver furthest forward on the grid to start on wets and he took an early lead though opted to switch to slicks under Safety Car. It cost the Estonian a probable win as the conditions remained in favour of the wet-tyred runners until the very final laps. Barnard resisted a challenge from Campos’ Christian Mansell to take his maiden win in F3, while Bedrin rounded out the podium on a great day for Jenzer.

On to the finale at Monza and while Bortoleto was forced to wait at Spa, his crowning moment came quickly. With his advantage in the Standings at 42 points heading into the final round, his closest rivals in Aron and Martí needed to secure Pole to stand a chance of taking the title fight to the Sprint and Feature Races. So, when Goethe went provisionally fastest and then brought out a Red Flag that ended the session prematurely, Bortoleto was left to celebrate.

The Brazilian drove an aggressive race with no need to hold back anymore from P8 on the Sprint grid to earn second on Saturday, while Trident teammate Goethe added points with fifth to bring the gap in the Teams’ Standings down to four points in PREMAs favour heading into the final day of action, 301 to 297. It looked like things would go Trident’s way until Goethe was forced to pull off from his Pole slot after the formation lap with an issue, handing the initiative to PREMA. P5 for Bortoleto and 15th for Fornaroli compared to a trio of scoring results for PREMA, including P2 for O’Sullivan meant that the Teams’ title went their way once again. Jonny Edgar capped off his F3 season with victory for MP ahead of compatriots O’Sullivan and Barnard on an all-British podium to round out the 2023 campaign.