As the season reaches its pinnacle, Formula 3 heads to the Madring for the long-awaited season finale at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Starting the season in Melbourne, F3 has travelled the world, delivering exciting racing at every venue. Heading across Europe to race at some of motorsport’s most iconic venues, the series will end its season at the Madrings inaugural race. Crowning a brand new Champion along the way.
Unlike other series racing this weekend, the F3 drivers head to the Madring with prior experience following in-season testing at the Spanish capital last month. But even with that experience, the 5.416km circuit will still challenge the drivers. Particularly as the series recorded 19 red flags across the 2-day testing period. Furthermore, drivers have yet to take the 22 technical corners in full race trim. Setting the stage for an enthralling season finale.
This weekend will also feature a different schedule than typically seen on race weekends. Following the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix earlier this season, the series added an extra race for the season finale. In turn, Friday will see a practice and two qualifying sessions to set the grid for the rest of the weekend. Saturday will see the regular sprint race and the first of two Feature races of the weekend.
All eyes to the championship battle
This weekend, a new F3 champion will be crowned in the Spanish capital. For most of this season, the two to beat have been TRIDENT’s Freddie Slater and Campos’ Ugo Ugochukwu. The pair have continuously matched one another’s pace, and have provided several nail-biting battles throughout the season. But only one will be crowned champion.
Heading into the weekend, it’s Slater who has the advantage. Despite a disastrous last weekend in Monza, which saw a front-row DNF, the Briton leads the championship by 15 points. Slater has shown strong pace throughout the season, even topping two sessions of in-season testing at the Madring. Emphasising that the 18-year-old has the pace at the circuit to secure a fourth consecutive Drivers’ title for TRIDENT.
But Ugochukwu can’t be counted out just yet. The American led the Championship for most of the season, consistently featuring on the podium in the first half of the season. Alongside Campos, the pair looked unstoppable. But a rough run of races saw Slater outqualify the 19-year-old, thus demoting him to second. Ugochukwu will head into the weekend with confidence after a brilliant recovery drive in Monza. Alongside this, the 19-year-old currently holds the fastest lap time set around the Madring, a title that will give him belief in his title charge.
An intense fight for third
In a championship as unpredictable as F3, anything can happen, and it usually does, so whilst Ernesto Rivera’s and Theophile Nael’s title chances are slim, it’s not over for them yet. The Campos pair sit on 76 and 75 points, respectively; for them to claim the title, a disastrous weekend would have to occur for the drivers at the front of the field. All while they would need maximum points from all sessions.
Whilst Rivera and Nael can mathematically secure the title, their sights are set on a different prize. The pair, along with 11 other drivers, are fighting for third place in the Championship standings. Rivera leads the charge, with 76 points. However, Mattia Colnaghi, the last of the challengers, is 32 points behind the Mexican, despite sitting in 13th. This 11-way fight for the final championship podium place means every point and position means everything for these drivers.
But with three races to go and every Championship place up for grabs, F3’s first venture to Madrid is set to be unmissable.
READ MORE: Ernesto Rivera excited about the ‘interesting’ Monza changes ahead of the F3 Italian GP
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