In similar fashion to how I did on Absolute Motorsport 12 months ago, in the run up to new year I will be reviewing all 3 of the formulas’ seasons, starting off with the Formula 3 championship.
The second season of the new era of FIA Formula 3 was eagerly anticipated, with a mix of new, highly rated drivers and experienced pairs of hands. However like with the series’ bigger brother, we had to wait a while due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However it can be said that the wait was definitely worth it as we were treated to an incredible title fight that went right down to the wire.
Prema take early control
Once again, Prema hit the ground running at the beginning of the season, however it was clear that they weren’t going to have the dominance they had in 2019. Especially after the first qualifying session where Sebastian Fernandez took pole position for ART. However his season opener ended at the first corner after contact with Oscar Piastri’s Prema. The Australian’s car survived unscathed and he took the first victory of the season, followed by one of his team-mates Logan Sargeant, and Alexander Peroni for Campos, who took a podium in the first race since his horrifying crash at Monza last year. However Prema did not repeat their run of 4 wins in a row at the start of the year, as Liam Lawson took the victory in the Sunday race after an intense fight with David Beckmann and Clement Novalak and resisting a late charge from Richard Verschoor to take the victory.
The second weekend of the season, supporting the Styrian Grand Prix, was full of drama. The first race of the weekend was red flagged midway through the race due to treacherous weather conditions. In the lead at the time of the red flag was Frederik Vesti, who took his first win of the season and Prema’s second straight Race 1 victory. The second race of the weekend took place in much drier conditions, and saw a battle for the lead between Liam Lawson and Jake Hughes. However the pair collided at Turn 4, putting both cars out of the race.
Theo Pourchaire makes us all feel old
Lawson and Hughes’ collision paved the way for 16 year old Theo Pourchaire for ART to take his maiden victory in the second Styrian race. The ART driver would back that up with a second victory in a chaotic first race at the Hungaroring, which saw the pole sitter Alexandr Smolyar taken out by Logan Sargeant at the first corner and a spectacular engine failure for Liam Lawson resulting in a red flag for oil on the circuit. The second race of the weekend took place in wet conditions, and MP Motorsport’s Bent Viscaal had extroadinary pace, working his way to the front, however he was penalised with two 5 second time penalties, and a late safety car meant he dropped out of the points. This allowed David Beckmann for Trident to take his first victory at this level since the GP3 Sochi sprint race in 2018.
Formula 3 then travelled to Silverstone for two race weekends, and Logan Sargeant was really starting to enter the foray, taking his first pole position of the season. However he would finish in third in an incident packed first race that saw Liam Lawson take the victory ahead of Oscar Piastri in second place. The second race of the weekend saw David Beckmann once again inherit a victory through a post race penalty. Alexandr Smolyar crossed the line first but the stewards took a dim view of his weaving down the Hangar Straight and gave him a penalty.
The Sargeant means business
In the championship fight it was a dismal race for Oscar Piastri, failing to finish after a qualifying session where everything went wrong. A fifth place for Logan Sargeant meant that he was reeling his team-mate in and a pole and victory in the first race of the 70th anniversary race, taking the lead of the drivers standings from Oscar Piastri. However he would lose it again after a retirement in the second race resulting from a collision with Cameron Das’s Carlin car. The second race at Silverstone proved to be an absolute thriller, with a battle for the lead that went right down to the wire between Bent Viscaal and Trident’s Lirim Zendeli. They fought tooth and nail throughout the final lap, until at the final corner, Viscaal muscled his way round the outside of the final corner to take victory. The battle for third proved to be just as exciting as Theo Pourchaire just hanging on from a train of cars to finish in third place.
Formula 3 then headed to Barcelona, with Logan Sargeant continuing his momentum by taking pole position and defending the lead, however he slipped down to third, behind Liam Lawson in second and Jake Hughes, who took his first victory of the season for HWA. Oscar Piastri finished in sixth place but made the most of the reverse grid race on Sunday, taking the lead after an incredible first few corners and never looking back, taking a crucial victory that put him just one point behind his championship rival. The championship continued to swing both ways in the next round at Spa. In the first race where Lirim Zendeli finally took his first win of 2020 after many close calls, Piastri extended his lead, but it was only a fifth place finish. Sargeant had the advantage for most of the race out of the two but suffered a mechanical issue which dropped him to eighth. The American however would make the best of that on Sunday, making the most of third on the grid and quickly progressing into the lead, and taking the victory, and reclaiming the points lead after Piastri finished down in sixth place.
The contenders stumble at Monza
As usual in Formula 3 and its previous iteration, the Italian round proved to be a weekend full of drama and great racing. And it proved to be a key round in the standings. Race 1 saw Theo Pourchaire lead most of the way having passed Liam Lawson early on, but a charging Frederik Vesti was able to catch up to the ART driver, take the lead and the victory. Oscar Piastri retook the championship lead having worked his way up to third after a dismal qualifying session, whilst Logan Sargeant found himself facing the wrong way at the De La Roggia chicane. In Race 2, it looked like the advantage would swing back to Sargeant, after he pulled off a thrilling fightback from his lowly grid position, whilst Piastri was eliminated after an incident involving himself, Clement Novalak and many others. However Sargeant would not score as he made contact with his team-mate Vesti, picking up a puncture. The race was won by Jake Hughes after a fight with Liam Lawson, whilst Theo Pourchaire fought back from an early trip through the gravel to finish in third, which would become second after Liam Lawson picked up a penalty, and putting himself in title contention going into the final race. Going into Mugello, Oscar Piastri led Logan Sargeant by 8 points, with Theo Pourchaire 24 points behind in third. In the first race of the weekend in Mugello, championship leader Oscar Piastri had a dismal qualifying session, starting well down in fifteenth, and he could not progress into the points, finishing in a lowly eleventh. However Logan Sargeant also struggled and only finished in sixth. The race was won by Frederik Vesti after a thrilling fight with Jake Hughes that went down to the last lap. Theo Pourchaire finished in third and with both Piastri and Sargeant scoring poorly, this put him into contention. At the top of the table, it was a dead heat between Piastri and Sargeant, with Pourchaire 9 points behind in third.
A thrilling finale
Going into the final race of the season the stakes could not be higher, but with the better grid position, Logan Sargeant appeared to be the favourite going into the decider. However sadly an incredible title charge came to an end as contact with Lirim Zendeli sent him and the Trident driver into the gravel and into retirement. That likely meant the championship was effectively over. However Oscar Piastri was still in a difficult position, and Theo Pourchaire was a man on a mission, progressing through the field at a rate. Could he cause a massive upset and take the crown seemingly out of nowhere? He worked his way up to third place which was the minimum he could finish to have a chance for the title. However in the latter stages of the race, Oscar Piastri began to work his way through the back end of the points and would work his way up to seventh, which was more than enough to maintain the champioship lead, and in a hectic finale, he came out on top and became the second champion of the new Formula 3 era. Whilst the race was won by Liam Lawson, who took his third win of the season.
Oscar Piastri takes the F3 title
Oscar Piastri won the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship, following in the footsteps of Robert Shwartzman, and joining an illustrious club of drivers such as Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Esteban Ocon and many more highly regarded drivers to have won on this level of the Formula One support bill. Theo Pourchaire almost came from nowhere to win the championship, finishing just 3 points shy of Oscar Piastri, and scoring in every race bar 3, with two of the races he did not score being in a weak opening round. I believe he was the fastest driver at the end of the year, and it can be said had it not been for his slow start, he would likely have taken the crown. It was an incredible title challenge from Logan Sargeant but unfortunately bad luck intervened when it mattered most. Frederik Vesti finished in fourth, having tailed off in the middle part of the season but came back to the forefront at the close. Liam Lawson and David Beckmann had strong seasons, taking multiple victories, with the latter returning to the top step after a dismal 2019. Jake Hughes had a rough start to the season but took two wins, ahead of Lirim Zendeli in eighth who showed flashes of speed. It was a slightly disappointing season for Richard Verschoor, who probably hoped for better than ninth after his Macau win, whilst Alexander Peroni rounded out the top 10, in a much better second season for the Australian.
Prema took the constructors championship for a second consecutive year, however they were not as dominant as they were in 2019, when they locked out the top 3 positions in the drivers. However being the only team with all 3 drivers consistently up there, they still took the crown by 209 points. Trident finished in second, beating out ART by 10.5 points. Whilst it was a slightly disappointing season for Hitech who probably expected better than fourth.
Conclusion
The second season of this new era of third tier motorsport produced what for me was the most exciting season on the third tier of the F1 support bill since the 2012 GP3 season. It is very rare that you have a season where two drivers constantly exchange the lead pretty much on a race by race basis, and not only that to have a third driver come out of nowhere and almost toppling them both as they tussled. The three drivers who were in title contention at the season finale all showed they were worthy of progressing to Formula 2, and indeed two of them already have, Oscar Piastri will drive for Prema in the second tier next season, whilst Theo Pourchaire made his Formula 2 debut in Bahrain for the HWA team and looks likely to make the step up in 2021 with ART. Logan Sargeant took part in the post season test and it can be assumed he will most likely make the step up as well. It is certainly going to be fascinating to see which of this year’s F3 crop will make the step up and join the second tier in 2021.
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