Dramatic Formula 3 title fight goes down to the final corner as Leonardo Fornaroli takes title!

Leonardo Fornaroli (pictured) is the 2024 Formula 3 Champion. Credit: James Sutton via Getty Images

In a hugely dramatic title fight that went down to the final corner of the final lap, Leonardo Fornaroli took the FIA Formula 3 Championship on Sunday morning at Monza, in front of his home crowd.

It was a crazy title fight that was always set to be filled with drama but in the final race of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship, but on the last lap into the final corner Fornaroli overtook Christian Mansell took third, which was crucially enough to take the championship.

Fornaroli would re-take the championship lead after coming into the final race with the lead of it, as he was contending for the title, throughout the race, with Gabriele Mini of Prema and Alpine Academy. It would have been heartbreaking for Mini to lose the championship, that close to the end, but it was the Trident of Fornaroli who came out victorious.

It would be four drivers who would initially come into the final race of the season, with a mathematical chance of winning the title as Fornaroli and Mini would be competing with two Brits in Luke Browning of Hitech and Arvid Lindblad, who is Prema teammates with Gabriele Mini.

For the race itself, it would be Fornaroli's Trident teammate Sami Meguetounif who would take a commanding victory after taking the lead from then race leader Alex Dunne. Meguetounif would finish ahead of Mini, who would take second but ultimately not enough to take the title as Fornaroli would complete the podium in third.

A truly fascinating season ended with the first Italian FIA Formula 3 champion and the first GP3/Formula 3 champion to win the title without winning a race.

How the title-deciding season finale unfolded in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Champonship

It would be race day for the final time in 2024 in FIA Formula 3, on Sunday morning, with the feature race set to take place and set to be a championship decider.

After some thrilling action in the 2024 season with so many different twists and turns in the championship, the Formula 3 Championship was to be decided at Monza with four possible champions but it could only be one of them.

Leonardo Fornaroli, Gabriele Mini, Luke Browning and Arvid Lindblad. One of these drivers would take the crown but who would it be?

Heading into the feature race, Fornaroli would be in a strong position with a three-point lead and him starting from pole position, and to go with it he would take the extra championship points, to extend his championship lead to five points.

Fornaroli would start on pole and would be joined on the front row with Irish driver Alex Dunne, of MP Motorsport. Dunne would look to become the fourth different MP Motorsport driver to win at Monza, in Formula 3, over the past two seasons. Dunne's teammate, Tim Tramnitz, picked up his maiden Formula 3 win in the sprint race.

Not only would it be the final race of the season to a fantastic and enthralling season but it would also be the final race in the era of machinery, with after the sprint race on Saturday, the new generation of Formula 3 car would be unveiled for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 Formula 3 seasons.

The most winners in the season the most podiums in a season in the sixth season of Formula 3 with the formation lap complete. It was time to go racing for the final time in 2024 for the championship decider.

The lights would go out and the cars would roar off the grid as Fornaroli would get a near perfect start as he would cover off Alex Dunne into the first few corners but Dunne would maintain second from Gabriele Mini, who started in third. Meanwhile,

​Mari Boya would take evasive action by cutting across the first chicane and would rejoin the circuit, letting the drivers who he had jumped in front of re-overtake him. 

The field all made it through cleanly but Dunne would remain poised to try and take the lead. Although Dunne was out of the championship fight, he was still wanting to try and continue MP Motorsport's dominance around Monza and he would make a move for the lead. 

Down the inside of the final corner and the McLaren junior would take the lead of the race lead at the end of the first lap and Fornaroli would not put up too much of a strong defence as any contact could completely risk the championship.

Fornaroli would have his Trident teammate in the top four, in Sami Meguetounif and therefore he would be providing a headache for second in the championship Gabriele Mini. Down the inside into turn 1 and Meguetounif would take third from Mini and once again there would be one car between the top two in the championship.

Start of the third lap and Fornaroli would have a look around the outside of turn 1 on Dunne but would be to no prevail as the Italian driver would not wanting to risk it too much with a championship on the line.

Further back and there would be drama for one of the contenders in Luke Browning, who would spin at the Ascari chicane with many cars forcing to take evasive action because of the Williams Academy Hitech in the middle of the road and stationary. 

This would lead to contact between drivers with Matias Zagazeta, Cian Shields, Sophia Foersch and Piotr Wisnicki all involved on the exit of the chicane. This would see the safety car be brought out and therefore this would neutralise the pack.

Browning would not fully be out of the race as he would pit for a new front wing but his chances of a title had slid away and he would have so much to do. He would have to rely on some serious drama for Fornaroli and Mini.

Lap 6 and the safety would come in at the end of that lap so racing would be resumed in the championship deciding race and Dunne would choose to get the race back underway at the start of the parabolica however Fornaroli would intend to stay with him and he would be tryingt pressure the young Irishman into a mistake.

Mini would not get off to the best of restarts as he would lose a place to the ART of Mansell and he would not be the best of times in the Prema Racing car. However, luck could be on his side as Fornaroli would drop back to fifth after going wide and through the gravel at Ascari. A nightmare for the Trident driver, who had slipped behind his main championship rival.

Start of lap 8 and Fornaroli would recover himself and would make his way back ahead of Mini and the Prema driver would be struggling and would have to dig deep for the championship. The move was made at Ascari. Fornaroli trying to rectify his race at the same place where he made the mistake at, one lap earlier. 

Meanwhile all the drama was kicking off between the top two in the championship, joy was at the car 5 of Trident with Sami Meguetounif taking the lead from Alex Dunne into turn 1. A truly brilliant move and the Frenchman was into the race lead.The reformed top three was Meguetounif ahead of Dunne in second and Mansell in third, with still plenty of time for it to all change.

Within the battle of the top three Mansell would get ahead of Dunne for second with a good move from the ART man, who was in the title fight coming into the weekend but sadly after luck didn't go his way in the Saturday sprint, he would have nothing to play for in the final race.

Mini would be getting the urgency call from his team Prema, who were urging him to get ahead of Fornaroli and on lap 13 he was closing him down but likewise Fornaroli was trying to hunt down Alex Dunne of MP Motorsport for the final place on the podium, to once again put a car between him and Mini,

Dunne would lose DRS to the front two and it would make it a no contest for Leonardo Fornaroli to make his way through into turn 1, as through the rest of the lap Mini would drop back a touch.

It would take until the start of lap 16 for Mini to hunt down Fornaroli as that's when he would be able to get of Dunne. Mini of the Alpine Academy and Prema was in search to become the first FIA Formula 3 champion from Italy and to take that honour away from Fornaroli.

Meanwhile all this had gone on a few penalties had been handed out. For knocking the polystyrene down at the first chicane, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak would be handed a 10-second time penalty and this would be added to the end of his race time. Sebastian Montoya and Luke Browning would find themselves also in trouble with the Race Stewards.

Fornaroli was on a mission and would be on a charge after the ART of Christian Mansell for second place in the race and sure enough on lap 18 he would find his way through into turn 1 for second place, although he would have a slight lockup, while completing the move and also into the following Roggia chicane. That would have done his tyres no good at all.

On the following lap, Mini would get ahead of Mansell down the start/finish straight before they reached turn 1 and now he would be up into third place. With the race being on lap 19, not much time was there for things to change. If Mini wanted to get the title, he would have to seriously work for it over the next few laps.

The following lap and Mini had closed up to the back of Fornaroli but was unable to make a move, he was going to need to try and get ahead as quickly as possible.

However on lap 21, there would be a major late twist in the championship title as Mini found his way ahead of Fornaroli but Mansell would also get back ahead! A significant twist because as it stood, Gabriele Mini would become the champion of 2024.

This would leave Fornaroli just one more lap to rectify the misfortune. Could he do it in such little time?

Down the main straight, DRS advantage for Mansell would keep Fornaroli at bay that in truth would be supplied by Mini, who would have to play this tactically to run out champion. Down to the Roggia chicane and Fornaroli would go for a move but both would go off the road and therefore have to concede the place. He was running out of time.

Down to Parabolica however, what was about to unfold was sensational by any standards as Fornaroli would desperately and in control send it down the inside of the final corner on the final lap to take third place and to bring him back into the championship lead. A hugely dramatic pass and that was fantastic from Fornaroli.

However, fantastic could also be used to recognise the performance of Fornaroli's Trident teammate Sami Meguetounif, who out front really showed his skill and controlled the pace with all the fighting going on behind him. He would cross the line and take his second win of the season and his second feature race in Italy - after taking his first in the Imola feature race back in May 

Mini would finish second in a truly brilliant effort, however, it wouldn't be enough for the Alpine Academy man of Prema to clinch the Formula 3 title. As with that daring move down the inside of the final corner, to take third, Fornaroli would take the final place on the podium but the title also.

Christian Mansell would finish fourth for ART, while after starting on the front row, MP Motorsport's Alex Dunne completed the top five. Hitech's Martinius Stenshorne would be sixth ahead of sprint race winner Tim Tramnitz in seventh.

Noel Leon finished eighth for Van Amersfoort Racing ahead of Laurens Van Hoepen who was ninth for ART Grand Prix.with Prema's Dino beganovic completing the top 10 and taking the final point.

A fantastic season with so many winners with the champion not being one of them

A truly remarkable Formula 3 Championship comes to a close after a fantastic season with so many twists and turns at the top and so much change throughout the year.

The season began in February and ended in Spetember but what happened in between was truly magnificent and is a great advert for the FIA Formula 3 Championship and a fantastic title fight that had four drivers within a mathematical possibility heading into the final race of the season on Sunday morning.

So much action with all 10 teams appearing on the podium at least once in what will be a Formula 3 season to remember for many years to come. The field was so evenly spread and there were so many drivers that were fighting for results.

Across the 10 rounds and 20 races, there was 12 different winners, with Arvid Lindblad, Luke Browning, Dino Beganovic and Nikola Tsolov being the repeat winners of the season but 21 different drivers ended up on the podium. 

We have seen 34 different drivers competing in the championship with four stand-ins participating. James Hedley, James Wharton, Tuukka Taponen and Noah Stromsted have all been fantastic to welcome onto the grid.

Prema would once again return to Teams Championship glory in 2024 and they clinched the championship with a round to spare, as they won it in the Belgium feature race, in round nine, at Spa Francorchamps. At the end of the season, Prema would have the title by 91 points from Trident who were second and ART Grand Prix were third.

However, Trident would still claim a title and it would be the drivers one with Leonardo Fornaroli without a win, taking the championship title in the most dramatic and fascinating of circumstances with a pass on the final corner of his season, to take it away from Gabriele Mini.

Fornaroli has been consistent which is the key to success and Fornaroli's championship-winning campaign proves exactly that. Yes he may have not won a race, but his form has been super consistent. He has scored seven podiums which is a brilliant record.

The Italian driver becomes the first driver from Italy to win the FIA Formula 3 Championship but also he becomes the first driver in GP3 and Formula 3 history to win the championship and not take a victory through the season. Simply remarkable from him.

Although it's Fornaroli's time in the spotlight, there was going to be seven drivers fighting for it this weekend, before Colapinto's move to Williams kick-started a chain of events that saw Oliver Goethe graduate and therefore would narrow it down to six.

Not all of these talents will make it to Formula 1 but one thing is for sure is that they have put their names in conversations for future seats in any top flight motorsport series. After all these talents are the stars tomorrow.

There will be post-season testing in Formula 3 in 2024, which will be the last action of the calendar year. However, with a new car era coming in 2025, excitement is starting for the next season of this thrilling championship, which begins at Melbourne,

​Until then, goodbye!

2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship: Round 10 - season finale feature race provisional classification

1. Sami Meguetounif (France, Trident)
2. Gabriele Mini (Italy, Prema Racing)
3. Leonardo Fornaroli (Italy, Trident)
4. Christian Mansell (Australia, ART Grand Prix)
5. Alexander Dunne (Republic of Ireland, MP Motorsport)
6. Martinius Stenshorne (Norway, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
7. Tim Tramnitz (Germany, MP Motorsport)
8. Noel Leon (Mexico, Van Amersfoort Racing)
9. Laurens Van Hoepen (Netherlands, ART Grand Prix)
10. Dino Beganovic (Sweden, Prema Racing)
11. Joshua Dufek (Austria, AIX Racing)
12. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (Thailand, AIX Racing)
13. Luke Browning (Great Britain, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
14. Kacper Sztuka (Poland, MP Motorsport)
15. Nikita Bedrin (Italy, AIX Racing)
16. Charlie Wurz (Austria, Jenzer Motorsport)
17. Tommy Smith (Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing)
18. Arvid Lindblad (Great Britain, Prema Racing)
19. Nikola Tsolov (Bulgaria, ART Grand Prix)
20. Santiago Ramos (Mexico, Trident)
21. Joseph Loake (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
22. Sebastian Montoya (Colombia, Campos Racing)
23. Callum Voisin (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport) DNF
24. Noah Stromsted (Denmark, Campos Racing) DNF
25. Max Esterson (United States, Jenzer Motorsport) DNF
26. Mari Boya (Spain, Campos Racing) DNF
27. Piotr Wisnicki (Poland, Rodin Motorsport) DNF
28. Cian Shields (Great Britain, Hitech Pulse-Eight) DNF
29. Sophia Floersch (Germany, Van Amersfoort Racing) DNF
30. Matias Zagazeta (Peru, Jenzer Motorsport) DNF

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal