Tight at the top after round four! Formula 3 Monaco round-up

Gabriele Mini after winning the Monaco feature race. Credit: Joe Portlock via Getty Images

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Already the 2024 Formula 3 season is fast approaching the halfway point of the championship with a fantastic title battle in prospect as the series leaves Monte Carlo.

The title battle is between many great talents and these drivers will be hoping for the most points they can possibly pick up with Spain, Austria, Silverstone, Hungary and Spa Francorchamps to come before August.

Gabriele Mini reigned supreme in Monaco in FIA Formula 3, just like his 2023 season in the category. In 2024 for round four, Mini topped practice, grabbed pole position and won the feature race. 

A fantastic weekend for the Italian who leaves the principality with the championship lead. He finished ahead of ART driver Christian Mansell and British Williams Academy talent Luke Browning, who were on the podium. It was a feature race that saw three safety cars.

Mini would not be the only Alpine Academy driver to win that weekend as Nikola Tsolov would win the Saturday sprint starting from the reverse grid pole ahead of Tim Tramnitz and Laurens Van Hoepen. The sprint would see a red flag that would wipe out five drivers. Eight cars would end up retiring through the entire race.

Let's take a 10-stop journey visiting each team and their drivers and looking at their weekends in more detail. We will begin with the reigning champions Prema.

Prema Racing - Dino Beganovic, Gabriele Mini & Arvid Lindblad

The reigning champions Prema and their drivers had a fine weekend in terms of their points haul and results - Gabriele Mini especially.

Mini drove a mightily strong weekend. The Italian driver kept his nose clean where others struggled and drove with great pace and vigour to claim 27 points in the feature race, after winning and claiming pole. He finished 11th in the sprint and although he failed to score it was a quiet race and he picked up the points where it mattered. He leaves Monaco in the best position - top of the championship.

As for Dino Beganovic, the Swedish driver had a consistent and point-scoring weekend around the streets of Monte Carlo. He finished seventh in the sprint and sixth in the feature race to take a decent handful of points. He will be looking to try and gain a podium in Spain next time out to further strengthen his championship challenge. 

Red Bull junior and rookie Arvid Lindblad had a mixed weekend and a complete contrast when comparing both races. Lindblad would have a very short sprint race as he would be one of the cars out at the start. After squeezing Christian Mansell at Casino Square, the pair made contact sending the Red Bull liveried car of Lindblad into a spin.

However, his luck would be a bit better in the feature race. A fourth place finish and 12 points for the 16-year old and he left Monaco with something more valuable than he could have got with maximum sprint race points. 

In the championship, Mini has the lead with Beganovic in fourth place and Lindblad in fifth. All three of the team very much in the championship fight and all three in the top five heading to Spain. Prema sit comfortable at the top of the teams standings.

Trident - Leonardo Fornaroli, Sami Meguetounif & Santiago Ramos

We hop from one Italian outfit to another now as we head from Prema to Trident, who had a mixed bag of results for their drivers across the weekend in Monaco.

Drivers Leonardo Fornaroli, Sami Meguetounif and Santiago Ramos all had different fortunes, none worse so than Meguetounif, who would have been hoping to get some decent results after his maiden F3 win in Imola. Instead a DNF in both races would not have been what he had hoped. A weekend to forget.

Fornaroli came into the Monaco round with the points lead. Sadly for him, he would not leave the principality with it intact despite scoring in both races. Fornaroli finished ninth in the sprint race with a fifth place finish in the feature race meant 12 points from the weekend.

As for Santiago Ramos, he would have been hoping for a bit better for his first time racing in Monte Carlo. A 15th place finish and a 14th place finish in both races meant no points scored. A shame for his season. He will be hoping for a return to points in Spain.

Fornaroli sits third in the standings eight points shy of the lead, with Meguetounif eighth and Ramos 13th. Trident sit in a comfy second place.

MP Motorsport - Tim Tramnitz, Kacper Sztuka & Alex Dunne

MP Motorsport have also had a mixed bag of results for their lineup across the previous Monaco round with all three promising talents in their academies.

Tim Tramnitz had a strong set of results with a double points score, having a points finish in both the sprint and feature race. He would finish eighth in Sunday's feature race, picking up four points.

​It would be a super Saturday as he passed Laurens Van Hoepen at the start of the sprint and finished second for his third podium in the category.

Kacper Sztuka and Alex Dunne did not have similar joys. Both retired from the sprint race in separate incidents.Dunne ran into the back of Christian Mansell in the incident at the start of the sprint race, whereas Sztuka retired with a puncture after being hit by Sophia Floersch.

In the feature race, both would finish but both would go without points. Sztuka finished 11th while Dunne finished 16th.

At the end of the round, Tramnitz sits seventh in the standings, with Sztuka and Dunne 19th and 20th respectively. MP Motorsport leave Monte Carlo sixth in the teams' standings.

Campos Racing - Oliver Goethe, Sebastian Montoya & Mari Boya

Over at Campos, differing results and fortunes occurred for the drivers in round four.

A difficult weekend for Sebastian Montoya, who had a difficult qualifying, which was a set back to begin with. An 18th in the sprint race and a 15th in the feature race signalled a weekend to forget and move on from for the Colombian driver.

As for Oliver Goethe, a weekend where it was a double points score but a low one at that. The German driver would finish 10th in both the sprint and feature race picking up a total of two points. Not what he would have been hoping for but its points all the same.

Mari Boya can come away feeling the happiest with his weekend around the streets of Monte Carlo. A sixth place finish in the sprint and a seventh place finish in the feature race would amount to 11 points across the weekend. 

Boya would move up to 11th in the standings, while Goethe would sit in sixth place. Montoya sits 15th after Monaco. Campos will be hoping for a strong showing in Barcelona as they will be on home soil.

Hitech Pulse-Eight - Luke Browning, Martinius Stenshorne & Cian Shields

Over at Hitech, another mix bag of results across the lineup with Luke Browning heading to Monaco second in the points standings.

Browning would start third in the feature race and finish there claiming a podium to his name continuing his run of finishing in the top four of a feature race at each round so far in 2024. It would also be the first time in the season where he would score in the sprint race. The Williams Academy driver ended eighth.

As for Martinius Stenshorne and Cian Shields, they did not have a glamorous weekend by any stretch, both being way off the pace of Browning. Stenshorne finished 15th in the sprint while Shields failed to finish after running into the back of Alex Dunne on the opening lap causing extensive damage to his car.

In Sunday's feature race, Stenshorne finished 26th while Shields was 20th in a weekend of learning for the pair of rookies.

Browning is second in the standings, four points off the lead. Meanwhile, Stenshorne sits 16th in the order while Shields is 29th in the standings yet to score.

Jenzer Motorsport - Charlie Wurz, Max Esterson & James Hedley

A challenging weekend is best to describe the outcome for the three Jenzer drivers with the first driver change of the season being made going into the weekend.

19-year old British driver James Hedley was subsituted in by the team in place of Peruvian talent Matias Zagazeta, who was recovering from having his appendix removed. Hedley would not have the easiest of debuts weekends, trying to conquer the Monaco track.

Hedley, from the GB3 series, sadly found the wall in qualifying and went pointless in both races. 20th in the sprint and 22nd in the feature race. A weekend of learning for the young Brit.

As for Charlie Wurz and Max Esterson both managed to finish the sprint race ahead of Hedley. Wurz would finish 19th while Esterson would finish 14th. As for the feature race, Wurz would retire on the opening lap after being sent into the wall at Portier - after contact with Piotr Wisnicki. Esterson finished 17 in Sunday's feature race.

Leaving Monaco, Wurz is 17th in the standings and Esterson is 22nd. Zagazeta is likely to be back for the Barcelona round should his recovery go as planned. Jenzer sit eighth in the standings - level with seventh place Van Amersfoort.

Van Amersfoort Racing - Noel Leon, Sophia Floersch & Tommy Smith

Differing weekends for the drivers at Van Amersfoort Racing in Monaco as the next team on the list is the Dutch outfit with drivers Noel Leon, Sophia Floersch and Tommy Smith.

Noel Leon would have been hoping to build on a decent weekend in Imola. Although he picked up a good fourth place finish in the manic sprint race on saturday, the feature race saw him fail to finish after he was put into the wall by sprint race winner Nikola Tsolov - causing a safety car.

As for Floersch, a difficult weekend for her around the streets of Monte Carlo. She would retire from the sprint race after getting her front wing wedged under the car after tagging MP Motorsport's Kacper Sztuka. She would receive a 10 -place grid penalty, which set her back in the feature race and she ended up 19th.

With Australian Tommy Smith, a weekend of where he made use of his learning in the category to avoid incidents and drive two clean races. He qualified in 20th but he kept out of accidents and incidents other drivers were getting caught out in. In Saturday's sprint race he finished 13th and in Sunday's feature race it was a 12th place finish. 

In the championship standings, Leon remains the team's only points scorer so far in 2024. He has 15 to his name and is 14th in the standings. Floersch and Smith are 25th and 24th respectively. Van Amersfoort are seventh.  

ART Grand Prix - Christian Mansell, Laurens Van Hoepen & Nikola Tsolov

ART Grand Prix are up next and it was a successful weekend for the team with each driver picking up a podium across both races.

Christian Mansell began the weekend with a great qualifying. He topped his group which was good enough for the front row of the grid. He started second and finished there in the feature race to claim a podium. In the sprint race he would be squeezed by Arvid Lindblad, which Lindblad spun and stopped Mansell's road. Mansell was then crashed into by Alex Dunne who wedged his front wing into the ART's exhaust.

For Laurens Van Hoepen, similar to Mansell, he had a podium and a DNF across the two races. Van Hopen would instead finish third in the sprint and fail to finish in the feature after hitting the wall at Tabac corner. An unfortunate way to end the weekend but the Dutchman claimed his third podium of the year.

As for Nikola Tsolov, what a fantastic and memorable weekend for him and his home country of Bulgaria. After starting on the reverse grid pole for the sprint race, Tsolov had the perfect opportunity to become the first Bulgarian in GP3 and FIA Formula 3 history to get a podium. He went one better than that and got his first win too in a well controlled drive.

In the feature race, it was far from the glamour of the sprint.as he made an ambitious dive into Mirabeau on Noel Leon, which put him in the wall. Tsolov would be penalised and finished 27th and last of the finishers.

Tsolov remarkably leaves Monco lowest out of him and his teammates. He sits 12th with 17 points. Van Hoepen is 10th with 30 points and Christian Mansell is ninth overall with 38. ART sit third in the standings, level with Campos.

AIX Racing - Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, Nikita Bedrin & Joshua Dufek 

Another difficult weekend for the AIX RAcing team in Formula 3 sees all three drivers go pointless.Their lineup consists of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, Nikita Bedrin and Joshua Dufek.

Inthraphuvasak would be the only one from AIX Racing to finish the sprint race on Saturday, as Dufek retired on the opening lap in the incident at Casino Square, while Bedrin retired with damage in the pit lane. Inthraphuvasak finished 17th.

The feature race would have all three AIX cars finish the race but end up pointless. Inthraphuvasak would be the highest placed, finishing 18th. Dufek would finish 20th, while Bedrin would end 24th.Disappointing weekend.

At the end of round four, Bedrin is the only points scorer and is 21st overall with six points. Inthraphuvasak and Dufek would be 27th and 28th respectively. AIX have slipped down to 10th and last in the standings.

Rodin Motorsport - Callum Voisin, Piotr Wisnicki and Joseph Loake

The final stop is here and Rodin Motorsport's drivers had differing fortunes around the streets of Monte Carlo.

Joseph Loake had his best Formula 3 weekend to date, with a fine qualifying display and his first points in the category. He would qualify eighth in the overall classification and finished in the top 10 in both the sprint and feature races. Loake would finish fifth in Saturday's sprint race while the British rookie would end ninth in Sunday morning's feature race.

As for Polish driver Piotr Wisnicki, he delivered a decent practice session on Thursday and made his dry running laps count before the rain came. It however would not go as smoothly for Wisnicki for the sessions where it mattered. He would qualify 21st.

In terms of the race results, Wisnicki would pick up a 10-second time penalty in the sprint race and ended up 21st - last of the 21 finishers. In the feature race, luck for Wisnicki would not get better. He finished 25th and would pick up another 10-second penalty for a opening lap collision with Charlie Wurz. A weekend of learning from Wisnicki

Finally, Callum Voisin would also have a weekend of learning in Monaco. He found the wall at Saint-Devote in practice,  and ended 20th in qualifying, He would keep his nose clean in the sprint race to finish 12th and in the feature race he ended up 13th. 

Rodin sit ninth in the standings and now make it so all of the teams have points in 2024 at the end of round four. They leapfrogged AIX Racing after Loake's points haul. As for Loake, he sits 18th in the standings, while both of his teammates are yet to score. Voisin is 23rd while Wisnicki is 30th.

Formula 3 returns to action for the fifth round of 10 in Barcelona between June 21-23 

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - f1journal.co.uk