2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship


The 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula 3 cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. The championship was the fourteenth season of Formula 3 racing and the fifth season run under the FIA Formula 3 Championship moniker. It was an open-wheel racing category serving as the third tier of formula racing in the FIA Global Pathway. The category was run in support of selected rounds of the 2023 Formula One World Championship. As the championship was a spec series, all teams and drivers competing in the championship ran the same car, the Dallara F3 2019.
After all 18 races were completed in this season. Ten different drivers won races: Zak O'Sullivan took four victories, while Pepe Martí won three races this season. Franco Colapinto, Gabriele Minì and eventual Drivers' Champion Gabriel Bortoleto each won two races. Paul Aron had one victory to his name in the season, as did Oliver Goethe and Caio Collet. Taylor Barnard took his first Formula 3 win in Belgium, with Jonny Edgar following suit in the last race of the year at Monza.
Prema Racing entered the championship as the reigning Teams' Champions, having secured their title at the final race of the 2022 season in Monza. They also secured the Teams' Championship title in 2023.
Gabriel Bortoleto, driving for Trident, claimed the Drivers' Championship after qualifying at the final round at Monza.

Entries

The following teams and drivers were under contract to compete in the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship. As the championship was a spec series, all teams competed with an identical Dallara F3 2019 chassis with a naturally-aspirated V6 engine developed by Mecachrome. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli.

Team changes

German Formula 4 team PHM Racing took over the entry and assets of Charouz Racing System at the end of the 2022 season, and ran in cooperation with the Czech squad under the PHM Racing by Charouz moniker.
Carlin competed under new ownership in 2023. The New Zealand-based car manufacturer Rodin Cars became majority shareholder of the team. With that, the team's name changed to Rodin Carlin.
Hitech partnered with hardware company Pulse-Eight during the off-season, changing the official name of the team to Hitech Pulse-Eight.

Driver changes

Reigning Teams' Champions Prema Racing completely changed their driver lineup, as Oliver Bearman, Arthur Leclerc and Jak Crawford all stepped up to the Formula 2 Championship. The team promoted two of their Formula Regional European Championship drivers to replace them: Ferrari Driver Academy member Dino Beganovic, who won the championship, and Mercedes junior Paul Aron, who came third in the championship. Partnering Beganovic and Aron was Williams Academy driver Zak O'Sullivan, moving from Carlin, with whom he came eleventh in the FIA Formula 3 Championship standings in 2022.
Trident also fully changed their driver lineup, as Roman Staněk and Zane Maloney moved up to Formula 2 and Jonny Edgar switched to MP Motorsport. Gabriel Bortoleto made the step up from the Formula Regional European Championship, where he came sixth in the standings in 2022. 2022 Euroformula Open Champion Oliver Goethe, who deputised for Hunter Yeany at Campos Racing at two events in 2022, joined him, and Formula Regional European rookie champion Leonardo Fornaroli took the final spot.
ART Grand Prix replaced Victor Martins, who won the Drivers' Championship with the team in 2022, with the reigning F4 Spanish Champion and Alpine affiliate Nikola Tsolov. Juan Manuel Correa also left the team to return to the Formula 2 Championship. His seat was filled by Kaylen Frederick, 2020 BRDC British F3 Champion, who came 17th with Hitech Grand Prix in his second season in FIA F3 in 2022.
MP Motorsport's three drivers from last season were all replaced. Kush Maini joined Campos Racing in Formula 2, with Mari Boya promoted from MP's Formula Regional European Championship team to replace him after the Spaniard came tenth in 2022. Jonny Edgar took over Alexander Smolyar's seat, moving over from Trident, with whom he came 12th in his second F3 season in 2022. The lineup was completed by Williams Academy driver Franco Colapinto, who came ninth in 2022 with Van Amersfoort Racing and swapped teams with Caio Collet.
Hitech Pulse-Eight recruited 2022 Formula Regional European runner-up Gabriele Minì, who replaced Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar, who left the series to join Formula 2. Kaylen Frederick also left the team and joined ART Grand Prix. His seat was filled by Sebastián Montoya, who made his championship debut in 2022 when he replaced the injured Yeany at Campos Racing in Zandvoort. The teams' lineup was completed by 2022 GB3 Champion Luke Browning.
Van Amersfoort Racing signed Caio Collet, 8th in 2022 with MP Motorsport, to replace Franco Colapinto. Reece Ushijima was superseded by Tommy Smith, who had been driving in regional F3-level series since 2019, most recently GB3 in 2022, where he took one win on the way to 19th with Douglas Motorsport.
Carlin fielded an all-new driver lineup, with Zak O'Sullivan switching to Prema, Brad Benavides graduating to Formula 2, and Enzo Trulli switching to Super Formula Lights. The latter two were replaced by 2020 F4 US Champion Hunter Yeany, moving over from Campos Racing after an injury-curtailed season, and Ido Cohen, who drove for Jenzer Motorsport in 2022 and returned to Carlin, with whom he competed in 2021 and in the 2020 Euroformula Open Championship. The team also signed one Williams Academy driver to replace another, with O'Sullivan's seat being taken over by 2022 British F4 vice-champion Oliver Gray.
Campos Racing signed Christian Mansell, who had already contested two Formula 3 rounds with Charouz Racing System in 2022, to replace David Vidales, who also moved to Super Formula Lights. Hunter Yeany also left the team to join Carlin and was replaced by 2022 Spanish F4 and French F4 vice-champion Hugh Barter.
Jenzer Motorsport had an all-rookie lineup in 2023, replacing Carlin-bound Ido Cohen, Federico Malvestiti and William Alatalo. Alex García made his Formula 3 debut after a seventh place in the 2022 Euroformula Open Championship with Motopark. Alongside him was PHM-backed Nikita Bedrin, who stepped up to the category after two years in Formula 4, with a high point of fourth place in the 2022 ADAC and UAE F4 Championships. The last seat was filled by another PHM-supported F4 graduate in Taylor Barnard, last years' ADAC F4 vice-champion.
New entrant PHM Racing by Charouz hired Sophia Flörsch for their first season in the championship, a move partially funded by FIA Formula 3 promoter Formula Motorsport. Flörsch previously drove for Campos Racing in 2020 and had competed in endurance and sportscar racing since then. She replaced Francesco Pizzi, who left FIA F3 to join TJ Speed in USF Pro 2000. Their second seat, which was shared by a handful of drivers in 2022, was filled by Roberto Faria, who competed in GB3 for the last three years, coming fifth in the latter two. The final seat was taken by Piotr Wiśnicki, who graduated to FIA F3 after a season in the Formula Regional European Championship, to replace László Tóth.

Mid-season changes

Prior to the fifth round at the Red Bull Ring, PHM Racing by Charouz announced that GB3 racer McKenzy Cresswell would take over Piotr Wiśnicki's seat for the Spielberg and Silverstone rounds.
Ahead of the sixth round at Silverstone, Hunter Yeany announced that he would leave the championship due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. His replacement for the Silverstone and Hungaroring rounds was Formula Ford Festival Champion and GB3 driver Max Esterson.
PHM Racing by Charouz hired GB3 driver Michael Shin for the remainder of the season prior to the seventh round at the Hungaroring, taking the seat previously occupied by Wiśnicki and Cresswell.
Rodin Carlin hired Euroformula Open driver Francesco Simonazzi for the remainder of the season prior to the penultimate round at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, taking the seat previously occupied by Yeany and Esterson.
Joshua Dufek, whose main campaign in 2023 was the Formula Regional European Championship with Van Amersfoort Racing, replaced Hugh Barter at Campos Racing for the final round at Monza.

Race calendar

Calendar changes

Technical regulations

Formula 3 ran with 55% sustainable fuel in 2023, supplied by Aramco, who replaced Elf Aquitaine as an official fuel partner and supplier. In a bid to decrease the championships' carbon footprint, an incremental gain in usage is planned until the 2027 season, where usage of 100% sustainable fuel is planned.

Season report

Round 1: Bahrain

claimed feature race pole position with the fastest qualifying time at the Bahrain International Circuit. Franco Colapinto qualified twelfth to start the reverse-grid sprint race from first place. Contact between Gabriel Bortoleto and Rafael Villagómez on lap two sent Villagómez into the barriers and brought out the safety car. As racing resumed, Pepe Martí improved to second place and later passed race leader Colapinto to take his first victory in FIA Formula 3.
On the opening lap of the feature race, pole-sitter Minì lost positions to Bortoleto and Grégoire Saucy. He reclaimed second place from Saucy shortly before the safety car was deployed to recover Tommy Smith's car, which had stalled after contact with Mari Boya. When the race restarted, Minì was issued a five-second time penalty for his car being outside the lines at the race start. He soon passed Bortoleto for the lead, and by the penultimate lap was far enough ahead of fourth-placed Dino Beganovic to stay on the podium despite his penalty, however a final-lap safety car to recover Alex García's retired Jenzer bunched the cars together and dropped Minì to eighth at the finish line. Bortoleto was awarded the victory, followed by Oliver Goethe and Beganovic, all claiming their first podiums in the category. At the end of Round 1, Bortoleto led the Drivers' Championship by three points over Goethe.