Formula 1 Racing

The drivers to watch in F3’s seven-way championship showdown at Monza · RaceFans

The drivers to watch in F3's seven-way championship showdown at Monza · RaceFans

The fourth season of the FIA Formula 3 Championship concludes at Monza this weekend and it promises to be one of its most wide-open title deciders yet.

Seven drivers from four teams are all in contention to be champion, including junior drivers from three different Formula 1 outfits: Alpine, Ferrari and Red Bull.

With so much at stake for so many drivers, it will be a treat for those on-track and the fans watching that the title decider is taking place at Monza, the best place for racing F3 visits. While there may be DRS passes aplenty, there is also lots of action through Curva Grande and into the della Roggia chicane, then also particularly exiting the second Lesmo as drivers with DRS available to them seek to make passes before activating it so they can then escape being passed back before Ascari.

There’s also usually drama in qualifying when F3 comes to Italy, with drivers slowing dramatically on the run to the final corner in an attempt to get uninterrupted track ahead of them. It not only causes close shaves during the qualifying session but leads to a lot of stewards’ room activity that can create a shaken-up grid for Saturday. And when the fastest drivers try to come from further back in the field they then get involved in the kind of midfield madness that leads to more trips to the stewards.

Half-hour qualifying session will be critical

Qualifying is the most important session of the weekend because it sets the grid for both races and delivers two points to the fastest qualifier. For Saturday’s sprint race, the top 12 in the qualifying results is flipped for the grid. This, combined with the fact it is shorter than Sunday’s feature race, means less points are available and the winner takes home 10 with the positions behind each rewarding one less point until you get down to a single point for finishing 10th.

The F1 system is used on Sunday, and with a point for fastest lap also on offer in the sprint race it means that a maximum of 39 points can be scored this weekend. The recipe is being written to set up a spectacular weekend of action that truly anyone can come out on top of, and will be well worth watching live for those with access to the pay-to-view providers that show F3. So who are the contenders?

1. Victor Martins, 126pts

21, France, ART Grand Prix

Martins holds a slender lead heading to the finale

He has rarely had the fastest car this year, yet Martins heads to the final round as points leader so he is clearly doing something right….

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