Rating the prospects of the 2020 F3 title contenders

Ben Barnicoat has had a very unusual year. The 23-year-old McLaren GT factory driver should have already made his debut in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Carlin, having earned an automatic entry for finishing second in the Asian Le Mans Series over the winter.

He also should have carried on the momentum from a strong showing in the Bathurst 12 Hours - placing second in a 59Racing McLaren - in the remainder of the Intercontinental GT Challenge and added programmes in the European Le Mans Series (also with Carlin) and the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup for 2 Seas Motorsport.

But in a year transformed by the coronavirus pandemic, Barnicoat's schedule has been turned upside-down and, while he might still make the grid at Le Mans, Carlin's participation remains uncertain even with less than a month until the rescheduled race, having missed both ELMS rounds prior to the 24 Hours.

But it's not all been doom and gloom, for Carlin handed Barnicoat an unexpected single-seater return for the FIA F3 championship's Silverstone double-header earlier this month. Having not raced a single-seater since his single season of the 'old' European F3 in 2016 - a year dominated by Lance Stroll and Prema, leaving Barnicoat, Maximilian Guenther, George Russell, Nick Cassidy and Callum Ilott to fight over the remaining scraps - there was much to learn on his return, not least a Pirelli tyre that none of his prior experience could prepare him for.

"You get such limited number of push laps on the new Pirellis," says Barnicoat, twice a finalist in the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award. "The car I thought was well-engineered and quite nice to drive, but the four things attaching it to the road were very unique.

"Effectively that first weekend before qualifying I had six push laps to learn the car, how the tyres behave and to try and improve the car's balance, which was a really big ask and why the second weekend I had such a better Friday having had that experience beneath me.

"In LMP2 you're in a tyre-war with Goodyear and Michelin so they're very good tyres, the Pirellis in the GTs are a strong tyre, you're doing your fastest lap right at the end of your stint when the fuel is low and when I raced previously in FIA F3 was on a Hankook which was super-hard and there was no peak effect.

"But with the Pirelli, it was hard because didn't have many shots at it on the limit and I had to re-learn everything again."

"When you compare it against the likes of George [Russell] and Cassidy, I don't know that they're quite at that level, but I think a couple of them could be" Ben Barnicoat

From 20th on the grid in the first race, Barnicoat had moved up to 15th before a tangle with Bent Viscaal dropped him back to where he started, although he fought back to 12th in the sprint. With the benefit of a full race weekend under his belt, his second crack was better, qualifying ninth and securing sprint race pole by finishing 10th, although he fluffed his start and had dropped to third when his fuel pump failed.

So how does the cream of this year's crop stack up with drivers now established in Formula 1, Formula E and Super Formula? Even considering his status as a professional driver, Barnicoat reckons he shouldn't have been able to knock on the door of the top 10 so quickly given his uphill learning curve on the Pirellis, but rates the likes of Theo Pourchaire and Oscar Piastri very highly.

"I think the top 10 in the field are all very good drivers," Barnicoat says. "When you compare it against the likes of George and Cassidy, I don't know that they're quite at that level, but I think a couple of them could be."

Barnicoat's coaching commitments with 2 Seas in British GT's Brands Hatch round will preclude him from rejoining the F3 grid at Spa this weekend, but there are few better placed to judge the merits of the top five drivers in the championship standings and rate their prospects of challenging for the title.

5. Theo Pourchaire (ART Grand Prix)

Age: 17
Points: 80
Best result: 1st (Red Bull Ring II sprint, Hungary feature)
Best qualifying: 3rd (Hungary)
Qualifying average: 9

Barnicoat says: "In the second race before my car issue I was in third and he'd just got into fourth place, but it wasn't like you were racing a 16-year-old kid. He seemed to be a very wise head on young shoulders, he was being very mature about how he was going about it and was very impressive for his age.

"If you compare him against his team-mate for example, Sebastian Fernandez is three years older, he's a second-year driver but on-track Pourchaire looks like he's the more experienced driver. He was like someone you've raced against for a while, he didn't do anything silly and when you realise he's only just turned 17, given a few years I do think he has the potential to be someone special.

"Having back-to-back races at the same tracks will have definitely helped him, because all the experience you learn is so fresh in your mind, but he's still delivering on his side, and that's down to his ability. I think someone who has been driving for four years at the same level should have a way bigger head-start than what Pourchaire will gain back from doing back-to-back weekends."

4. David Beckmann (Trident)

Age: 20
Points: 94.5
Best result: 1st (Hungary sprint, Silverstone I sprint)
Best qualifying: 2nd (Red Bull Ring II)
Qualifying average: 8.1

Barnicoat says: "In my last year in 2016, he was there with Mucke and like Pourchaire now, I remember he came in and he was the youngest kid on the grid at the time. He did deserve to be there back then, but I think David had his shot when he was with ART last year.

"Yes, he should be a team leader at Trident, but I feel like if he was going to be a championship winner then he would have done it when he was with the best team on the grid at the time.

"I was fighting Beckmann and I thought he was very aggressive. You had that bit of doubt in your mind that you didn't know which way it was going to go, but with Pourchaire it wasn't like that. He was hard, but fair and you knew that nothing bad was going to happen."

3. Liam Lawson (Hitech)

Age: 18
Points: 99
Best result: 1st (Red Bull Ring I sprint, Silverstone I feature)
Best qualifying: 2nd (Silverstone I, II)
Qualifying average: 6.66 (12, 10, 11, 2, 2, 3)

Barnicoat says: "He made mistakes at the start of the year like in his battle with Jake Hughes in Austria that ended in both retiring. That was potentially 15 or 12 points down the drain there and without his two mechanical DNFs in Hungary, I think he would have been a real championship threat.

"He's a second-year driver, but I don't think you could have expected too much from him last year at MP. Yes, he's made mistakes, but the form he had at Silverstone and went into Barcelona with has been very impressive. He's driven well, scored points and always gone forwards in the reversed grid races. If you compare his performances against his team-mates, he's doing a stellar job.

"Liam is another one who is still very young, he's got a lot of time in front of him. Red Bull is very cut-throat and I'm sure at the start of the year he would have been feeling a lot of pressure. But if you can't handle the thought of Helmut Marko ringing you up on a Monday, and you let that have a bad effect on your F3 weekend, then you're never going to have the mental strength when you get into F1. But he's doing a really good job."

2. Oscar Piastri (Prema)

Age: 19
Points: 130
Best result: 1st (Red Bull Ring I feature, Barcelona sprint)
Best qualifying: 3rd (Red Bull Ring I, Silverstone I)
Qualifying average: 5.1

Barnicoat says: "I actually coached Oscar for one or two races at Arden in Formula Renault Eurocup back at the end of 2017 and it was clear even back then that he had all the right things. He was passionate, hard-working and just wanted to get results. I've got good respect for him because of his work ethic, so it was no surprise to me that he got in at Prema and did a good job straight away winning the first race in Austria.

"His last couple of weeks at Silverstone have been tough, the second weekend he had mechanical issues that let him down and the first weekend he had a bit of bad luck. If it wasn't for that, I don't have any doubt that he would still be leading the championship.

"In race one at Barcelona he made a mistake on a safety car restart, ran wide and lost a few positions. But then he had a mega start in the second race, got into the lead and even though he had a couple of safety car restarts, he broke the DRS both times which showed he learned from his mistake. That's exactly what a good rookie does.

"In qualifying it looks like Logan has got the edge, but he's a second-year driver. From my experience in those two short weeks, understanding the car and the tyre must be such a huge benefit because the tyre warmup is so crucial, there's so much that you have to get right before you have a fighting chance so already knowing all that is a huge benefit.

"I'm sure if you were to see him go again next year in F3, he'd be nailing the qualifying and doing a good job in the races like he already is. His race performances have been great, he just lacks a little bit in qualifying but I think that's fine considering his lack of experience. It's not like Logan is making him look silly, it's just what you'd expect."

1. Logan Sargeant (Prema)

Age: 19
Points: 131
Best result: 1st (Silverstone II feature)
Best qualifying: 1st (Silverstone I, II, Barcelona)
Qualifying average: 2

Barnicoat says: "He was someone you looked for at the start of the year when people like Piastri came in and beat him and you thought 'he should be doing a better job than that'. Given both his team-mates are rookies you would have expected him to be the dominant force from the word go, but at the moment he's on very good form, three poles on the bounce is very impressive.

"At Silverstone he didn't win the first race and the same at Barcelona so maybe he needs to manage his tyres a bit better in the races. You would expect him to have a little bit more knowledge of that as a second-year driver, but at the same time having experienced it, I know how hard it is to get it right.

"He's doing a good job, but Logan has really got to use his advantage as a second-year driver well in qualifying and make the most of that in the first race if he's going to have a proper crack at the title and not let Oscar get the better of him."

Barnicoat's verdict

"There's three rounds left now. Had Liam not had those DNFs, he would be my bet for the championship. He's very good at being second or third in race one and then doing a good job in the second race to get those few extra points, but 32 points is a lot of ground to make up unless the others have some bad luck.

"Logan is doing a great job in qualifying and getting the four points for pole positions, and if he can keep nailing the qualifying then he'll have a very good chance. But if he's not qualifying on pole, then my bet would be Oscar because he's a wise head on young shoulders in the races and a great talent in his first year.

"He's doing a mega job and I think he deserves to go far in the sport. I've never worked with Logan and I don't know him as well as a person, but I know how hard Oscar works and how hard he wants it."