How the F3/GP3 war has been ramped up
The long-running war between Formula 3 and GP3 has taken a more significant turn thanks to a desire to simplify the Formula 1 pyramid. Is one of racing's longest-running and best-loved categories about to become a casualty?
The FIA's deal with the GP2 Series to rebadge the category as Formula 2 in time for the 2017 season was always going to raise questions over the futures of Formula 3 and GP3: two categories that have been at war since the inception of GP3 in 2010.
It quickly became clear that the FIA would try to rationalise the third tier of single-seater racing so that its Formula 3 European Championship would eventually slot in beneath F1 and F2 on the grand prix bill, with the name of GP3 disappearing.
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Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.
Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.
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