How the ultra-tight F3 title fight is taking shape

The FIA Formula 3 standings couldn't be closer after the first two rounds of the 2022 season. Victor Martins sits joint top of the drivers’ standings with Arthur Leclerc, the pair having taken 36 points apiece. Roman Stanek, in third, is just three points adrift, with fourth-placed Jak Crawford one behind him and Isack Hadjar a further point back in fifth, just five off the lead.

With no drivers having scored in all four races, the competitive order remains somewhat unclear. But who has shone brightest in the early exchanges? And which promising drivers could be in with a shot at the title come the checkered flag at Monza?

As the highest placed returning driver for 2022, Victor Martins has perhaps the most expectation on his shoulders. The 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup champion finished fifth with MP Motorsport in 2021, taking a win at Zandvoort and five further podiums, then moved to ART Grand Prix for his second crack at the title.

After a mechanical issue scuppered his chances while running eighth in the Bahrain sprint race, the Alpine junior took his maiden win in the first feature race of the season after battling past Franco Colapinto. That momentum continued into the second round in Imola, with a second place finish in the sprint behind Colapinto after final lap contact ahead of him between Hadjar and Caio Collet promoted him from fourth.

But after a disastrous opening lap dropped him to last at the start of the feature, he could only recover to finish ninth which dented his chance to extend his championship lead, and he heads into round three level on points with Leclerc, albeit ahead on countback of wins.

His highest start so far this year third in Bahrain, suggesting qualifying may be an area to work on if he is to become the first non-Prema Racing driver to win the title since the merger between the FIA European F3 championship and GP3 for 2019. But fortunately for Martins, Leclerc has struggled even more in this regard. The first to properly address this in the remaining seven rounds could well be the one who takes the title in September.

Martins is the highest returning driver from 2021 and shares the joint standings lead with Leclerc

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

After dominating the Formula Regional Asian Championship over the winter, with four wins and a further five podiums from the 15 races, Leclerc looked set to be one of the top title contenders in 2022. Remaining with Prema, the team that has run Robert Shwartzman, Oscar Piastri and Dennis Hauger to titles for the last three years, for his second season, the younger brother of Formula 1 championship leader Charles has all the right people around him. And like Martins, he too had F3 race wins under his belt coming into the year after triumphing at Paul Ricard and Zandvoort last year.

The Ferrari junior made up for qualifying a disappointing 13th in Bahrain by charging through to fifth in the sprint race, then took his first podium of the year with second in the feature - also from 13th. But also like Martins, a mixed weekend in Imola has hampered the Monegasque driver’s progress this season. A premature end to his qualifying, courtesy of contact with Enzo Trulli, left him to start 21st for both races - again giving himself plenty to do.

If Stanek can continue his consistent qualifying displays, he will certainly be one to watch in 2022 and may even convince an F1 team to reconsider overlooking him. But given how tightly-bunched the leading pack is, the tables could easily turn come Barcelona in three weeks time

A disappointing sprint race, in which he wiped out the 150-metre board at the exit of Villeneuve to prompt a virtual safety car, failed to yield any points, but he made amends with a characteristically stunning charge through the field to finish fourth in the feature. If he can qualify further up, Leclerc should be capable of chalking up wins.

Stanek, who sits three points behind the leading pair in the standings, is now in his third year of F3 and with his third different team. But still only 18, the Czech driver is two years the junior of both Martins and Leclerc.

Stanek began his F3 career in 2020 with Charouz Racing System, but only managed a single points finish with eighth at Monza as he ended the year a lowly 21st. He moved to Hitech the following year, improving to 16th with podiums at Hungary and Spa.

Unlike Martins, Leclerc and the past three F3 champions, the Trident driver lacks the backing of a Formula 1 team academy. But that makes him no less likely to be a title contender if he can continue the pace he showed in the first two rounds, qualifying second for both feature races with the reigning teams’ championship-winning squad.

Punctures in both races in Bahrain, on the first lap of the sprint and while battling for third with Alex Smolyar in the feature, meant he failed to score in the season opener. But after a strong drive to fourth in the Imola sprint, he bided his time well in the feature race, snatching the lead from Prema’s Ollie Bearman on the penultimate lap to score a maiden series victory.

Leclerc has struggled in qualifying this year, leaving him with too much to do in the races

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

If Stanek can continue his consistent qualifying displays, he will certainly be one to watch in 2022 and may even convince an F1 team to reconsider overlooking him. But given how tightly-bunched the leading pack is, the tables could easily turn come Barcelona in three weeks time.

Crawford, who has switched from Hitech to Prema this season, only qualified 20th in Bahrain which left him on the back foot for both races. Under the circumstances, salvaging seventh from the feature race was a good outcome, but Imola was a different story as he qualified third for the feature and took podiums in both races – the first driver to so this year.

Fellow Red Bull junior Hadjar has also had a promising start with Hitech, winning the Bahrain sprint (courtesy of Bearman’s post-race track limits penalty) and taking third in the Imola feature (after his last lap clash with Collet in the sprint dropped him to fifth) as the highest-placed rookie so far.

Sportscar racer-turned F3 contender Colapinto has also shown strong pace. The Argentine took pole for the Bahrain feature race (he finished fifth) before a convincing victory in the Imola sprint to get series newcomer Van Amersfoort Racing off the mark. Sitting sixth in the standings, despite non-scoring in the Imola feature after a failed gamble on wet tyres at the start, Colapinto has so far outperformed team-mates Rafael Villagomez and Reece Ushijima. In a series neither he nor the team have competed in before, he'll only get better.

Fellow rookie Bearman has long been tipped for big things, coming into 2022 as reigning champion of both ADAC and Italian F4 with Prema. And the Briton duly finished first on the road in his series debut in the Bahrain sprint, only to be demoted to second behind Hadjar after an unfortunate track limits penalty. A solid sixth-place finish followed in the feature race, but Imola was more mixed.

Only 13th in the sprint, he made an opportunistic pass on Stanek for the lead at the restart of the feature and led until the penultimate lap, only to fall back to third and clash with Gregoire Saucy on the final lap at Rivazza. A 20-second time penalty dropped him to 17th, and was a poor reflection on his race pace.

If he can pick himself back up after a tough weekend – Bearman has spent time working on with a Ferrari sports psychologist for exactly this purpose – and can continue to learn from second year team-mates Leclerc and Crawford, there is no reason why he can’t join his team-mate in the title fight.

With so much of the season still to go, it’s difficult to make firm predictions. Though Martins and Leclerc are sure to be near the top of the standings, it would be foolish to dismiss Bearman or Stanek on the basis of one disappointing weekend each. One thing is for sure - the 2022 F3 season is absolutely one worth watching.

Hadjar has impressed with Hitech GP and is the top-ranking rookie after his win in the Bahrain sprint and podium in the Imola feature

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