F3 2022: Let's do the math
- Cristina Mazzotti
- Sep 17, 2022
- 5 min read
Monza was the final round of the FIA F3 2022 championship, a season we will never forget surely, as at the last race there were 7 contenders for the championship title, and amongst them 3 brilliant rookies. Let’s go over this year’s revelations and disappointments.
The consistent: Stanek
Second year in the category for the Czech driver, who surely could’ve done better but certainly didn’t disappoint. Roman Stanek was consistent all year long, always in the points and aiming for podiums. Four podiums with one victory in the feature race of Imola, will hand 5th overall position in the championship to Roman who fought till the last race for the championship title.
Ahead of him a frustrated Hadjar, who was in the fight for the championship until Monza’s quali, when on a push lap he went out in the gravel losing all hopes of that championship title. But honorable mention to him because of the great rookie season he had.
Developing talents: Maloney and Bearman
This two rookie talents were absolutely the MC’s of this season, wonder why? First season in FIA F3 for them and they managed to finish P2 and P3 in the championship respectively. That’s for sure quite a big achievement.
Maloney who comes from a year in Formula Regional with R-ace GP teamed up with the Italian Team Trident, alongside Stanek and Edgar. His season though, wasn’t brilliant all along, many mistakes in the first part of the year deprived him of a win and points finishes, remarkable the one in Imola when he spun while first under SC.
Also some unfortunate events have put an end to a few of his races. After the summer break in the triple header of SPA, Zandvoort and Monza he managed to put his head in a good place and focus on making the best out of his races, that worked his way as he managed to gain P2 in the championship with 3 Feature race wins and a 2nd place.
Bearman instead decided to jump from the Formula 4 championship directly to FIA F3, bold choice from the driver and its academy (FDA) but surely worked in their favor, leaving some bittersweet in the end though.
Crowned Italian and ADAC F4 champion in 2021, Oliver Bearman the young gun from Chelmsford (UK), partnered with Prema racing for the 2022 season, alongside Crawford and Leclerc, who were at their second year in the category and definitely didn’t expect their rookie teammate to outperform them.
Good start of the season which saw him winning the sprint race in Bahrain but due to a track limits penalty he was relegated to 2nd. Imola and Barcelona didn’t match the potential shown in the first round, in fact in Imola he collected 0 points, and Barcelona just a few points were all he managed to get.
One month break was enough for the Brit to come back as strong as ever as he’ll get a podium on home soil. The solid streak kept going scoring points and podiums until Zandvoort, where his qualifying lap was compromised by a red flag, he fought his way up in the races, but it wasn’t enough.
Monza was the defining round, seven contenders and Bearman, at the time 4th ,had plenty of chances to aim for the title. Strong sprint race which saw him starting from P7 and crossing the finish line second, with a double overtake on the outside in T1, such a memorable moment from him.
Sunday came but it wasn’t as joyful as we’d expect, while fighting for first place with Maloney, red flag was brought out because of an incident in the back of the field, with 5 laps to complete the FIA took the decision to not resume the race, handing the championship to the French Victor Martins.
What an end to what could’ve been the most exciting race ever, and it was obvious from both Maloney’s and Bearman’s face that it should’ve ended up differently. But it’s with moments like this that you grow both as a driver and person, and these two will truly take advantage of that, a bright future awaits the both of them. Bearman finished his rookie season in P3 being the driver who collected the most podiums, 8 in total.
A surprise: O'Sullivan
O’Sullivan is one of those rookies worthy of a mention, coming from British F3, the Brit paired up with Carlin, having as teammates Trulli and Benavides.
Carlin, who didn’t shine throughout the year, could undeniably count on O’Sullivan’s talent, as the Brit had several points finishes and 2 podiums. He surprised all of us also for his capability of keeping drivers like Leclerc, Bearman, Collet and in between others behind him in few of his races. For a car who surely wasn’t at the top of its capacity Zak made the best out of it; 11th was the maximum he could achieve in the championship, but this doesn’t take away from how talented he is.
The let downs: Crawford and Leclerc
Well, two drivers at their second year in the category, but also two drivers driving for one of the top teams who didn’t manage to unleash all their potential.
Crawford and Leclerc were certainly everyone’s bet for the championship title at the beginning of the year, two very different drivers but with quite the talent, so it was a bit disappointing seeing them finish 7th and 6th in the championship respectively.
Strong start of the season from both of them but average rest of it: Leclerc was the one scoring the least podiums taking only 2 but one win, while Crawford managed to bring home 5 with one win as well. This wasn’t enough for the both of them to keep up with the other championship contenders who were taking points and podiums consistently, both for mistakes and misfortunes Arthur and Jak finish what we can call a disappointing season for them, with lots learned and knowledge on what not to repeat from this year. Not sure what went through their heads all year long, could it have been the fact that their rookie teammate was outperforming them? We will never know, but it certainly played a key role.
In the end what a remarkable season it has been, one of the most exciting and fun ones we witnessed in the past few years, talented rookies, performing “seniors” and lots of suspense till the end. Overall, a season rich of twists and turns, joyful moments and a bitter end to it. Let’s see what 2023 will bring us, between new faces and remaining ones. It’s surely going to be an exciting one, until next year, cheers!
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