Barcelona Preview: Teeing up the triple-header with Race 100

The FIA Formula 3 Championship is back in action and returns to Barcelona for Round 5 of the 2024 campaign. It will be an historic weekend as Sunday’s Feature Race will mark the 100th race in the Championship’s history.
Who will earn a milestone victory around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya? Here is all you need to know ahead of the first of three back-to-back-to-back race weekends.
THE FORM BOOK
After earning Pole Position and Feature Race victory around the streets of Monte Carlo, Gabriele Minì tops the Drivers’ Championship. The PREMA Racing driver climbed up to the top spot with 72 points, four ahead of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning in second.
Leonardo Fornaroli fell to third, with the Trident driver a further four points behind on 64 with Monte Carlo the first weekend of the year he failed to appear on the podium.
Dino Beganovic and Arvid Lindblad ensure that all three PREMA drivers are inside the top five heading into Barcelona, on 58 and 44 points in fourth and fifth places respectively. Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe is just one point back from the Briton in sixth, level with MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz on 43 points.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
In the Team’s Standings, PREMA Racing lead Trident with 174 points compared to 119. ART Grand Prix are third although they are tied on 85 points with Campos Racing, who are fourth, ahead of Round 5.
Hitech are the only team other than PREMA to win more than one race so far in 2024, with victories in the Sakhir Feature and Melbourne Sprint Races the headline results putting the team fifth on 78 points.
FROM THE GRID – Sebastián Montoya, Campos Racing
“I think the best thing about the circuit is the weather, no matter what time of year you go. The other cool thing is that it’s one of the few tracks we go to on the calendar where I can speak the language there. So, it kind of feels like home. Barcelona is a very good track for the team, they won there last year with Josep María Martí, and they’re honestly very quick there.
“Overtaking opportunities are into Turn 1, with tyre degradation further into the race and then Turn 4, 5 to 7, especially towards the end of the race where some drivers begin to struggle with tyre drop off, some are able to manage better than others. So, you might see some drivers trying to send it down the inside or around the outside. Also, out of Turn 9 with the DRS zone, that is where the action is going to be.
“Tyre management takes a lot of practice; it gets better with experience. But the main thing is trying to manage at the beginning of the race, because it’s easy to go crazy at the start of the race and overtake loads of people, but when there’s 10 laps to go, you’ll have no tyres left. Last year for example, I did a really good job in the Sprint tyre saving and pushed towards the end. That’s the balance you need to find to define your race.
“Number one thing will be to nail the actual driving, then not to over push on the tyres so they overheat and then doing a good job throughout Qualifying, leading the team about when the track is going to evolve and making sure the car is going in the right direction.”
WHERE TO WATCH US
TECHNICAL PREVIEW
The long and medium-to-high speed corners that dominate the Barcelona circuit make tyre management the aim of the game. Push too hard too early and drivers may face a freefall down the order late on in proceedings. By the same token, aerodynamic demand is also relatively high, with the right balance required for the sweeping turns, though teams will have had plenty of time to dial in their setups after three-days’ worth of in-season testing earlier this year at the same venue.
RACE STRATEGY
Pirelli have allocated the Hard compound tyre for the Barcelona race weekend. The white-walled tyres will be in action for the second time this year after they last appeared at the season-opener in Sakhir. The demands of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya lead to plenty of tyre degradation, so tyre management is crucial.
Gareth Haynes, F2/F3 Pirelli Trackside Engineer
“As was the case last year at this track, managing the tyres across the front axle is the main factor that influences wear and how the compound performs. The change of layout in the final sector, with the removal of the chicane introduced back in 2007, adds to front tyre wear, thus exacerbating performance drop-off. The hotter conditions we are expecting because of the date change will help when it comes to tyre warm-up, especially at the start: whoever does the best job of managing this, could move up several places off the line. On the other hand, higher temperatures could further complicate tyre management over a longer distance because of the potential for higher thermal degradation. As always, this interesting puzzle is all part of the learning curve that the young drivers have to deal with in this category.”
STAT PACK