F3 season comes to a climax: Who will take the prestigious title in Italy?

The Formula 3 championship comes to an end this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix. Mathematically, seven drivers still have a chance of winning the prestigious title. GPblog takes a closer look at the young talents.

With a sprint race, a main race and bonus points for pole and fastest lap, there is still a maximum of 39 points to be earned in the final F3 weekend. This means that the driver eighth in the championship, Caio Collet, is excluded from the title. However, the top seven are still within 36 points of each other and so a large group of drivers still have a chance of winning the title.

Victor Martins - 126 points

Martins was already identified as the big favourite ahead of the F3 season. At 21 years old, the Frenchman is one of the older drivers in the class and he was also active in F3 in 2021. He finished fifth in the standings then and so the title had to follow in 2022. The Alpine Academy talent won two main races in Bahrain and Spain, but also retired three times. In particular, his retirement from the main race in Belgium and 21st place in that sprint race were a sign that he will not be able to master everything so easily in 2022.

Isack Hadjar - 121 points

Martins is closely followed by compatriot Isack Hadjar. Hadjar is only seventeen years old and is considered a major talent in Red Bull's training camp. It's Hadjar's first season in F3, after finishing fifth in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2021. Hadjar has already won three races this season, two of which were sprint races.

Roman Stanek - 109 points

Stanek is the odd man out. The 18-year-old Czech driver won very few races in previous step-up classes. He was briefly part of the Sauber Academy in 2019, but left after a year. However, 2022 looks to be the year of his breakthrough, winning one main race on behalf of Italy's Trident and consistently finishing third in the championship. It should be noted that Stanek is already in his third season in F3.

Oliver Bearman - 105 points

Seventeen year old Brit Oliver Bearman is a surprising rookie in F3 this season. As one of the youngest in the class the Ferrari Academy talent has impressed with his consistent performance. He won one sprint race and was on the podium no less than four times after a main race. He is also the highest ranked driver on behalf of top team Prema.

Zane Maloney - 102 points

Like Stanek, Zane Maloney has to do without the support of an F1 training programme, but he will not fare so badly in 2022. The Barbados-based driver has won the last two main races on behalf of Trident. So the rookie in this class is the man in form. However, Maloney is also notable for alternating good results in a weekend with bad ones. He crashed out in Belgium during the sprint race and finished the shortened race at Zandvoort on P17.

Arthur Leclerc - 101 points

With his surname and the support of Ferrari, Arthur Leclerc was the big favourite with Martins ahead of the 2022 F3 season, but the Monegasque still shows little resemblance to his brother. The 21-year-old driver is beaten by his much younger teammate Bearman, and has only won one main race so far this year. In his second year in the class, you would expect more from Leclerc.

Jak Crawford - 90 points

Jak Crawford is the last driver with a chance of winning the F3 title, but the one with the smallest chance. The 17-year-old American driver is in his second season in F3 as part of Red Bull's training programme and also took his first victory in the sprint race in Austria. Compared to Hadjar and teammates Bearman and Leclerc, however, Crawford's performance at the recognised top team Prema is still poor.