Alpine Formula 1 junior Victor Martins has claimed the FIA Formula 3 title after emerging triumphant from the championship’s closest-ever title fight in bizarre circumstances at Monza.
Six drivers had a chance of taking the title heading into the final race after a season where no driver took more than three victories or two poles.
And while lead title contenders Zane Maloney, Martins and Ollie Bearman fought it out for the race win, their battle at the front of the field was ended by a late-race red flag for a crash between Kush Maini and Brad Benavides on the exit of the second Lesmo.
LAP 17/22 ⚠️ SAFETY CAR ⚠️
Maini and Benavides are OUT of the race
And both drivers are out of the car and OK #ItalianGP #F3Finale pic.twitter.com/LNDchIZDIr
— Formula 3 (@FIAFormula3) September 11, 2022
With just six laps remaining and damage to the barriers at the second Lesmo, race control choose not to restart the race.
Prior to the red flag, Bearman had launched an assault on Maloney into Turn 1 for the race lead but Ferrari junior Bearman found himself forced to take to the escape road as Maloney went deep into the corner.
LAP 14/22
BEARMAN MAKES A MOVE ON MALONEY INTO T1
He runs wide and rejoins in P1, but he later hands back the lead to Maloney #ItalianGP #F3Finale pic.twitter.com/4sGoXusvk6
— Formula 3 (@FIAFormula3) September 11, 2022
Maloney held onto the lead with Bearman in second place ahead of Martins who knew third place was enough to secure the title as he held a 13-point advantage over Bearman heading into the race and an 18-lead over Trident driver Maloney.
But just as the race was prematurely ended, news came through that Martins had a five-place time penalty for repeated track limits abuse, with the final offence at the Variante chicane.
Martins wasn’t the only driver to receive a penalty and the contenders all nervously waited in the pitlane as news of further penalties trickled through and eventually the final classification.
LAP 18/22 🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
Championship leader Victor Martins has been handed a 5-second time penalty for track limits#ItalianGP #F3Finale pic.twitter.com/1PpIQIBPNt
— Formula 3 (@FIAFormula3) September 11, 2022
Some 25 minutes after the race was red-flagged Martins and his ART Grand Prix team were told he is the 2022 FIA F3 champion.
His five-second dropped him to fourth place as fourth place driver William Alatalo also received a penalty and that was enough to beat Maloney to the title by five points and Bearman by seven.
Even if a post-race investigation into that Turn 1 clash between Bearman and race winner Maloney was to award Prema’s Bearman the victory, Martins would still take the title on countback by virtue of having more second-place finishes.
The 21-year-old is in his second year of FIA F3 having previously spent three years in the Formula Renault Eurocup which he won the title in his final year in the series in 2019 with ART.
He’s the first ART driver to win the championship since European F3 and GP3 merged at the end of 2018 after three successive drivers’ champions from Prema.
Martins is expected to step up to Formula 2 next year as are Bearman and Maloney.
Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar headed into the title-decider second in the championship but suffered a nightmare final weekend, crashing in qualifying and having an incident-strewn first race.
The Formula 2 title was also decided with the champion in the pitlane yesterday as an early incident put Felipe Drugovich out of the sprint race and he watched on as his main title Theo Pourchaire faltered and helped Drugovich seal the title with three races to spare.
