Alpine junior driver Nikola Tsolov will compete in a second season of the Formula 3 championship after ART confirmed he would remain with the team for 2024.
The 17-year-old raced in his first season of F3 last year, taking six points from two points finishes on the way to 22nd place in the championship.ART have announced that he will remain with them for a second consecutive season in 2024. Tsolov said he felt very happy to be remaining with ART, describing it as a “pleasure” to race in a second season of the championship with the team.
“I know the team, the circuits, the procedures and, apart from the tyres, I won’t have to learn anything new,” Tsolov said.
“Winter testing showed that we were consistently at the top of the timesheets, and the main target will be to be at the front at every race weekend.”
Tsolov’s announcement means that all 30 seats in this year’s F3 championship have been filled. Alongside last year’s champion Gabriel Bortoleto, the top five drivers in last season’s standings will not be participating in this year’s championship.
Of those who raced in Formula 3 last season, Ferrari academy driver Dino Beganovic and Alpine junior Gabriele Mini were the highest placed drivers in the standings, finishing in sixth and seventh, respectively.
The season will begin alongside Formula 1 and Formula 3 at the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend at the beginning of March, the first of a ten round championship.
Confirmed 2024 Formula 3 grid
| Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Driver 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ART | Laurens van Hoepen | Christian Mansell | Nikola Tsolov |
| Campos | Mari Boya | Sebastian Montoya | Oliver Goethe |
| Hitech | Martinius Stenshorne | Luke Browning | Cian Shields |
| Jenzer | Matias Zagazeta | Max Esterson | Charlie Wurz |
| MP | Tim Tramnitz | Kacper Sztuka | Alex Dunne |
| PHM | Joshua Dufek | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | Nikita Bedrin |
| Prema | Dino Beganovic | Arvid Lindblad | Gabriele Mini |
| Rodin | Callum Voisin | Joseph Loake | Piotr Wisnicki |
| Trident | Leonardo Fornaroli | Sami Meguetounif | Santiago Ramos |
| Van Amersfoort | Noel Leon | Sophia Floersch | Tommy Smith |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Formula 3
- New qualifying red flag rule will stop drivers “ruining the session for everyone else”
- Verstappen’s “incredible” F3 drive which told Tost he was a future Schumacher
- Watch 10 of the best ‘proper’ overtakes from F1, IndyCar, WEC and more in 2023
- RaceFans’ top 10 FIA Formula 3 drivers of 2023
- Penalties for drivers who cause red flags introduced in F2 and F3 before F1
Brell-9W
10th February 2024, 22:05
It’s very hard to predict who might be winning this season and we could have a year like 2022 where a lot of drivers are at the top on similar points- should be interesting.
Nikola Tsolov is a good choice for ART. He surely deserves another season, as he has shown a lot of promise in junior series. Tsolov and Arvid Linblad are much younger than the other drivers, hopefully viewers and commentators take that into account while watching this season.
Nasir
10th February 2024, 22:15
One of these should win the championship: Stenshorne, Tramnitz, Sztuka.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
11th February 2024, 0:19
It’s very hard to win this championship as a rookie. So I don’t think so. I’d bet on the one of the top 3 sophomore talents: Beganovic, Mini, Fornaroli. And out of those 3 Mini impressed me the most last year
Shimks (@shimks)
12th February 2024, 8:41
I’m suprprised Gabriele Mini didn’t move up to F2.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
11th February 2024, 0:28
Very high turnaround this off season. 17 out 30 (If I’m not mistaken) moved on so more than half. I like that. There’s no point clinging to the ladder when you now by year 2 or 3 maximum in F3 that you’re no longer on a trajectory to F1. Concentrate on becoming a professional racing driver in other series. That way you’ll be able to at least repay your sponsors some day, who you’d almost bankrupted even getting this far :)
Anyway Mini is my favorite for the title. He may have only finished 7th and made some rookie mistakes in his rookie season but his speed was unbelievable
Jere (@jerejj)
11th February 2024, 5:47
This year’s F2 roster is unusually unfamiliar for the most part.