Pre-Season Championship Predicitions: BRDC British F3

Connor Jackson

With all pre-season testing finally complete, the BRDC British F3 Championship prepares for qualifying tomorrow morning. But as we rev-up for a new era at Oulton Park, who comes into the season as the man (or woman) to beat.

18 drivers raced in the opening round last year, ensuring the current grid of 20 is a sign that national F3 scene is still performing strongly with the British and international drivers. Speaking of the foreign contingent, they once again make up a majority of the field. Only 7 Brits will be present at Oulton, with Jordan Cane simply filling in for a round, while Clement Novalak, who was not born inside our borders, only competing in five of the eight rounds. This means British presence will likely drop to a mere five in time.

The ratings listed are based upon my prediction of the drivers full season performance, taking into account their history, current team and pre-season testing pace.

Quick Disclaimer:
* – As mentioned, Novalak’s overall result will be hampered as he’ll miss rounds.
** – Cane and Chai are only confirmed for the first event.
*** – Mohnhaupt takes over for the rest of the season from Cane
**** – Monger is yet to announce plans beyond Oulton, but is assumed to be racing a full season

Predicted Championship Standings

  1. Nicolai Kjaergaard
  2. Linus Lundqvist
  3. Kush Maini
  4. Tom Gamble
  5. Tristan Charpentier
  6. Billy Monger****
  7. Clement Novalak*
  8. Harry Webb
  9. Krish Mahadik
  10. Jamie Chadwick
  11. Manuel Maldonado
  12. Sun Yue Yang
  13. Alexandra Mohnhaupt***
  14. Pavan Ravishankar
  15. Ben Hurst
  16. Arvin Esmaeili
  17. Josuf Owega
  18. Joshua Mason
  19. Sasakorn Chaimongkol
  20. Jordan Cane**
  21. Chai Wing Hoong**

The most obvious point to note is the selection of Nicolai Kjaergaard as champion. The Carlin driver enters the season with no single-seater podiums, though all results to date have proven this could be his season to flourish. He’s regularly finished testing in the top five, beating his teammates in almost all sessions. More recently, he finished on top of the Oulton testing timesheets for Thursday and Friday.

Linus Lundqvist would have been the sensible choice for the title but his sporadic one-lap pace in testing could be detrimental to his qualifying. This may not have been an issue in F4, but the trickier overtaking in the Tatuus, may see him lose valuable points. The standout performance from testing though came from Kush Maini. The Indian is well on his way to emulating his brothers success and at Lanan has a title-winning team to build a campaign off.

Joining them as part of the leading pack will likely be Tom Gamble, Clement Novalak and for the opening round Jordan Cane. Gamble’s move to Fortec came fairly late, but despite his lack of running immediately laid down the gauntlet. The Ginetta Junior champion knows how to race and come the end of the year, could be the man to beat. The current rookie to beat though, will be Novalak. Stepping up from a race winning Toyota Racing Series campaign, the British national could easily emulate Norris in that he’ll be competitive at the rounds he’s present, but the missed points will elude any title chances.

Meanwhile, Tristan Charpentier’s pace around Spa-Francorchamps proved that he has the speed at circuits he’s familiar with and further testing could put him in the running for race wins, along with Billy Monger, who’s almost certainly going to make life difficult for teammate Kjaergaard towards the end of the year. The new race two format is also likely to benefit many midfield drivers, with Jamie Chadwick, Sun Yue Yang, and Harry Webb likely able to pick up surprise wins.

Saying all of this, when has a prediction ever been entirely accurate… Obviously some drivers may quit before the end of the year and if anything I look forward to a number of drivers proving me wrong throughout the year.

Do you agree with our selection? Leave us a comment.

Connor Jackson

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