Leonardo Fornaroli wins 2024 season title | FP

Becoming champion at the age of 19 in front of his compatriot fans without ever taking home a victory during the entire season: this is the singular feat that he successfully accomplished today Leonardo Fornaroliwho at the last available opportunity to obtain a valid position for the title conquest managed to defeat Gabriele Minì, who came ahead of him in second place in an enthralling all-Italian derby that lasted the entire 2024 season. At Trident there is also another satisfaction for the victory of Sami Meguetounif, even if all the attention is concentrated on the affirmation of the young driver from Piacenza, who arrived in Formula 3 last season and is not part of an Academy.

Race report

A race full of tension from the very beginning, with Fornaroli able to maintain the lead of the race ahead of Dunne and Minì, fighting with the latter for the conquest of the championship. However, already at the end of the first lap the first change in the noble areas of the classification occurred, with Dunne in the lead and Meguetounif in third position ahead of the Palermo driver of Prema. The first dramatic turn of events materialized however on the 3rd lap, and definitively excluded him from the fight for the title Luke Browning: the Englishman, at the entrance to the Variante Ascari, lost control of the car, causing contact between several cars. An episode that forced the intervention of the Safety Car. At the restart, however, here is the second mistake, once again at the Ascari: this time it was Fornaroli who made it, slipping to 5th place behind Mansell and Minì. The following lap, however, Minì also made a mistake at the first Lesmo, thus allowing the Piacenza driver from Trident to immediately climb back to fourth position. In the meantime, Meguetounif took advantage of Dunne’s difficulties to jump to the top of the standings, with the latter even losing the podium to Fornaroli and fourth position. The last 5 laps, finally, saw the most tense moment of the race and of the entire championship: Fornaroli and Minì overtook Mansell, thus climbing back to second and third position. In these conditions, the Trident driver would be mathematically champion, but on the penultimate lap another twist occurs: Minì first passes Fornaroli, with the latter then losing third place to Mansell. By doing so, however, Minì would win the title, but the decisive episode occurs on the last corner of the last lap. Here, in fact, Fornaroli overtook the Australian at the last available opportunity, returning to the podium and above all to the top of the general classification with a 2-point advantage over Minì. With this overtaking, the 19-year-old flew across the finish line, mathematically becoming the new Formula 3 champion, the first italian since the series was born in 2019 after the merger between GP3 and European F3. For Italy, there is also the joy of the affirmation in the championship reserved for the Prema teams, which had already obtained success in the last appointment of the season.