Formula 3 title showdown: PREMA Racing vs. Trident

In the final weekend of the Formula 3 2023 season, two teams face off for the team’s championship.

PREMA Racing currently leads the Formula 3 team standings by 25 points. Right behind them is Trident, the team set to take the driver’s title with Gabriel Bortoleto.

While the driver’s title is all but wrapped up (PREMA’s Paul Aron sits 38 points behind Bortoleto and in order to win would need to take pole and win both races with the fastest lap and even then Bortoleto would have to not score points at all), the team’s championship once again has come down to the final line.

It’s been PREMA vs. Trident since the inception of FIA Formula 3, with one of the two teams always winning. Only once has a different team finished in the top two, when Hitech came as the runner-up in 2019.

Trident

Running just behind PREMA headed into the final round at Monza, Trident will need a strong weekend to outscore the PREMA drivers. While Bortoleto leads the driver’s standings, his teammates Oliver Goethe and Leonardo Fornaroli sit in eighth and ninth respectively.

For Giacomo Ricci, Trident’s team manager, the team’s consistent success in Formula 3 comes down to several key factors.

“I have to say that we both are doing a great job in driver preparation,” Ricci told FormulaNerds ahead of the final round. “To create a great chemistry between the engineer and the driver and of course also choosing always three drivers that can score points almost every weekend.

“This, at the end of the day, allows the team to be in the position to be a team championship contender and that, for me, is the most important point.

“At the same time I have to say that generally speaking, for me, our car most of the time is always in the window. This allows the driver to be consistent through the season, and to drive the car, not having to be at 100% or to invent anything special to extract the performance, but simply to do the basics right in order to extract the best.”

PREMA

Unless Aron pulls off a miracle to take the driver’s championship this weekend, this year will only be PREMA’s second time not taking a driver to the title since the inception of FIA Formula 3. Still, they’ve got a good lead on Trident for the team standings, and all three of their drivers are currently in the top six in points.

“For sure in the past years PREMA and Trident have been fighting for the team’s championship every time,” commented PREMA’s team principal Rene Rosin. “On the other hand, I have to say that the level of the championship is pretty high.

“There are teams like ART, teams like Hitech, that in the past have been there battling for the driver’s championship and team’s championship.

“On the other hand I think all the time when I try to set up a team in Formula 3, I’m trying to look for three drivers that can be working together, because especially in a championship so competitive like Formula 3, the outcome of all the three drivers is fundamental. 

“So that also is a benefit for us, having three drivers that have always been able to fight each other and to progress each other.”

As far as this weekend goes, the team will treat it just like any other.

“It’s another race weekend,” commented Rosin. “We need to approach, to try to do our best, maximise everything in every single session, and then the drivers are free to race.

“Of course, we will try to get all drivers as close to the front as possible, but of course Monza is quite a challenging circuit – a lot of things depend on a slipstream in qualifying, but I think we have a good package and a good lineup of drivers, I’m sure we can do a really good job.”

Which of these two teams will take the Formula 3 team’s championship this year? We’ll find out soon, when they go racing this weekend in Monza.

Feature Image Credit: Rudy Carezzevoli – Getty Images