Formula 3 season finale in Monza with points finish for Van Amersfoort Racing

01/09/2024

The final round of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship took place at the iconic Monza circuit after the summer break. It was a weekend filled with both challenges and commendable efforts from the team and its drivers.

The Monza weekend began with an intense qualifying session where Van Amersfoort Racing faced its share of difficulties. Noel León and Tommy Smith, along with several others, were penalized for driving unnecessarily slowly between Turns 6 and 7, receiving a four-place grid penalty. Meanwhile, Sophia Flörsch encountered her own set of challenges as she was impeded during her qualifying run.

The Sprint Race on Saturday was not what the team had hoped for. Noel León faced a difficult start, being involved in a collision with Nikita Bedrin and Tommy Smith on Lap 2, leading to a 10-second penalty for Tommy. This caused a brief Safety Car period and disrupted Noel's race, forcing him to retire. Tommy eventually finished outside the top positions. Sophia had a better Sprint Race, showing great resilience and moving up from 25th to 16th place despite a tough qualifying position.

On Sunday, during the Feature Race, the team faced a tough challenge with its drivers starting from lower grid positions. Sophia had to retire early due to an incident involving several other drivers at the exit of Ascari. Both Noel and Tommy showed great determination as they moved up the grid in this chaotic Feature Race. Although both cars were involved in incidents, Tommy gained 10 positions to finish 15th, and Noel gained 15 places to finish seventh after penalties of other drivers.

As the 2024 FIA F3 season concludes, Van Amersfoort Racing can look back on the season with a sense of accomplishment and anticipation. The team secured 4 podiums and 1 fastest lap, ending the season in 7th place with 91 points.

Now the focus shifts to reflecting on this season and preparing for 2025.

Noel León, VAR Formula 3 driver: “We finished the season with a top ten in the Driver Championship. It was our main goal this season to be in the top ten in the Championship. Super happy that we achieved that. The season was really good, to be honest, for me. We had 4 podiums, a lot of good races, a lot of good recoveries. It was really fun with all the guys, all the hard work that we did.

The start of the season was not ideal. We’ve had some problems in Bahrain and Australia. We’ve had some crashes. And then from Imola onwards, our season started to go the way we wanted. We were really competitive at every single track. Our second half of the season was incredible.

It was a disappointing weekend here in Monza because I made a mistake in qualifying. That compromised a lot for the races because starting at the back, it is super difficult to be out of trouble. But then in the feature race, we managed to recover to P7 at the end, with some penalties. It was a really good recovery from P22.

Of course, I would like to thank the whole team, my engineer Leo, my mechanics Patrik and Ties, Klaudija, Jessica, Marc, Remco, Mr. Rafa for the opportunity, Rob and Frits for all the help during the year. It was an incredible year. Wish you the best for the future.”

Tommy Smith, VAR Formula 3 driver: “Well, that concludes my second season with VAR in FIA Formula 3! It was a difficult weekend with a really messy qualifying, a mistake on my behalf in the sprint race, which gave me a penalty and ruined Noel’s race. The feature race was much more positive, up to 11th until the final lap where a car made contact on the final corner. But it felt like I had really good pace and managed the tires well coming from 25th and keeping it clean.

This concludes two years working with the team. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to every individual at Van Amersfoort Racing for the incredible memories and good times over these past two years. Especially Remco, Patrick and Niek who all worked on my car these last couple of years. A special thanks to Klaudija, Marc, Leo, Ties, Ash, Patrik, Chris, Damian and Jessica. We didn’t achieve what we wanted together but have made lots of great memories and had some fun times. I wish everyone the best for the future. Also, a big thank you to Rob and Frits for giving me the opportunity to race with them a couple of years ago.”