Gabriele Minì Becomes Eighth F3 Winner In 2024 With Monte Carlo Victory

Gabriele Minì of PREMA Racing achieved a lights-to-flag victory in the Monte Carlo Feature Race, becoming the eighth different winner in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship. Starting from pole position, Minì expertly managed three Safety Car restarts to maintain his lead over ART Grand Prix’s Christian Mansell and Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning, who finished second and third respectively.

Race Highlights

Start and Early Incidents:

• Minì made a strong start, holding off Mansell into Turn 1, with Browning close behind in third.
• The first major incident occurred on the opening lap when Charlie Wurz (Jenzer Motorsport) collided with Piotr Wisnicki (Rodin Motorsport) at Portier, bringing out the Safety Car. Wisnicki received a 10-second penalty for the contact.

Race Resumes:

• On Lap 3, racing resumed with Minì leading, closely followed by Mansell.
• Joseph Loake (Rodin Motorsport) showcased overtaking opportunities, passing Mari Boya (Campos Racing) at La Rascasse on Lap 6 for seventh place.

Mid-Race Dynamics:

• Minì maintained his lead, with Mansell staying within DRS range. Browning, meanwhile, fell several seconds behind in third.
• Boya locked up into the Nouvelle Chicane on Lap 14, attempting to reclaim his position from Loake. He ceded the spot back on the following lap to avoid penalties.
• Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix) executed a bold move on Noel León (Van Amersfoort Racing) at Mirabeau to climb into the top ten.

Late Race Drama:

• With 10 laps to go, Minì extended his lead over Mansell to over a second.
• A collision involving León, Nikola Tsolov (ART Grand Prix), and Sami Meguetounif (Trident) on Lap 20 brought out another Safety Car. Tsolov attempted an inside pass, causing a spin that left Meguetounif with nowhere to go. Tsolov was penalized with a 10-second penalty.
• The race resumed on Lap 23, with Minì pulling away once again.
• A final incident saw van Hoepen crash at Tabac, bringing out the third Safety Car.

Final Lap Shootout:

• The Safety Car withdrew with one lap remaining, setting up a thrilling finish.
• Minì successfully fended off Mansell’s last-ditch effort to secure his first victory of the season and his second Feature Race win in Monte Carlo.

Post-Race Reactions

“Second win in a row in Monaco, it’s just amazing winning here. Both last year and this year, there’s one win you want and for sure it’s the win in Monaco. I tried to go for the fastest lap on one lap, but we weren’t great on the rear tyres, so I decided to save instead of pushing to the end. I think it paid off because the fastest lap was quite fast, and I’d have needed to take a big risk to achieve it. In the end, every time there was a restart we pulled a big gap, so I think it was the right strategy to do and we brought home 25 points,” said Gabriele Minì.

Championship Standings

With this victory and points for pole position, Minì ascends to the top of the Drivers’ Championship with 72 points. Luke Browning trails closely in second with 68 points, and Leonardo Fornaroli is third with 64 points. Dino Beganovic remains fourth with 58 points, while Arvid Lindblad moves up to fifth with 44 points.

Teams’ Standings

PREMA Racing continues to lead the Teams’ Championship with 174 points, followed by Trident with 119 points. ART Grand Prix and Campos Racing are tied for third with 85 points each, and Hitech Pulse-Eight is fifth with 78 points.

Provisional Classification from Feature Race

Up Next

Formula 3 will take a short break before reconvening for Round 5 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from June 21-23.