Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto, of Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management stable, secured the 2023 Formula 3 title in unusual circumstances at Monza.
Two of those points where on offer for leading qualifying on Friday – before either of the two races on the following days – it meant Bortoleto just preserving his lead after the 30-minute session would effectively see him crowned champion.
This is exactly what happened, except without the 30-minute runtime being completed. After two red-flag stoppages, a third one for Bortoleto’s team-mate Oliver Goethe going into the barriers meant the session was officially curtailed with 10 minutes to spare.
With Goethe having sat in first place when he crashed, and not being one of the two drivers with a chance at stopping Bortoleto, it meant the Brazilian suddenly found himself celebrating a championship in the pitlane, his 38-point lead now unassailable.
Bortoleto, who succeeds Alpine-backed Victor Martins as champion (Martins having sealed his title in somehow much wilder circumstances last year), is not only the first non-F1-junior champion of this current F3 series – but ends a streak dating all the way back to the third-ever season (2012) of predecessor series GP3, when the F1-unaffiliated Mitch Evans took the title.
