Without a doubt, every driver and team in any motorsport category price mentioning will say yr after yr that consistency is their primary goal. Yes, there might be the same old chatter about title aspirations, but everyone knows that scoring points in every round is crucial to have any hope of fighting for the highest spot.
However, it’s rare to see a driver go to such extreme levels as Leonardo Fornaroli has in Formula 3 this season. The Trident driver secured the title with a win in the ultimate corner of the last lap at Monza and claimed his seventh podium of the season before a post-race stewards' decision gave him a snug lead in the ultimate standings.
In 2024, Fornaroli stood on the third step of the rostrum five times and achieved the second step twice – including in the course of the final in Monza. But interestingly, for the primary time in F3, he never climbed to the highest step.
Enter a consistency tag that describes how Fornaroli has beaten a field that has produced 12 different winners in 20 races. Zero retirements and only two points failures meant he added to his tally on more occasions than some other driver. The next closest to the record was Campos driver Oliver Goethe, who missed last weekend after replacing Williams-bound Franco Colapinto in F2, scoring five (including Monza) zero points.
Asked when race wins will develop into more common for him because the season progresses, Fornaroli smiles, telling Motorsport.com: “Now that I've won the championship, I don't care if I haven't won any races. But it might be even higher with one or two wins.
“We actually had just a few probabilities but we were unlucky. The first one was in Melbourne because one set of tires in qualifying wasn't working well and was vibrating quite a bit, so we had to purchase one other set and begin the race on used tires in comparison with the others. Perhaps with latest tires we could have won.
Fornaroli was never at the highest, but he took home the highest prize at the top of the season
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
“Also in Imola there was a excellent probability of winning, but everyone knows what happened there; The automobile stalled on the straight because of bumps and we lost lots of time. But we still finished P3.
“The last one was Monza. I feel without what happened in Ascari [when he made a mistake and ran though the gravel, dropping positions]there was also an excellent probability of winning. But either way, we got a very powerful victory, so I don't care about that for now.
Upon arriving in Monza for the season-ending weekend, any of the six drivers could have won the title. But Fornaroli, Gabriele Mini (Prema) and Luke Browning (Hitech), who were separated by just six points before the weekend, were the one contenders with greater than a mathematical hope of winning glory.
“We won the most important victory, so now I don't care.”
Leonardo Fornaroli
This has produced a curious statistic from past F3 seasons in the fashionable era through which no championship-winning driver has ever won a race on the season-ending weekend. This record dates back to the GP3 era, which preceded the inception of the present F3 in 2019, to 2013, when champion Daniil Kvyat took the rostrum in the primary race in Abu Dhabi.
Fornaroli's hopes of ending this streak became clear after qualifying, where he secured pole position for the predominant race. This meant that he began twelfth in an earlier sprint with a partially reversed starting position, but was among the many drivers penalized for unnecessarily slow qualifying and moved back to sixteenth.
Then got here the champion's ride, who returned to eighth place after the fastest lap. Mini, starting two places ahead, was only ninth. Browning finished sixth, but he began the feature race only from thirteenth position and left the race early, starting the all-Italian fight for the crown.
However, things appeared to be getting uncontrolled for Fornaroli, who was battling tire wear and enormous punctures as he tried to recuperate from the beginning at Ascari. This all made for an exciting final lap of the yr, recalls the 19-year-old: “Before the last lap I asked the engineer if I used to be still P1 within the classification from P4 and he replied: 'No, in the intervening time you might be one point behind Gabriele, so that you absolutely should pass Chris (Mansell) ahead.”
Fornaroli battled with Alex Dunne for the lead within the early stages of the ultimate at Monza before retiring and having to battle it out in third, which took second after Mini's disqualification
Photo: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“It was like a chilly shower because from a excellent position I could have lost the championship in a really unpleasant way. So I said, “OK, I'll have to come up with something.”
“They began fighting a bit in T1, so I made up a little bit of ground that I lost on the penultimate lap. I attempted to make the primary move into the second chicane, but my front tires were completely destroyed. I closed, we each crossed the chicane and I gave up the position.
“The predominant goal was to do thoroughly in Lesmo 2 and I did that well. But on the Ascari chicane I knew it was my last probability since it's very difficult to overtake within the last corner.
“He defended thoroughly, so I couldn't hit him. And then, going into the last corner, I said: “I can't lose this, I'm losing the championship, this can't be real.” Many things went through my mind – the image of my lack of mastery.
“So I said, 'OK, I even have to do something.' I prayed that they wouldn't cover the inside, but fortunately they returned to the proper line before braking. I knew it was my last probability, it was all or nothing.
“I'm sending it inside. Luckily, Chris noticed me so he left the space. He behaved very truthfully and accurately, we managed to regain the title and the rostrum within the last corner of the last lap. When I crossed the finish line, all of the pressure was gone and I used to be the happiest man on this planet.
That this was ultimately not crucial, because the Mini was disqualified for running with tire pressures below the minimum really useful limits and Fornaroli moved into second place behind winner Sami Meguetounif, was moot. When asked how loudly he expressed his emotions on the band's radio, Fornaroli adds: “I assumed I used to be going to have a heart attack!
“We were all screaming so loud and when I got out of the car we were all jumping up and down together. I thought to myself, “I'm going to die!” but it was a special moment for all of us. Plus, Trident had back-to-back driver champions, so that was awesome. I think from the outside too, it was great to see. I think it was the best race of the season.”
Fornaroli thought he was “going to have a heart attack” as he celebrated his triumph
Photo: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
An inspiring figure in Fornarola's development has been outgoing F3 champion, current F2 points leader and 2025 Sauber F1 driver, Gabriel Bortoleto. The Brazilian won the 2023 F3 crown with Trident, similar to Fornaroli, and his place in Invicta F2 might be filled by Fornaroli once he finishes the season.
“The goal was to keep scoring points because watching his season last year, he won the first two races and then finished in points in almost every race and won the title by a big margin.” [45 points] in comparison with second place,” Fornaroli explains. “The goal was always to stay at that level without pushing too much, making stupid mistakes or crashing into other drivers in the race.”
He adds: “We are excellent friends. I’m very blissful when he does well and he could be very blissful after I do well. I took him as an inspiration this yr to attain this result, and he talked to me thoroughly about Invicta this season, so we worked quite a bit to try to affix them and in the long run we did it. Now next yr I’ll attempt to match him because he’s having a tremendous season.
“I assumed I used to be going to have a heart attack. We all screamed so loud and after I got out of the automobile all of us jumped together. I assumed, 'I'm going to die'”
Leonardo Fornaroli
Unlike lots of his junior colleagues, Fornaroli will not be yet linked to F1's young driver program, although his champion status has led to early talks with a couple of team.
Looking ahead to his debut season in F2, Fornaroli hopes to attain more of the identical consistency that has paid off so well in F3, and has gained confidence from the performances of his early-graduating teammates ahead of F2's fall break in Baku.
“For me, consistency is the most important thing if you want to achieve good results in the driver rankings,” he says. “Looking at this yr's results, I’ll attempt to get there and be competitive from the start. But we'll see.
“Also, watching what the other F3 drivers – Chris, Luke and Gabriele – did in Baku, they were very fast from the start. Thanks to this, I am now more motivated for next year.”
Fornaroli will drive next term in F2 for the hugely successful Invicta Racing
Photo: Invicta Virtuosi Racing
