The FIA F3 on the streets of Monaco in 2023
The organizers of the Monaco Grand Prix, which recently extended its contract with F1, will host the FIA F3 next year, a first since 2005.
On the weekend of May 28, 2023, the traditional Monaco Grand Prix will take place, where F1 cars race through the streets of the Principality. In addition to the pinnacle of the single-seater, we find, as every year, the FIA F2. But this year, another discipline is emerging, namely the FIA F3.
The discipline, won this season by Victor Martins, is making a comeback on the streets of Monte-Carlo. It replaces Formula Regional with Alpine, a direct descendant of Formula Renault.
A return to Monaco after 18 years of absence!
Seeing a Formula 3 in the streets of Monaco was commonplace between 1959 and 1997. Like Macau or the Masters run at Zandvoort, Monaco had its own non-Championship race.
Among the winners, we find names who raced in F1, such as Nick Heidfeld (winner in 1997), Giancarlo Fisichella (winner in 1994), Alain Prost (winner in 1979), Didier Pironi (winner in 1977), Jacques Laffite (winner in 1973), Ronnie Peterson (winner in 1969) or even Jackie Stewart (winner in 1964). The first Formula 3 race in the streets of Monaco dates back to 1950, won by a certain Stirling Moss. This race has often been successful for French people since it has been won thirteen times by a French driver.
The last Formula 3 race in the streets of Monaco dates back to 2005, when the F3 Euro Series put down its single-seaters for the fourth round of the Championship. Both races were won by Lewis Hamilton, who was racing in an ASM team car.
The ancestor of the current FIA F3, the GP3, also ran a race in the streets of the Principality. It was 2012 and the two winners were Aaro Vainio, in the Lotus GP, and Marlon Stöckinger, in the Status Grand Prix.