Monza Preview: It all comes down to this

After an exhilarating season of action, the 2023 FIA Formula 3 campaign draws to a close this weekend with the season finale in Monza.
The legendary Temple of Speed has played host to many thrilling finales and Round 10 looks set to be no different, with both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships up for grabs and the whole field looking to end their year on a high.
Here’s everything you’ll want to watch out for around the Italian circuit.
THE FORM BOOK
Having led the Drivers’ Standings since the opening round in Sakhir, Gabriel Bortoleto stands on the edge of glory. Despite failing to score last time out in Spa-Francorchamps for the first round all season, the Trident rookie holds a 38-point advantage over second-place Paul Aron, on 144 points.
Adding 12 points to his tally last time out, Aron moves back into second, but believes more could have been possible after storming into the Feature Race lead with a gamble on the wet starting tyres. One of three drivers still in with a shot of the title, the PREMA Racing driver will be eager to put on a show at his team’s home event.
An outside contender, Josep María Martí was unable to convert pole into victory at the Belgian circuit. A mixed run of performances for the Campos Racing driver has seen him lose ground to the closing pack behind and the Spaniard will have a fierce fight on his hands to hold on to a top three spot on 105 points.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Just 19 points separate second and seventh, with Zak O’Sullivan dropping to fourth on 101 after a point-less weekend in Spa. MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto rounds out the top five on 100, with Dino Beganovic and Gabriele Minì further back in sixth and seventh, on 94 and 87 points apiece.
Reigning Champions PREMA Racing retain their lead of the Teams’ Standings on 301. However, the result is far from settled, with compatriots Trident looking to claw back a 25-point gap to bring the title back to nearby Milan. The battle for third will go down to the wire, as Campos Racing have leapfrogged Hitech Pulse-Eight for third on 171 points to the British outfit’s 165.
WHERE TO WATCH THE SESSIONS
FROM THE GRID – Gabriele Minì, Hitech Pulse-Eight
“I’m feeling excited to be going to Monza, but it’s also a mixed feeling because it’s sad that it’s the end of the season. It’s very exciting to be back on track, especially after the summer break, so can’t wait for it! I think having a home race is always amazing. You have the fans mainly watching and cheering for you, so it’s a special emotion. Then having it at Monza as well, it’s such a special track where the fights are really, really fierce. It’s even more exciting that there’s probably going to be a nice show for everyone to watch and hopefully, I can do something nice for a result.
“Unlike what most people might say, the circuit is actually really tricky and complicated, and it’s not easy to perform at all times there. Firstly, you have the heavy braking, and the corners are not so easy. Also, we’re going to run with the lowest downforce of the season, so it’s going to be really tricky to put a lap together since the car will have a bit less grip in order to have more speed on the straights.
“The slipstream will be really key because you can gain up to five tenths or maybe even more per lap by getting a good slipstream. In Qualifying, it will be key to be positioned on track in a good place and to not do any mistakes. Then in the races, it will be all about being smart, staying away from incidents, just being aggressive and have good racecraft. It’s easier to say than it is to do, but we are drivers, and we need to maximise what we can do.
“You can overtake in Turn 1, you can overtake in the second chicane at Turn 4, you can overtake before Ascari and before the last corner. There are three or four places you can overtake and it’s also about mind games. If you start trying to fight with someone, then you can lose time or if you want to do some fighting, you can make the other driver lose time. It’s not easy, it’s really tough. It’ll be all about being smart and using the opportunities to your advantage.
“We know that tyre degradation, especially on the softs, has not been easy to manage for all of us. I think it’ll still be a really big factor, even though it’s a low degradation track. It depends on lot on the pace the leader sets, how many laps we do in free air and how many laps we will do behind someone. There will be many factors that will change that, but I think it’s still going to be quite high and I’m expecting an overall loss of grip around two to four seconds lost per lap. If some drivers and teams can manage it better, it’ll make a huge difference.”
TECHNICAL PREVIEW
Despite the Autodromo Nazionale Monza’s simplistic layout, the track is 5.793km of high-speed challenges. At full throttle for the vast majority of the lap, the speed trap record hit 306.8km/h in 2020 and unsurprisingly giving the high speeds, fuel consumption will be on everyone’s minds.
Setup is weighed heavily in favour of the straights, with teams opting for the lowest downforce levels of the season. This has a knock-on effect on the grip levels, as understeer becomes more of an issue than at other recent circuits.
Carrying speed through and getting good traction on exits will be vital to both Qualifying and any in-race battles, particularly at the opening Variante del Rettifilo. With three tight chicanes across the lap, the brakes will face a tough wear test and braking stability will be highly critical to mastering the Temple of Speed.
RACE STRATEGY
For the final round of the year, Pirelli have brought the red-walled soft compounds, the same tyres used last year when Zane Maloney stormed to his third consecutive Feature Race victory. Whilst some tyre management may be necessary, particularly if running in the slipstream of the car ahead continuously or making an early charge up the order, the low degradation circuit means it’s expected to be less critical this weekend than at Budapest or Spa-Francorchamps.
Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director
“Monza is the final round of the Formula 3 Championship. At the Temple of Speed, the chosen compound is P Zero Red soft, which will need to be properly managed by the drivers to withstand the many forces it will be subjected to on the circuit. The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a very fast track, where the slow chicanes require a lot of braking. Some corners, such as the Parabolica Alboreto and the Curva Grande, are instead taken at high speed due to the low set-up load.”
STAT PACK