Former Ammonite driver and 2022 Formula Ford Festival winner on his FIA F3 debut at Silverstone
Image: Max Esterson and all his Formula Ford silverware with Ammonite Team Owner Andy Low in 2021 (James Roberts Photography)
A bit of an unexpected note this week, but I have some fun news to share. Late last week the opportunity arose for me to join the Surrey, England based Rodin Carlin team as one of their FIA Formula 3 drivers at the British Grand Prix. I’m extremely grateful to everyone at the team for having confidence in me and giving me the opportunity.
After the challenging year I've been having so far in the British F3 / GB3 Championship, it would be an understatement to say I’m excited to be making my debut in the big leagues of FIA Formula 3, even if it's a little earlier in the year than expected. It's also great to be starting at Silverstone, the Formula One track I know best, and great to have the deep and broad experience of a team like Rodin Carlin behind me. It will still be a steep learning curve and big challenge to step in cold to what is probably the single most competitive series in the world.
Although I’m hoping to be competitive, the regular runners are some of the best in the world and have thousands of miles in the FIA F3 car. For me, the first time I drive Carlin’s car will be on Friday morning in the sole 45 minute free practice session. Of course in the back of my head I’m dreaming of challenging at the front, but given the circumstances, those with more experience tell me it will be a great accomplishment to make it into the top half. Either way, I’ll be pushing my hardest and learning as much as I can over the weekend.
The FIA F3 car is quite a different animal to my normal GB3 machinery. It is bigger and heavier, but it also has much more downforce and a lot more power – 380hp vs 255hp – which at the Silverstone GP circuit translates to a pretty significant 8 seconds +/- a lap. While the FIA Formula 3 car is a lot quicker, there are even bigger differences between the two series with very limited and precisely orchestrated on-track running. In FIA F3, there is the one short free practice on Friday morning followed by the all-important 30-minute qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. Qualifying in F3 is all about how tires are managed. The quali session is long enough to run two sets of tires, and each set of tires can be run for only a couple of “push laps," but in reality the session usually comes down to each driver setting his best time on the first push lap for each set of tires. On Saturday morning there is the shorter format Sprint Race – where the top 12 are qualifiers are inverted for the start; and on Sunday there is the Feature Race which is run based on the qualifying times with the top 10 finishers in the race scoring championship points.
Carlin is a great team with an exceptional history of success in everything they have run, including F3, F2 and IndyCar. It's a great opportunity to get to work with them and we are both hoping the combination deliver us both with the rewards of our hard work.
You can follow along with Live Timing at the FIA F3 website and watch the all the sessions (live or on-demand) on ESPN+ in the US or Sky Sports in the UK. Please see the weekend's schedule below (UK times shown):
Friday
FP1: 8:45
Qual: 14:10
Saturday
Sprint Race: 9:20
Sunday
Feature Race: 8:20
As always, a special thanks to my sponsors iRacing, Mockett & Company, Chip Ganassi Racing and all my supporters.
-Max Esterson