Trident Team Principal, Giacomo Ricci has praised Leonardo Fornaroli for a “crazy” 2024 F3 title success.
Having started the F3 season finale on pole, Fornaroli endured a dramatic race as he first lost the lead at the Parabolica on the opening lap, before a mistake on Lap 4 dropped him to fifth.
Fornaroli however recovered to second only to find himself passed by title rival, Gabriele Mini, plus Christian Mansell in the closing laps before he snatched third and the title with a last-corner pass on the latter on the final lap.
Fornaroli however was promoted to second post-race after Mini was disqualified for a tyre infringement, which meant that he was champion with a 23-point margin over his Italian compatriot.
“Well, it’s crazy,” commented Ricci as he described the rollercoaster of emotions on the last lap that he suffered on the pit-wall. “I am slowly realising now how many emotions I went through on the last lap.
“Again, we were not going to win the Championship and ahead of Ascari I remembered that I opened the radio and I said, ‘Leo it’s all in for the last corner, all in, go for it’ and then he did something special.
“It was not looking from the outside that he was going to try the overtake, so he stayed fully to the left and at the last moment he decided to dive in and do this perfect move.
“Also being able to stop the car, take the line which was really tricky at the end of the race when the tyre has also fully degraded. So, you are almost sliding on four wheels, and he already had two big lockups, so it was really difficult at that moment, but he did it.”
Ricci added that the crucial title-winning overtake is a stand-out moment as he reflected on his feelings as Fornaroli crossed the line, comparing it to the emotions Red Bull experienced at the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix won by Max Verstappen.
“I am extremely proud of it, it was a crazy emotion when he crossed the line. I can only compare to the experience of Verstappen with Red Bull in Abu Dhabi, the emotion that we had on the pit walk was very similar, it was crazy.”
Acknowledging how important consistency was to Fornaroli’s title, Ricci iterated that “… the key point was that he had been always very consistent and also when things were not going in his direction, he always found a way to turn things around” all season.
This season was Fornaroli’s second F3 campaign but his third year with Trident after he drove for them in 2022 FRECA, with Ricci proud of the Italian’s journey with the team.
“Since the first year he has improved massively,” added Ricci. “I still remember in the first official post-season test we did in Jerez, even physically he was struggling.
“He has been quick since the first time we tested him, very fast but he was really struggling physically.
“But from that moment on he always worked hard. When he saw that he had a weakness or things that were not at the top level he always worked hard, always asked for more, spent more time with the engineers, with us, with everyone.”
Reflecting solely on the improvement across Fornaroli’s two seasons in F3, Ricci believed that the best improvement came in “the race pace and tyre management…” with better tyre management and consistent race pace.
Fornaroli achieved a rare modern achievement across modern FIA junior single-seater categories, of having won the title without taking a race win which some lazy armchair critics might use as a beating stick.
“Absolutely he is a deserving champion,” said Ricci in response to potential criticism. “For me, especially on the single lap in Qualifying he has been the quickest by far because he was always up there.
“In Imola he was going to win that race, unfortunately he was really unlucky, the car switched off for a moment but even in that moment he was really sharp to switch on the car, and not cry on the radio and move forward on the problem.
“He finished third, so he had a couple of chances to win but he was also unlucky on that occasion, but he never gave up. So, despite the fact that he did not win a race, he fully deserved to win the Championship.
“To be honest, for the overtake he did with the pressure on the last lap, he deserved the championship for that.”
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