ART Grand Prix 2024 Review: Return to form

After a difficult 2023, ART Grand Prix were back to their usual performance levels in 2024, racking up 11 podium finishes and three race victories across the campaign.
Reflecting on what was an improved but by no means perfect season in FIA Formula 3, Team Principal Sébastien Philippe summed up their year and reflected on what his three drivers had achieved in 2024.
“You can always expect a bit better, because there is always something you could have done better at some point in the season,” he began. “But globally, I think I’m quite happy with the performance of the team and the drivers. From what we were experiencing at the beginning of the season, it was a much better year compared to the previous one.
“We have done a better job this year but having said that, I think a lot of the time in ’23, I think everything went wrong and in terms of the final result, we looked a lot worse than the level we were actually performing at.
“I think last year it was more about a lack of delivering, not a lack of quality. We missed points because of stupid things. So, it’s not only related to performance, this year was better, but it was more related to not missing opportunities and not doing mistakes by the team and driver.
“The way we operated this year, we gained a bit of performance, but we were also much stronger in delivering in Qualifying and in the races. That meant we were able to get the results that we deserved last year. Sometimes we had great performance but weren’t able to get those results.
“It’s a difficult Championship with 30 cars at a high level and we all know that if you miss that little bit of quality, your weekend isn’t over but it’s not an easy one. That’s the difference between succeeding and not, it’s a very, very fine line.”
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Returning with ART for his second F3 campaign after racing in 2023 for the French outfit in what was his rookie year, Nikola Tsolov was able to achieve three race victories this time around.
The Bulgarian driver was a Sprint Race winner on the streets of Monte Carlo, before taking to the top step in the Red Bull Ring Sprint and Budapest Feature events.
Philippe says that it could have been an even stronger year for Tsolov had the Alpine Academy driver been able to hit the ground running in Sakhir.
“Nikola – we were probably expecting a little bit better. It took him a bit of time to get the perfect rhythm, probably until Monaco, we lost quite a lot of points with him. So, it’s a bit of a shame because I think we could’ve done a much better job.
“I think the win in Monaco gave him a bit more confidence and a better approach. We had been doing stupid mistakes that wasn’t helping us so the deficit in points by that time was huge, and that’s a shame because in the end, he was performing.”
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Teammate Christian Mansell was the highest-placed driver for ART by the end of the 2024 season. The Australian entered the final round as a title contender, albeit with a distant chance at overturning the points deficit to eventual Champion, Leonardo Fornaroli.
Still, Philippe praised Mansell’s efforts across his season with the team, adding that things could also have been better had better results materialised in the Sprint Races.
“Regarding Christian, I think on his side, he’s been improving massively during the whole season. We had a very, very nice relationship with him and it was quite close with him fighting for the title until the end.
“There were a few things that could have put us in a much better place. But overall, I think he performed very well, finished P5 in the Championship which I think is quite a good result.
“What was probably missing on Christian’s side was more that we were not able to optimise in the Sprint Races. Because many times he qualified quite well, but he was not able to make good race starts and ended up going backwards.
“If you look at the Sunday races and took only those results, he is by far one of the best scorers this year, so I think he did very well this season. I feel he could have done even better but the Christian at the end of the year is a much better driver.”
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The only rookie In the ART line-up this year, Laurens van Hoepen made a bright start to the year, with three podium finishes in four rounds.
Philippe says that the Dutch driver deserved to have similar results throughout the campaign, but that results went against them that disguised how strongly he’d driven later in the season.
“Coming to Laurens, he came from FRECA as a rookie, still developing himself, because he still has a low level of experience compared to a lot of other drivers. He had no F4 experience so globally, we’re quite pleased with his season.
“He has been very opportunistic. The performance was getting better and better all year long. At the beginning, we were lacking a bit, but he was quite smart in Qualifying to optimise everything and to be able to be in the top 12.
“The first three rounds of the year, he was capable of starting the Sprint Races on the first few rows and delivering quite good results. Then when you start building a relationship with your engineer, the way of working is much easier, and you get used to scoring points.
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“I would say at the end of the year it was like the opposite situation. The performance was probably much better, but the points he scored was much less than what he should have done. But I think overall it was a good season for him.”
Picking out his favourite moment though, Philippe points to the Budapest Feature Race prior to the team losing its impressive one-two finish to post-race disqualification.
“It’s got to be the one-two in Budapest before we got disqualified. On the team side, it was a really strong weekend, three cars in the points and a one-two at the end of the race, unfortunately we had the water radiator leak that put us underweight with Laurens, and that lost us 18 points. Probably not the best end of the weekend but at the chequered flag, it was definitely the best moment.”