The 2021 Australian Formula 3 Championship is an Australian open-wheel racing series for FIA Formula 3 cars constructed and conforming to the regulations before and including 2016, ^[1] having previously been before and including 2011 the previous season. The season began on 5 March 2021 at Sydney Motorsport Park and was planned to finish on 5 December 2021 at The Bend Motorsport Park. ^[2] Organized by Formula Three Management Pty Ltd, ^[3] it is to be the 22nd season of Australian Formula 3, with the 2020 season having been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[1] This is also the first season where the championship winner would earn a prize S5000 test drive. ^[4] After the first round at Sydney the remaining rounds had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 travel restrictions being in place. Attention was then turned to the 2022 season. ^[5]

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers contested the 2021 Australian Formula 3 Championship. All teams are Australian-registered.

Team Chassis Engine No. Driver Class Rounds R-Tek Motorsport Dallara F307 Opel- Spiess 6 Max de Meyrick [6] N 1 Dallara F307 Opel- Spiess 7 Mitch Neilson [6] N 1 Dallara F311 Mercedes 8 Ray-Yu Wang [6] [7] C 1 McAlpine Motorsport Mygale M11 Mercedes 9 Ross McAlpine [6] C 1 Gilmour Racing Dallara F311 Mercedes 17 Roman Krumins [6] C 1 Ruff Racing Dallara F307 Mercedes 22 Gerrit Ruff [6] N 1 Tim Macrow Racing Dallara F311 Mercedes 25 Ben Taylor [6] [8] C 1 99 Motorsport Dallara F311 Volkswagen 99 Ryan Astley [6] C 1 TBA Dallara F307 Toyota 21 Matthew Vanderburg [6] N 1

Icon Class C Championship N National I Invitational

Classes

Competing cars were nominated into one of three classes: ^[3]

• Championship Class – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied in the year of manufacture between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2016. It was announced that new for this season, all cars entered would qualify for Championship Class. ^[9] However, this clearly has since been reversed.^{[ citation needed]}
• National Class – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied in the year of manufacture between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2007.
• Invitation Category – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied in the year of manufacture before 2002, as well as other open wheel ‘wings and slicks’ cars including Formula 1000, Formula Ford 2000, Formula Renault, Formula BMW, TRS, Formula 4, etc.

Calendar & race results

The series is to be contested over six rounds. ^[2] All rounds will be held in Australia.

Round 2 at Morgan Park Raceway was originally to be held on 11–13 April but was postponed on 31 March due to COVID-19 restrictions. ^[10] Again, Round 3 at Winton Motor Raceway was affected by similar regional COVID-19 restrictions, firstly being pushed back from the original date of 11–13 June to 16–18 July, ^[11] then being classified as a Non-championship round due to some entrants not being able to enter Victoria, ^[12] and finally being postponed on 15 July. ^[13] It was then rescheduled for 20–22 August ^[14] The AMRS announced the cancellation of the subsequent round at Queensland, previously to be held between 6–8 August, due to an inability to reschedule the meeting if it were postponed. ^[15]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Championship Class Winner	National Class Winner
1	R1	Sydney Motorsport Park	6 March	Ben Taylor	Ben Taylor	Roman Krumins	Mitch Neilson
	R2		7 March		Max de Meyrick	Ryan Astley	Mitch Neilson
	R3			Ben Taylor	Max de Meyrick	Ben Taylor	Max de Meyrick
Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic [15]
N/A	R1	Wakefield Park	N/A	N/A
	R2
	R3
	R1	The Bend Motorsport Park
	R2
	R3
	R1	Morgan Park Raceway
	R2
	R3
	R1	Queensland Raceway
	R2
	R3

Championship standings

Points system

Points for are awarded as follows: ^[3]

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver SYD Pts Championship 1 Ben Taylor 4 5 1 42 2 Ryan Astley 5 3 3 35 3 Roman Krumins 3 7 4 31 4 Ray-Yu Wang 6 6 5 25 5 Ross McAlpine 7 8 Ret 12 National 1 Max de Meyrick 8 2 2 40 2 Mitch Neilson 1 1 7 37 3 Gerrit Ruff 2 4 6 32 - Matthew Vanderburg WD WD WD - Pos Driver SYD Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest lap

References

External links

• Official Web Page