18 Formula 3 teams fighting for 10 spots from 2022

The chief executive of FIA Formula 3 has revealed 18 teams have expressed an interest in being a part of the series in 2022, with only 10 slots available.

The current grid hosts 30 drivers from 10 different teams running three cars each, and the teams joined on a three-year cycle when the series was formed in 2019 – with the time to set the grid for the next three seasons fast approaching.

Coupled with the FIA’s grid, there are several regional F3 series around the world and a number of teams want to get onto the global stage – and Formula 3 CEO Bruno Michel outlined the selection process.

“Number one, I don’t want to change the number of teams selected,” Michel said to reporters, per Formula Scout.

“What is quite positive is that we will have 10 positions and I have I think 18 requests from quite interesting and strong teams. So that shows that F3 is quite a strong and healthy championship.

“We have 30 cars, which is at this level something that is quite admirable. And I don’t want to be into the situation where we enter four cars, because at the moment we could do so, and then in one year, two years or three years’ time the economic situation is not as good as what it was, the teams are starting to collapse.

“So I’m always trying to protect the value of the teams that are entering into the championship. So that’s why even though we have more requests, we go with the same number of teams.

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“After that, the selection is made on a certain number of criterias: the sporting history of course is one, the financial strength of the team is something that is quite important as well, the shareholding, so we get a lot of information, the balance sheet of the teams and then we make decisions.

“Historically, all the teams will tell you that I’ve always been very loyal to the existing teams because they are there, they are doing the job. But on the other hand, it’s always interesting to look [outside of those].

“If one existing team is not so keen to stay, or is not in such a strong position, and then there are some strong people that can come in, yes of course we look at it.”

As it stands, Norwegian Red Bull junior driver Dennis Hauger has streaked clear at the top of the FIA Formula 3 standings, with seven podiums taking him a whopping 63 points clear of his nearest rival, fellow Red Bull junior Jack Doohan.

AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda is the first and only driver so far to have graduated to Formula 1 after competing in the category.