After a somewhat disappointing 2023 F3 season with Campos Racing, Christian Mansell switched to ART Grand Prix for 2024, eager to fight for the championship title.
“I’m super happy to sign with ART Grand Prix for the 2024 FIA Formula 3 season. I’m looking forward to working with the team to achieve better results in the Teams’ Championship and for myself as a driver next year.”
“I’ve already competed in Macau with the team, so I’m very well integrated into the ART Grand Prix group, and I could not be happier. I’m really excited to start this new journey and I’m eagerly anticipating the upcoming race in Bahrain!”
A mixed start to the season
Mansell’s 2024 season appeared to off to a good start in Bahrain when he qualified eighth, ahead of teammates Nikola Tsolov and Laurens van Hoepen who qualified 11th and 12th respectively. However, his luck took a turn in the sprint race. Despite starting P5, under the reverse-grid conditions, he struggled to keep up with his opponents during the race. This saw him slump out of the points. Ultimately, he finished the race 14th, several places behind teammates van Hoepen and Tsolov who claimed second and fourth-place finishes respectively.
Fortunately, the next day’s feature race produced more favourable results. Despite starting from P8, a strong opening lap helped the Australian driver up to second. Despite pressure from the likes of MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz, Mansell held on to second place. He crossed the line just 1.264 seconds behind Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning to claim his first podium of the 2024 F3 season.
Despite his disappointing performance in the sprint race, his strong performance in the feature was a show of the driver’s potential. He showed this potential a few weeks later in Melbourne, with P10 finishes in both the sprint and feature races.
A return to the podium in Monaco
After taking points in the first two rounds of the 2024 F3 season, Mansell went to Imola with 20 points in hand. Unfortunately, he would not enjoy a competitive weekend in Imola. After qualifying a disappointing 15th, he struggled to make up places in the sprint race. He finished 12th, outside the points but just about 0.6 seconds ahead of Tsolov. The next day’s feature race proved worse for the young Australian who finished P20. Mansell went to Monaco with the same 20 points that he had taken to Imola.
Fortunately, for Mansell, the 2024 Monte Carlo F3 round got off to a better start. He qualified second after topping Group B, missing out on pole position by only 0.21 seconds. This saw him start the sprint race from P11.
Whether Mansell would be able to make positions after his start from the sixth row would ultimately remain unknown, however. On the opening lap, he collided with Prema Racing’s Arvid Lindblad. Though both drivers would emerge from the incident unscathed, the same could not be said for their cars. Both Lindblad and Mansell retired from the race, along with AIX Racing’s Joshua Dufek, MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne, and Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Cian Shields.
Luckily, Mansell avoided similar misfortune in the next day’s feature race. After starting second, he took advantage of the narrow Monte Carlo circuit to keep himself ahead of Browning. He finished the race second, claiming his second podium of the season while adding another 18 points to his tally.
One month later, he returned to the podium, claiming a P2 finish in the feature race. An excellent weekend in Austria followed just one week later.
An excellent weekend in Austria
In the 2024 Spielberg F3 round in Austria, Mansell suffered a less-than-ideal start to the weekend. He qualified 11th. While this was hardly an unimpressive performance for the Australian driver, it would not have been ideal, especially as he had claimed pole position in Barcelona just a week earlier. However, his P11 finish in qualifying did give him an advantage for the sprint race. He started second, alongside Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Martinius Stenshorne.
Unfortunately, Mansell could not capitalise on his front-row starting position. After lifting too early during the Safety Car signal, Mansell dropped to third, losing his place to teammate Tsolov. Tsolov would go on to win the race and though Mansell would try to get past Stenshorne, he would be unsuccessful. The Australian driver crossed the line third, behind Tsolov and Stenshorne. This would be the last time that Mansell would stand on the podium in F3, though not the last time that he would be classified third.
A slump in performance
After a P4 finish in the feature race in Austria, Mansell suffered a slump in his performance. Despite qualifying seventh in Silverstone, Mansell struggled with the tricky weather conditions at the Silverstone Circuit. After a track limit penalty in the sprint race, and the use of apoor strategy in the feature race, Mansell left the UK without having added to his championship total.
He would, however, redeem himself, in Hungary, securing P5 and P4 in the sprint and feature races after aggressive yet calculated performances throughout the weekend. This was a reminder to the Australian’s talent behind the wheel, and a show of his resiliance, especially after the bitter disappointment of the 2024 Silverstone F3 round.
Unfortunately, the Spa-Francorchamps round that followed would be a disappointing and messy one. After qualifying P20, he was unable to make his way up into the points. He left Belgium with his chances for claiming the title almost certainly gone.
Mixed fortunes in Monza
After the disappointment in Spa-Francorchamps, Mansell went into the final round at Monza desperate to end the season on a high note. Unfortunately, the Australian’s weekend would get off to a poor start. After qualifying eighth, the stewards handed him a three-place grid penalty for impeding his opponents during qualifying. This saw him start the final sprint race of the 2024 F3 season from P9.
Unfortunately, Mansell would not have the chance to fight for points. After stalling on the formation lap, and enduring a messy race which included stewards handing him a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, he finished 22nd.
He would, however, enjoy a neater feature race. After starting P8, Mansell put in a strong performance to work his way up the pack. He crossed the line fourth, after a last-lap overtake by Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli. This saw Fornaroli take the 2024 F3 championship title.
However, though the Australian driver would not stand on the podium, he would ultimately be classified third after race winner Gabriele Minì was disqualified due to a “technical nonconformity.” This was a positive end to Mansell’s second season in F3. Mansell finished fifth in the 2024 F3 drivers’ championship with 112 points.
Stepping up to F2
After an impressive second F3 season, Trident called upon the young driver to replace Roman Staněk for the final three races of the season.
Despite his limited experience behind the wheel of an F2 car, the Australian was quick to impress. On his debut F2 weekend in Baku, he took a point in both the sprint and feature races. Impressively, he followed this with eight points from a P6 finish in the 2024 Lusail F2 round. Though he failed to score points in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Mansell enjoyed a successful stint in F2. He left Abu Dhabi 25th in the 2024 F2 drivers’ championship with 10 points.
This, it tuned out, would be good practice for the twenty-year-old driver. In November 2024, ahead of the final Lusail and Yas Marina rounds, Rodin Motorsport announced that Mansell would join their F2 lineup for 2025.
When speaking on Rodin Motorsport’s decision to welcome the Australian driver back into their ranks, Team Manager Benn Huntingford explained that Mansell had impressed the team with his exceptional performance in Baku. Huntingford added that he looked forward to working with the driver in 2025.
“We are pleased to welcome Christian back to the team here at Rodin Motorsport. We’ve been impressed watching his step up to the Formula 2 championship and know how great he is to work with from our previous seasons together. I’m looking forward to seeing him get behind the wheel of the car in Abu Dhabi with us and getting our season underway.”
