Despite finishing a disappointing 27th in the 2023 F3 Championship, Thomas “Tommy” Smith continued with Van Amersfoort Racing for a second season. However, while he would enjoy some improvements in 2024, the Australian driver struggled to impress. He finished the 2024 F3 season 20th in the drivers’ standings.
A disappointing start to the 2024 season
Just as he had in 2023, Smith suffered an underwhelming start to the 2024 F3 season. After qualifying 27th, he suffered a collision with Jenzer Motorsport’s Matías Zagazeta in Lap 15 of the Sprint Race. While Smith survived this incident and went on to complete the race, he finished 28th, more than a minute behind race winner Arvid Lindblad. He went on to finish 22nd in the next day’s feature race.
The 2024 Melbourne F3 round would prove similarly disappointing as, after qualifying P30, he crossed the line P25 in the sprint. Unfortunately, as he was found to have caused an avoidable collision with PHM AIX Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak in Lap 13, he was handed a 10-second time penalty. This dropped him to P27. Unfortunately, he would not have the opportunity to redeem himself in the feature race as a collision with Joseph Loake on the opening lap saw both drivers out of the race.
Top 15 finishes in Monaco but still no points
After finishing the sprint and feature races of the 2024 Imola F3 round in P24 and P27 respectively, Smith’s dismal season appeared to be taking a positive turn. Despite qualifying a lowly P19, Smith avoided trouble in the sprint race. He crossed the line 13th and though this was not enough to earn him his first points of the season, it was a stark improvement to his results in the previous rounds. He enjoyed a similarly impressive feature race and finished 12th.
Unfortunately, though Smith would finish P18 in the sprint race of the 2024 Barcelona F3 round, he would return to less-than-impressive form in that weekend’s feature race. He would not make it out of the bottom 10 until the British Grand Prix weekend.
First points in Silverstone
It was in Silverstone that Smith scored the first points of his F3 career. However, his weekend did not get off to a great start. Despite his best efforts, he qualified a lowly but familiar 26th out of the 30 competing drivers and subsequently, finished the sprint race P21.
The feature race, however, would be the highlight of the Australian’s season. Despite starting near the back of the grid, Smith and his team employed an effective tyre strategy which saw him switching to the dry tyres earlier than most. This would prove an effective gamble as Smith was able to preserve his tyres on the drying track. When his competitors pitted later for their change onto the dry tyres, Smith used to opportunity to propel himself up the ranks. He crossed the line fourth to take 12 points.
Unfortunately, these 12 points would be Smith’s only for the season. He failed to score points in any of the season’s remaining six races. This would have been a disappointing end to the young driver’s sophomore season in F3. Fortunately, however, it would not be the end of Smith’s time in motorsport.
Smith switches to Indy NXT
After two underwhelming seasons in Formula 3, Smith will step away from the series to try his luck across the pond. In October 2024, HMD Motorsports added Smith to the line-up for the 2025 Indy NXT Season. When speaking on the team’s decision to partner with Smith, HMD’s president, Mike Maurini described the driver and his team as “a great group of people” and stated that they would be a welcome addition to the team.
“We are excited to have him aboard, and he is ready to work. I had the opportunity to work with his management team over the past few months and with Tommy directly in Nashville, and they are all a great group of people.”
“They will be a welcome addition to HMD Motorsports.”
Smith will not be alone at HMD Motorsports. In December 2024, the team announced that Smith’s former Van Amersfoort Racing teammate, Sophia Flörsch would also race with them in 2025.
Smith is also set to return to the Formula Regional Oceania Championship. The Australian driver will compete in at least two rounds with Giles Motorsport. He previously competed in the 2024 championship with mtec Motorsport and finished eighth in the standings with 144 points from three rounds.
