The 2016 FIA Formula 3 Championship headed to Hungary last weekend (22/24 April) with not a single driver in the field having raced an F3 car there before, and it was recent graduates of Formula 4 championships who grabbed the headlines.

Impressively in the opening race, all three podium positions were filled with new-for-2016 F3 talent and what’s more, winner Ralf Aron, second placed Niko Kari and third placed Joel Eriksson all contested FIA Formula 4 campaigns at national level last year.

With F4 forming a crucial part of the FIA’s ongoing commitment to creating a clear ladder of progression in single-seaters, teams, drivers and officials were all pleased to see the graduates perform so well.

Indeed, Aron and Eriksson would both visit the podium again over the weekend, and fellow former F4 racer Guanyu Zhou also picked up silverware with a third place in race two, so that six of the nine podium places were taken by drivers coming straight from F4 in 2015.

Undoubtedly delighted with his first victory at F3 level, 18-year-old reigning Italian F4 champion Ralf Aron highlighted some of the differences he has experienced moving up to F3.

“The main difference in the cars is definitely the downforce,” he commented. “In the high-speed corners the F3 car is much more capable, but it must be said F4 has a really good tyre and the overall balance of the car is great, so in the low to medium speed corners the car is fast and not a huge difference.

“That makes it a great preparation for driving in F3, the driving style that you need to be fast is quite similar, but the increased downforce is a big step.

“Coming out of F4 into F3, there are a lot more experienced drivers here. In F4 most of the drivers have come from karting and are rookies to single-seater cars, so everyone is learning together.

“Here we have some really experienced guys, which is the toughest challenge in your rookie season for sure.

“As we can see from race one at Hungaroring though, we had three different rookies on the podium who all came from F4.

“It just goes to show that it’s a perfect stepping stone for F3, and what the FIA is doing to make a logical ladder is a really good idea and it is working.”

The young Estonian was keen to point out, however, that the jump from F4 to F3 is not an easy one, and that his early success has been helped by a consistent relationship with Prema Powerteam.

“I made the step up from F4 to F3 inside the same team which helped a lot – even my engineer came up with me and we have a fantastic relationship.

“My advice for drivers in F4 would be that if you think you are ready, F3 is the perfect place to come and show what you can do, but in my opinion there is no need to rush to make that step. I did two years in the smaller categories and I think that was crucial to make me ready for where I am today.”

It is a sentiment echoed not only by the drivers, but also the team managers and engineers in the high-profile European F3. Frits Van Amersfoort, whose Van Amersfoort Racing outfit is credited with a number of famous former drivers including Tom Coronel and most recently Max Verstappen, fields competitors in both ADAC F4 and FIA F3, and he is a strong supporter of the development this encourages.

“The Formula 4 car we use here in the ADAC Championship is a typical "learning car" where the driver is the most important factor,” he said. “Whatever engineers can come up with or develop, you still need to drive the car fast and next to that they need to nurse the tyres. When they understand that and when they realize that their input is far more important than any technical "trick", they are on the right path.

“In comparison with the F4 Tatuus car, the F3 Dallara is highly developed and carries some F1-level technologies. Also the setup of the car has many more possibilities than the F4. That in itself is already a challenge, but it is still important to keep focus on the basic things which are the same as in F4.”

In a weekend where some of the more experienced F3 drivers struggled, Van Amersfoort provided some technical insight into perhaps why we saw so many rookie drivers on the podium.

“The majority of the F3 drivers were surprised by the lack of grip from the newly resurfaced Hungaroring,” he added. “The experienced ones know that with the F3 Hankook tyre you can normally drive a lot of laps without worrying about tyre degredation, but at the Hungaroring this was not possible.

“The F4 drivers who learned to work with the Pirelli tyre in 2015 are much more trained in that, which I think played a role in their relative success.

“I am impressed by their performances – it showed that F4 is an ideal car to start racing."

The FIA F3 European Championship heads to Pau, France in two weeks' time (13-15 May) for what's sure to be a challenging weekend on the famous street circuit. 

Click here to visit the FIA F3 European Championship website.