Barbadian teen named F3 Rookie of the Year

MONACO (CMC):

Barbadian Zane Maloney, who notched up three successive feature race wins to take Formula 3 by storm this year, has been named Rookie of the Year.

Maloney, 19, also received the Dallara Award at the Formula 3 Prize Giving Ceremony here this week.

“It was the best season I’ve ever had in my career,” he said on accepting his prize.

“Any given weekend, anyone on the grid had a chance of winning so it was very difficult. I made a few mistakes at the beginning of the year, didn’t keep the car on track as much as I should’ve, and I gave the team a lot of work.

“But, once we hit our stride, we were able to do a great job for the rest of the year. So thank you to Trident for giving me the package each weekend, I just had to go out there and drive as fast as I can, which worked out well,” he added.

Maloney’s first win came in Budapest, finishing P2 in tricky wet-to-dry conditions before his total reversal of fortunes. A sizeable crash in the Sprint Race at Spa-Francorchamps was overcome in the feature event, as he claimed his first FIA F3 victory in style.

He followed that up with a determined drive to victory at Zandvoort up against title rival Victor Martins.

At the final round and with the Championship in the balance, Maloney pulled off another highlight drive to win at the final time of asking, doing all he could in pursuit of the Drivers’ Championship, although he ended up just five points short of that accolade.

Last week, Red Bull Racing announced the F3 championship runner-up as the newest member of the its junior driver programme and one of the team’s F1 reserve drivers.

Maloney was 2019 British F4 Champion with Carlin before making the switch to Euroformula Open for 2020, where he finished the season eighth. In 2021, the Bajan driver moved to Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. He took one win along with a further seven podiums on the way to fourth in the standings.