1990 British Formula Three Championship

The 1990 British Formula Three season was the 40th season of the British Formula Three Championship, starting on 1 April at Donington Park and ending on 7 October at Silverstone following 17 races.

The season was notable for its domination by future Formula One champion Mika Häkkinen and fellow Finn and future F1 driver Mika Salo; both drove Mugen-Honda-powered Ralt chassis, prepared by West Surrey Racing and Alan Docking Racing respectively. Häkkinen started the year strongly with three wins from the first four races, but Salo responded with four victories in the next six events to establish an 11-point advantage over his rival. The 11th round of the series at Snetterton proved a turning point, however, as Salo spun out while leading, allowing Häkkinen to begin a sequence of six wins from the final seven rounds which would allow him to seal the title with two rounds to spare.

Häkkinen's reward would be a deal to race with the Lotus F1 team in 1991, although Salo's career momentum was ruined by a drunk-driving charge that forced him to move to Japan to further his career.[1] Other drivers in the field that went on to enjoy success in international motorsport included Christian Fittipaldi, who went on to win the International Formula 3000 championship the following year before enjoying stints in F1 and CART, and future touring car and sportscar driver Peter Kox.

1990 also marked the start of a dominant period for Mugen-Honda engines, which would power each British F3 champion until 2005 with only one exception. Charles Rickett won the Class B title in a year-old Volkswagen-powered Ralt.

Drivers and Teams

edit
Team Chassis Engine No. Driver Rounds
Class A
Bowman Racing Ralt RT33 Volkswagen-Spiess 1   Steve Robertson All
4   Philippe Adams All
12   Fernando Plata 1–7
  Stephen Hepworth 10–17
14   Peter Kox 1–10, 12–17
West Surrey Racing Ralt RT34 Mugen-Honda 2   Mika Häkkinen All
3   Christian Fittipaldi All
16   Minoru Tanaka All
Paul Stewart Racing Reynard 903 Mugen-Honda 5   Paul Stewart 1–3
Ralt RT34 4–17
Reynard 903 6   Derek Higgins 1–4
Ralt RT34 5–17
Alan Docking Racing Ralt RT34 Mugen-Honda 7   Mika Salo All
8   Hideki Noda All
Swallow Racing Reynard 903 Mugen-Honda 10   Julian Westwood 1–4
Ralt RT34 5–17
Reynard 903 11   Jonathan McGall 1–3
Ralt RT34 4–17
Formula Services Reynard 903 Alfa Romeo 18   Jose Cordova 1–4
  Adrián Fernández 5
Hubbard Racing Reynard 903 Opel 20   Hilton Cowie 5–9, 13–15, 17
Ralt RT33 94 3
21   Niko Palhares 3–4
Ralt RT34 5–9
Racefax Motorsport Ralt RT32 Mazda 23   Alain Menu 1–2, 4
Dawson Auto Developments Reynard 903 Alfa Romeo 25   António Simões 2–3, 5, 10–11, 13, 17
Tech-Speed Motorsport Reynard 903 Volkswagen-Spiess 27   Gary Ayles 1–4, 6–9
  Scott Stringfellow 13
28   Jordi Gené All
Hepworth Racing Reynard 903 Volkswagen-Spiess 30   Stephen Hepworth 1–6
  Jason Elliott 9–10
  Henrik Larsen 11–14
  Ross Hockenhull 16
Superpower Engineering Reynard 903 Volkswagen-Spiess 33   Paul Warwick 1
Ralt RT34 Mugen-Honda 2–9
  Bernard Dolan 10
  Gary Ayles 11–17
Team Itchi-Ban Reynard 903 Mugen-Honda 37   Nic Jönsson 15–16
38   Mikael Gustavsson 15
39   Linus Lundberg 15
G-Son Racing Reynard 903 Volkswagen-Spiess 40   Fredrik Ekblom 1
Diamond Racing Reynard 903 Volkswagen-Spiess 44   César Tiberio Jiménez 4
Reynard R&D Reynard 903B Mugen-Honda 50   Jason Elliott 11, 13, 15–17
Class B
Peter Lea Racing Reynard 873 Alfa Romeo 51   Eddie Kimbell 1–13
  Sandy Brody 14–17
Reynard 883 56   Alan Tulloch 1–10, 13–17
Stronghold Racing Ralt RT32 Toyota 52   Steve Bradley 1–4, 6, 8–11, 14
Ralt RT33 Volkswagen-Spiess 15, 17
Steve Deeks Reynard 883 Alfa Romeo 53   Steve Deeks 5–8, 10, 17
Bowman Racing Ralt RT33 Volkswagen-Spiess 54   Charles Rickett 1–13
  Darren Shaw 14, 16
  Dana Brewer 15, 17
Tollbar Racing Ralt RT32 Volkswagen-Spiess 55   Juan Serda All
Davies Racing Ralt RT31 Volkswagen-Spiess 57   Tony Davies 1, 4–6, 10, 17
Tech-Speed Motorsport Reynard 873 Volkswagen-Spiess 58   Paul Smith 10
G-Son Racing Reynard 883 Volkswagen-Spiess 60   Monica Stråth 1
Racefax Motorsport Ralt RT32 Volkswagen-Spiess 61   Dominic Chappell 1–3
Ralt RT33 4–17
Hubbard Racing Reynard 893 Volkswagen-Spiess 64   Pekka Herva 14–15, 17
Ralt RT33 Opel 91   Flurin Zegg 4
Zeus Motorsport Reynard 883 Volkswagen-Spiess 66   Peter Sneller 1–2, 4–8, 10–12, 15–17
Petroglobe International Reynard 893 Alfa Romeo 67   Dana Brewer 13
Diamond Racing Reynard 893 Toyota 70   César Tiberio Jiménez 3
Cram Motorsport Ralt RT33 Toyota 71   Rob Mears All
JWD Motorsport Ralt RT31 Toyota 83   Jack Dickenson 4, 9
Carlton Tingling Reynard 883 Volkswagen-Spiess 85   Carlton Tingling 15

Race calendar and results

edit
Round Circuit Date Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning Driver Winning Team Class B Winner
1 Donington Park 1 April   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Dominic Chappell
2 Silverstone 8 April   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Salo   Mika Salo   Alan Docking Racing   Charles Rickett
3 Thruxton 16 April   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Charles Rickett
4 Brands Hatch 29 April   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Charles Rickett
5 Silverstone 7 May   Mika Salo   Mika Salo   Mika Salo   Alan Docking Racing   Juan Serda
6 Brands Hatch 20 May   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Salo   Alan Docking Racing   Dominic Chappell
7 Thruxton 28 May   Mika Salo   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Salo   Alan Docking Racing   Charles Rickett
8 Silverstone 10 June   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Salo   Steve Robertson   Bowman Racing   Charles Rickett
9 Donington Park 1 July   Christian Fittipaldi   Christian Fittipaldi   Christian Fittipaldi   West Surrey Racing   Charles Rickett
10 Silverstone 14 July   Mika Salo   Mika Salo   Mika Salo   Alan Docking Racing   Charles Rickett
11 Snetterton 5 August   Mika Salo   Mika Häkkinen
  Mika Salo1
  Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Charles Rickett
12 Oulton Park 12 August   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Charles Rickett
13 Silverstone 27 August   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Charles Rickett
14 Brands Hatch 2 September   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Darren Shaw
15 Donington Park 16 September   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Dominic Chappell
16 Thruxton 23 September   Paul Stewart   Mika Salo   Mika Salo   Alan Docking Racing   Darren Shaw
17 Silverstone 7 October   Mika Häkkinen   Steve Robertson   Mika Häkkinen   West Surrey Racing   Peter Sneller

^1 Häkkinen and Salo set identical fastest lap times and were subsequently both awarded an additional point.

Championship Standings

edit

Points in brackets include dropped scoresonly the best 14 of 17 scores count towards the championship

Pos. Driver DON SIL THR BRH SIL BRH THR SIL DON SIL SNE OUL SIL BRH DON THR SIL Pts
Class A
1   Mika Häkkinen 1 (3) 1 1 2 2 2 Ret (6) 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 121
2   Mika Salo 2 1 2 4 1 1 1 2 5 1 (7) 2 2 Ret 3 1 Ret 98
3   Steve Robertson 3 2 Ret Ret 3 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 2 Ret 4 3 Ret 9 3 49
4   Christian Fittipaldi 4 14 5 6 7 6 4 8 1 6 3 Ret DSQ 5 Ret 4 2 36
5   Peter Kox Ret 4 3 2 5 Ret 6 5 2 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 4 28
6   Philippe Adams 11 Ret 6 10 4 20 Ret 9 9 4 4 5 6 2 2 Ret 11 25
7   Paul Stewart 6 23 Ret 11 9 Ret 13 4 4 Ret 5 4 3 6 Ret 3 13 21
8   Jonathan McGall Ret 5 Ret 12 10 11 5 3 7 10 17 3 7 7 Ret Ret 6 13
9   Derek Higgins Ret 7 Ret 5 8 4 9 22 3 Ret Ret Ret Ret 4 Ret Ret 7 12
10   Paul Warwick 17 Ret 4 3 Ret 5 7 6 10 10
11   Minoru Tanaka 5 8 Ret 8 13 Ret 3 Ret Ret 5 Ret Ret 10 12 Ret 5 8 10
12   Hideki Noda 7 6 Ret DNS 6 9 11 16 Ret Ret Ret 6 5 11 4 10 Ret 8
13   Jason Elliott Ret 8 DNS 20 5 8 5 4
14   Julian Westwood Ret 12 8 9 14 7 10 7 8 7 Ret 7 8 9 6 7 10 1
15   Jordi Gené 10 10 9 13 12 Ret DSQ 10 Ret 11 6 8 9 10 7 Ret 9 1
16   Fernando Plata 8 9 7 7 11 8 12 0
17   Gary Ayles 20 Ret 11 14 Ret 8 14 Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 8 19 12 0
18   Henrik Larsen 8 Ret 11 13 0
19   Stephen Hepworth 13 16 15 Ret 15 12 Ret 9 9 Ret 14 15 20 Ret 0
20   Alain Menu 9 Ret DNS 0
21   Bernard Dolan 9 0
22   Niko Palhares Ret Ret Ret 10 NC 11 Ret 0
23   Jose Cordova DNS 11 10 DNS 0
24   António Simões 13 Ret Ret 12 10 Ret Ret 0
25   Hilton Cowie 12 Ret Ret DSQ 12 11 12 Ret Ret Ret 0
26   Ross Hockenhull 11 0
27   Nic Jönsson Ret 13 0
28   Scott Stringfellow 15 0
  Fredrik Ekblom Ret 0
  Adrián Fernández Ret 0
  Linus Lundberg Ret 0
  César T. Jiménez DNS 0
  Mikael Gustavsson DNS 0
Class B
1   Charles Rickett Ret 15 13 15 Ret 21 14 13 12 13 11 10 13 101
2   Dominic Chappell 12 19 DNS Ret Ret 13 15 15 Ret 15 Ret 11 14 16 9 14 Ret 72
3   Eddie Kimbell Ret 18 14 16 17 16 17 19 15 Ret 12 DNS 16 43
4   Rob Mears 18 Ret 16 Ret Ret 14 Ret 18 13 16 14 Ret Ret 17 10 15 DSQ 42
5   Peter Sneller Ret 17 DNS Ret 15 16 Ret 14 15 12 DSQ 16 14 39
6   Juan Serda 16 20 20 17 16 18 18 21 16 20 16 13 18 20 DSQ 18 18 33
7   Steve Bradley DSQ 21 18 Ret 17 20 14 19 13 19 12 16 23
8   Darren Shaw 15 12 20
9   Alan Tulloch 15 22 19 18 18 19 19 Ret Ret 21 17 21 11 Ret Ret 20
10   Sandy Brody Ret Ret 17 15 8
11   Steve Deeks Ret DNS DNS 17 18 17 8
12   Monica Stråth 14 6
13   Tony Davies 19 19 19 22 22 DNS 6
14   Pekka Herva 18 Ret Ret 4
15   César T. Jiménez 17 3
16   Dana Brewer 19 14 19 3
17   Paul Smith 17 2
18   Carlton Tingling 13 2
19   Jack Dickenson DNS 17 1
  Flurin Zegg DNS 0

References

edit
  1. ^ "Formula 1 News, Live Grand Prix Updates, Videos, Drivers and Results - ESPN".
edit