Christian Mansell hopes to lead ART Grand Prix back to Formula 3 success

French Formula 3 team ART Grand Prix felt their reputation slip after the 2023 season, but new signing Christian Mansell could be the driver to lead a campaign back to the front of the pack.

Mansell starts his second year of the FIA Formula 3 season with a team change, moving to ART to join fellow sophomore Nikola Tsolov from Bulgaria and Dutch rookie Laurens van Hoepen.

"It's absolutely very, very important for me to try and get as high up the grid as I possibly can," he said on Wednesday ahead of the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Australian has shifted teams, but it is clear from his pre-season appearances that his attitude has also shifted, projecting the sense that he hopes to carry the weight of the team on his back.

ART Grand Prix are stalwarts of the Formula 3 grid, and for the first four years of the rebadged championship they placed third in the teams' standings.

That changed in 2023, their first season in five years without winning a single race resulting in eighth place in the teams' competition.

"I have a lot of trust in them, I have a lot of faith in them," said Mansell.

"Realistically, [my overall goal] is just trying to maximise the absolute performance out of the ART car and myself."

"Whether that be first, or third, or wherever I finish, as long as I've got the maximum out of the car then I can leave here, or every single round, happy."

The 19-year-old was asked about the difference so far between the 2023 Campos and the 2024 ART cars, but his answers potentially reveal a lot more about the teams and his attitude.

Spanish entrants Campos are known for their nurturing development of rookie talent, and the family atmosphere of the garage was very supportive for Mansell and teammates Pepe Martí and Hugh Barter.

But as Martí succeeded in his second year in the category, with three wins and top ten finishes in all but one race of the first six rounds, it took some time for Mansell to find his way, obviously settled by mid-season with a third-place finish in the Silverstone sprint race.

Mansell's skill was never in doubt for anyone who had watched him drive before arriving in Formula 3, and he is a natural showman, taking second in the Belgian feature race after starting 24th in a rolling start.

His comments ahead of the 2024 season do echo his positive expectations 12 months earlier when he joined Campos.

“Now I don’t really have any expectations, but you’re always going to have expectations," he said in January last year.

"I think overall, just if I feel like I’ve gotten the best out of myself and the car then I will be very, very happy, but the reality of that happening is low because it’s so new and it’s so fresh."

"As a whole, my goal is to extract the most out of me in the car.”

Stripping away the similar statements from his 2024 preview, what remains reveals the difference in his approachr.

In 2023 he was joining a team with the winning edge that he was proud to be a part of; in 2024 he knows what is expected of him but is offering to take the team with him on the journey.

"The two cars couldn't be more opposite if they tried, in some aspects," he said ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

"There's definitely also the fact that you know, Spanish, French, they operate differently and getting used to the way they run things."

"It's just different, and I think that was just the biggest part of changing teams."

"I feel very comfortable, especially within the team. I really enjoy the team environment."

"Campos was having a really, really good season with myself, Pepe, Hugh, and Josh at the end of the year… but in ART they've come back with a big, big purpose and a big push to get back to where they belong."

"We can try and get back to being that competitive car and I truly believe that the car is competitive and I feel competitive, which is the main thing."

"We'll just have to wait until qualifying and the end of this race weekend to really see… but now we feel good. We feel ready."

Mansell simply can not help himself from referring to the team as “we” as he drives home their 2024 mission.

It's not to take anything away from his teammates either, as Mansell reminds us in the briefing.

"Nikola and Laurens, we all think that the car is capable, [which is a] very, very good thing."

But van Hoepen is a rookie, coming into Formula 3 after two years of the Formula Regional European series, and Tsolov is the one holdover from the 2023 lineup, with the team remaining confident in his abilities.

“Nikola, he has made massive improvements since last year because he was starting from scratch,” team boss Sébastien Philippe told Formula 3 during pre-season testing.

“He is very young, only doing six months in Spanish F4, so for sure the Nikola at the start of this year is a completely different one than the one from last year."

“His experience in motorsport is still small because he is one and a half years in.

He still needs to learn a lot of things, he is still young and a bit like Laurens, he is capable of showing some really decent pace."

That leaves Mansell, stepping into the striking red ART with the mentality of an obvious team leader.

Whether that is an on-track or off-track role will only become clear throughout the ten-round season.

Watch every race of the FIA Formula 3 season on Kayo Sports.