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The reboot behind the UK’s thriving single-seater category

The long-standing British Formula 3 Championship ended in 2014, but the current MotorSport Vision-run F3 series has gone some way to filling the void. In striving to keep costs down, it's carved out a niche that it hopes will attract aspirational drivers

Stefan Mackley Jan 2, 2021, 4:05 PM

"Everybody involved in British motorsport knows how important British F3 has been and we are delighted to get it back." Those words, spoken by MotorSport Vision chief executive Jonathan Palmer, were published in the 31 March 2016 issue of Autosport magazine shortly after the first round of the new BRDC British F3 Championship.

Just days before that opening event, the go-ahead had been given to rename what had been known since 2013 as the BRDC Formula 4 Championship as British F3, although the new two-litre Tatuus-Cosworth single-seater spec car had been given its competition debut in the 2015 Autumn Trophy under the F4 title. It heralded a new dawn, and five seasons later the MSV-operated BRDC British F3 series is well established as the UK's premier single-seater category, silencing a number of critics, and has gone some way to upholding the honour and prestige of the previous British F3 Championship, which ran from 1979-2014.

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Author Stefan Mackley

A proud Yorkshireman, Stefan Mackley is Autosport's National Deputy Editor. Having graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a degree in sports journalism he spent nearly four years working on local newspapers in Wiltshire - during which time he became an NQJ-qualified journalist and cut his teeth covering club racing at Castle Combe in his spare time.

Making the jump into motorsport journalism full-time, he joined the national desk for both Autosport magazine and Motorsport News in 2017 before becoming National Deputy Editor for the former in 2020.

His passion for motorsport stems from watching Formula 1 as a child with his father and is matched only by his love for Star Wars.

A better journalist than racing driver, he has so far competed in the Citroen C1 24 Hours and 116 Trophy with hopes of racing more machinery in 2021 and beyond.