FEATURE: Aussie F3® rookie Smith sets sights on Albert Park
Wednesday, 8 March 2023
Tommy Smith is one of three Aussies on the FIA Formula 3® grid in Melbourne – and the Melbourne 20-year-old hopes to make his local knowledge count.
When you're an up-and-coming Aussie racer who has plied their trade overseas for three years, you'll take every little bit of local knowledge you can get. That's where Melbourne's Tommy Smith finds himself ahead of the debut of the FIA Formula 3® Championship in Australia, with the 20-year-old hoping to tap into his familiarity with Albert Park in a season where just about everything else is new.
Smith, who drives for Dutch outfit Van Amersfoort Racing, raced on the Formula 1® undercard at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix, finishing ninth, fourth and eighth in three races of the Australian F4 Championship. While plenty of time has passed and the Albert Park layout has changed, it's a sliver of an advantage he hopes can help in a year where he's new to F3®, and F3® is new to Melbourne.
Smith has had plenty on his plate since he stepped out at Albert Park last time. In 2022, he competed in the British GB3 Championship (formerly known as British F3®) for Douglas Motorsport, winning a red-flagged race in Belgium on the way to finishing 19th overall.
Smith – whose uncle is current Supercars driver Jack Smith – raced in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) in 2021, and has spent time in the F3® Asian Championship and Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand en route to FIA F3®, where 30 drivers look to stake their claim on the ladder towards F1®.
Smith finished 23rd and 28th in the sprint and feature races in Bahrain before Melbourne, and admitted pre-season testing gave him a snapshot of the gradient of his learning curve.
"I was the most rushed of everyone, probably the only one who hadn't driven at least a GP3 car," he recalls of that first taste of F3® machinery.
"There was a lot to learn, quite a few things I needed to get used to like the tyre … you don't get many laps on it. You get two laps in qualy and the tyres are done, where I'm more used to going 15 laps in a row. There's a lot to take in, but I'm feeling more and more comfortable."
The 2023 campaign is Smith's third full year of racing overseas, a journey that was stopped before it started because of the COVID pandemic. That pause, though, had its positives. The Brighton Grammar student was able to complete Year 12 and get an Australian Tertiary Entrance Rank (ATAR), and is now studying property development remotely at Deakin University.
"I was supposed to go to Europe to do Formula Renault in 2020 – I did the pre-season test, but then I came home and didn't race the rest of the year," he explains.
"It put my racing back a few steps, but year three overseas this year, I know what to expect. The hardest part is actually going across. Once you make that move, the racing is all the same – racing is racing."
Securing a seat with Van Amersfoort Racing – the team counts reigning F1® world champion Max Verstappen among its alumni – was significant for Smith, and he's already appreciating its approach.
"They pride themselves on having a family environment, I've really enjoyed that," he says.
"We did some team-building stuff with my F3® teammates (Brazilian Caio Collet and Mexican Rafael Villagomez) and the team's F2® drivers (Dutchman Richard Verschoor and American Juan Manuel Correa) after the Bahrain test, nothing related to racing. That sort of thing makes you feel more comfortable when you're as far away from home as I am."
For one weekend, though, Smith gets to bring his "work" home with him. He feels the Albert Park fans who are yet to see F2® and F3® in person are in for a treat, citing two-wheel motorsport to make his point.
"The Aussie F1® fans might not understand how good the racing is, only because they haven't seen it yet," Smith reasons.
"Think of MotoGP and how you see the guys come up in Moto2, Moto3 … MotoGP have done a great job with that. F1® are getting better with that whole pathway. I reckon the Aussie fans are going to love it."
Racing in front of those fans is something Smith isn't taking for granted, either.
"It'll be so good to have the support, the timing for me being on the F3® grid this year is pretty awesome," he says.
"Everyone's been asking for tickets … I seem to have a lot of friends for this race!"
Photos: Thanks to James Gasperotti (IG: @jamesgasperotti) for the photos.
