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.
1990 British Formula 3 International Series | |||
Previous: | 1989 | Next: | 1991 |
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
Team | Chassis | Engine | No. | Driver | Rounds |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class A | |||||
Bowman Racing | Ralt RT33 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 1 | All | |
4 | All | ||||
12 | 1–7 | ||||
10–17 | |||||
14 | 1–10, 12–17 | ||||
West Surrey Racing | Ralt RT34 | Mugen-Honda | 2 | All | |
3 | All | ||||
16 | All | ||||
Paul Stewart Racing | Reynard 903 | Mugen-Honda | 5 | 1–3 | |
Ralt RT34 | 4–17 | ||||
Reynard 903 | 6 | 1–4 | |||
Ralt RT34 | 5–17 | ||||
Alan Docking Racing | Ralt RT34 | Mugen-Honda | 7 | All | |
8 | All | ||||
Swallow Racing | Reynard 903 | Mugen-Honda | 10 | 1–4 | |
Ralt RT34 | 5–17 | ||||
Reynard 903 | 11 | 1–3 | |||
Ralt RT34 | 4–17 | ||||
Formula Services | Reynard 903 | Alfa Romeo | 18 | 1–4 | |
5 | |||||
Hubbard Racing | Reynard 903 | Opel | 20 | 5–9, 13–15, 17 | |
Ralt RT33 | 94 | 3 | |||
21 | 3–4 | ||||
Ralt RT34 | 5–9 | ||||
Racefax Motorsport | Ralt RT32 | Mazda | 23 | 1–2, 4 | |
Dawson Auto Developments | Reynard 903 | Alfa Romeo | 25 | 2–3, 5, 10–11, 13, 17 | |
Tech-Speed Motorsport | Reynard 903 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 27 | 1–4, 6–9 | |
13 | |||||
28 | All | ||||
Hepworth Racing | Reynard 903 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 30 | 1–6 | |
9–10 | |||||
11–14 | |||||
16 | |||||
Superpower Engineering | Reynard 903 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 33 | 1 | |
Ralt RT34 | Mugen-Honda | 2–9 | |||
10 | |||||
11–17 | |||||
Team Itchi-Ban | Reynard 903 | Mugen-Honda | 37 | 15–16 | |
38 | 15 | ||||
39 | 15 | ||||
G-Son Racing | Reynard 903 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 40 | 1 | |
Diamond Racing | Reynard 903 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 44 | 4 | |
Reynard R&D | Reynard 903B | Mugen-Honda | 50 | 11, 13, 15–17 | |
Class B | |||||
Peter Lea Racing | Reynard 873 | Alfa Romeo | 51 | 1–13 | |
14–17 | |||||
Reynard 883 | 56 | 1–10, 13–17 | |||
Stronghold Racing | Ralt RT32 | Toyota | 52 | 1–4, 6, 8–11, 14 | |
Ralt RT33 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 15, 17 | |||
Steve Deeks | Reynard 883 | Alfa Romeo | 53 | 5–8, 10, 17 | |
Bowman Racing | Ralt RT33 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 54 | 1–13 | |
14, 16 | |||||
15, 17 | |||||
Tollbar Racing | Ralt RT32 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 55 | All | |
Davies Racing | Ralt RT31 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 57 | 1, 4–6, 10, 17 | |
Tech-Speed Motorsport | Reynard 873 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 58 | 10 | |
G-Son Racing | Reynard 883 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 60 | 1 | |
Racefax Motorsport | Ralt RT32 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 61 | 1–3 | |
Ralt RT33 | 4–17 | ||||
Hubbard Racing | Reynard 893 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 64 | 14–15, 17 | |
Ralt RT33 | Opel | 91 | 4 | ||
Zeus Motorsport | Reynard 883 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 66 | 1–2, 4–8, 10–12, 15–17 | |
Petroglobe International | Reynard 893 | Alfa Romeo | 67 | 13 | |
Diamond Racing | Reynard 893 | Toyota | 70 | 3 | |
Cram Motorsport | Ralt RT33 | Toyota | 71 | All | |
JWD Motorsport | Ralt RT31 | Toyota | 83 | 4, 9 | |
Carlton Tingling | Reynard 883 | Volkswagen-Spiess | 85 | 15 |
Race calendar and results
^1 Häkkinen and Salo set identical fastest lap times and were subsequently both awarded an additional point.
Championship Standings
Points in brackets include dropped scores – only 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 | 1 | (3) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Ret | (6) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 121 | |
2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | (7) | 2 | 2 | Ret | 3 | 1 | Ret | 98 | |
3 | 3 | 2 | Ret | Ret | 3 | 3 | Ret | 1 | Ret | 3 | 2 | Ret | 4 | 3 | Ret | 9 | 3 | 49 | |
4 | 4 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 3 | Ret | DSQ | 5 | Ret | 4 | 2 | 36 | |
5 | Ret | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | Ret | 6 | 5 | 2 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 6 | 4 | 28 | ||
6 | 11 | Ret | 6 | 10 | 4 | 20 | Ret | 9 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | Ret | 11 | 25 | |
7 | 6 | 23 | Ret | 11 | 9 | Ret | 13 | 4 | 4 | Ret | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | Ret | 3 | 13 | 21 | |
8 | Ret | 5 | Ret | 12 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 3 | 7 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 6 | 13 | |
9 | Ret | 7 | Ret | 5 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 22 | 3 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4 | Ret | Ret | 7 | 12 | |
10 | 17 | Ret | 4 | 3 | Ret | 5 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 10 | |||||||||
11 | 5 | 8 | Ret | 8 | 13 | Ret | 3 | Ret | Ret | 5 | Ret | Ret | 10 | 12 | Ret | 5 | 8 | 10 | |
12 | 7 | 6 | Ret | DNS | 6 | 9 | 11 | 16 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 6 | 5 | 11 | 4 | 10 | Ret | 8 | |
13 | Ret | 8 | DNS | 20 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | |||||||||||
14 | Ret | 12 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 7 | Ret | 7 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 1 | |
15 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 12 | Ret | DSQ | 10 | Ret | 11 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 7 | Ret | 9 | 1 | |
16 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 0 | |||||||||||
17 | 20 | Ret | 11 | 14 | Ret | 8 | 14 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8 | 8 | 19 | 12 | 0 | |||
18 | 8 | Ret | 11 | 13 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
19 | 13 | 16 | 15 | Ret | 15 | 12 | Ret | 9 | 9 | Ret | 14 | 15 | 20 | Ret | 0 | ||||
20 | 9 | Ret | DNS | 0 | |||||||||||||||
21 | 9 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
22 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 10 | NC | 11 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||||
23 | DNS | 11 | 10 | DNS | 0 | ||||||||||||||
24 | 13 | Ret | Ret | 12 | 10 | Ret | Ret | 0 | |||||||||||
25 | 12 | Ret | Ret | DSQ | 12 | 11 | 12 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 | ||||||||
26 | 11 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
27 | Ret | 13 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
28 | 15 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Ret | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Ret | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Ret | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
DNS | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
DNS | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Class B | |||||||||||||||||||
1 | Ret | 15 | 13 | 15 | Ret | 21 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 101 | |||||
2 | 12 | 19 | DNS | Ret | Ret | 13 | 15 | 15 | Ret | 15 | Ret | 11 | 14 | 16 | 9 | 14 | Ret | 72 | |
3 | Ret | 18 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 15 | Ret | 12 | DNS | 16 | 43 | |||||
4 | 18 | Ret | 16 | Ret | Ret | 14 | Ret | 18 | 13 | 16 | 14 | Ret | Ret | 17 | 10 | 15 | DSQ | 42 | |
5 | Ret | 17 | DNS | Ret | 15 | 16 | Ret | 14 | 15 | 12 | DSQ | 16 | 14 | 39 | |||||
6 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 21 | 16 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 18 | 20 | DSQ | 18 | 18 | 33 | |
7 | DSQ | 21 | 18 | Ret | 17 | 20 | 14 | 19 | 13 | 19 | 12 | 16 | 23 | ||||||
8 | 15 | 12 | 20 | ||||||||||||||||
9 | 15 | 22 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 19 | Ret | Ret | 21 | 17 | 21 | 11 | Ret | Ret | 20 | |||
10 | Ret | Ret | 17 | 15 | 8 | ||||||||||||||
11 | Ret | DNS | DNS | 17 | 18 | 17 | 8 | ||||||||||||
12 | 14 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
13 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 22 | 22 | DNS | 6 | ||||||||||||
14 | 18 | Ret | Ret | 4 | |||||||||||||||
15 | 17 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
16 | 19 | 14 | 19 | 3 | |||||||||||||||
17 | 17 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
18 | 13 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
19 | DNS | 17 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
DNS | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||