For inaugural champion Marta Garcia, the reward was a fully funded Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine drive with Prema Racing, the team with which she had completed her victorious campaign (although she has now transferred into the sister Iron Dames operation). But given that FRECA is officially recognised by the FIA as a regional Formula 3 category, questions were inevitably asked as to why the Spaniard would be competing in that series and not FIA F3. After all, it would surely be in Formula 1’s best interest to have kept her in a paddock where all eyes would have been on her.
Posed the question as to why a seat had not been guaranteed for the F1 Academy champion, with no such commitment this term either, F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel says: “It’s a very big question because we want to make sure that when a female driver arrives into Formula 3, she is ready to do a proper job. If she is not, it is going to send the wrong messages, and that is exactly what we want to try to avoid.
