Academy Report: A vice-champion, a Sprint victor plus big gains made stateside

The Formula 3 season is over, and our four Williams Racing Driver Academy racers joined us in Monza for the season finale last weekend.

We concluded the season with a Sprint Race win, a Feature Race P2, and the vice-champion title in the hands of a Williams Racing driver in a busy final two races.

The success didn't stop there either, as Jamie Chadwick's Indy NXT season continued its upward trajectory with another personal-best finish at Portland.

Read on to see where all our Academy drivers finished in a frantic few days.

A fifth 2023 podium visit for Zak O'Sullivan means he is the 2023 F3 vice-champion after a stellar season with four victories and 119 points scored.

Qualifying had Zak take P6, meaning he was at the sharp end for both races. He crossed the line in fifth on Saturday's Sprint Race but with a time penalty that demoted him to P11 and out of the points.

Undeterred, a tremendous Sunday drive that saw a sensational double overtake into Rettifilo meant Zak ended his 2023 season with a P2 finish, just 0.287 seconds away from a win.

The 18 points saw him jump up the standings to become vice-champion and help secure PREMA the teams' title, too.

A weekend of two halves for our young Argentinian meant Franco Colapinto's celebrations came on Saturday, with bitter disappointment on Sunday.

Franco's reverse-grid pole position after a host of penalties for his rivals meant he spent his Sprint Race battling MP Motorsport teammate Mari Boya for victory, eventually escaping DRS to a record-equalling fourth victory in F3.

Heartbreak followed on Sunday, though, as his second place in the standings fell away on the first lap when a collision at Variante della Roggia ended his race.

He concludes his season with an admirable P4 in the championship, just nine points adrift of Zak.

Frustration in the finale came for Luke Browning as a technical disqualification rendered an impressive Sprint Race drive null and void.

Luke's 22-place advancement from P27 meant he crossed the line in fifth place on Saturday morning, but the FIA identified a side floor fin that exceeded the limit set out by the regulations.

A five-second penalty in the Feature Race doubled up the disappointment, with Luke's speeding under safety car conditions leading to a P18 classification to end his 2023.

Monza was always set to be a tough test for Ollie Gray after the 18-year-old Brit carried a grid penalty over the summer break from Spa-Francorchamps.

That penalty pain increased in qualifying for Ollie after an unfortunate collision with his teammate as the 30-strong grid unexpectedly closed up on the exit of Ascari.

A Sprint Race collision meant a Saturday DNF, but a P16 classification on Sunday in the Feature Race saw Ollie finish nine positions higher than he started in the season finale.

Last weekend's interrupted oval running under the lights at Illinois' World Wide Technology Raceway had Jamie Chadwick finish P12, but she returned to the top 10 over the weekend at Portland International Raceway.

A Lap 1 pile-up at the first corner took out multiple cars in a chaotic start. Jamie kept out of trouble to advance to P6 before the full-course caution to clear the carnage.

Championship leader Christian Rasmussen fought past Jamie, dropping her to seventh once green flag conditions resumed, but she reclaimed P6 before the chequered flag.

Jagger Jones lost control late in the race, and Jamie took a career-best finish to sit P12 in the standings before this weekend's final round.

Although Formula 2 has one more race at Abu Dhabi, the Formula 3 season is now over for our four drivers in the championship.

For Jamie, however, one round remains, with the iconic Laguna Seca hosting a two-race finale for the Grand Prix of Monterey over September 9-10th.