The boy from Barbados took Formula 3 by storm in 2022.
Zane Maloney notched up three successive Feature Race wins to stand out as the Rookie-of-the-Year and was the recipient of the Dallara Award at the Formula 3 Prize Giving Ceremony in Monaco.
His maiden campaign in the Championship was a tale of two halves, as impressive pace was disguised by misfortune in the opening half of the campaign.
Recovery drives in Barcelona, where he went from the pitlane to P13 in the Feature Race, and Silverstone, where he finished P11 after opening lap contact left him last, soon gave way to podiums.
His first came in Budapest, finishing P2 in tricky wet-to-dry conditions before his total reversal of fortunes finally arrived. A sizeable crash in the Sprint Race at Spa-Francorchamps was overcome magnificently in the Feature event, as he claimed his first FIA F3 victory in style.
He followed that up with a determined drive to victory at Zandvoort up against title rival Victor Martins. At the final round and with the Championship in the balance, he pulled off another highlight drive to win at the final time of asking, doing all he could in pursuit of the Drivers’ Championship.
While he ended up just five points short of that accolade, Maloney became the recipient of the F3 Rookie-of-the-Year award at the official F3 Prize Giving Ceremony to go alongside his recognition at the FIA Gala as Rookie-of-the-Year in 2022.
“It was the best season I’ve ever had in my career,” Maloney said accepting his prize on stage in Monaco. “Any given weekend, anyone on the grid had a chance of winning so it was very difficult. I made a few mistakes at the beginning of the year, didn’t keep the car on track as much as I should’ve, and I gave the team a lot of work.
“But, once we hit our stride, we were able to do a great job for the rest of the year. So thank you to Trident for giving me the package each weekend, I just had to go out there and drive as fast as I can, which worked out well.” (F3)
