Hitech Pulse-Eight 2024 Review: Plenty of highlights in a strong season

For Team Manager Paul Bellringer, Hitech Pulse-Eight’s 2024 campaign was a good one, even though they were disappointed to fall short of winning the Drivers’ Championship with Luke Browning.
The Briton finished third in the Standings on 128 points, 25 behind Leonardo Fornaroli, while Hitech ended up fifth in the Teams’ Championship. Reviewing it all, Bellringer was happy with the season.
“It was quite good,” stated Bellringer. “Obviously, we finished third with Luke but equally we start every year with the view that we want to win it, but on balance it was a strong year as a team. Luke, Martinius Stenshorne and Cian Shields they all did a solid, good job.
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“Obviously Luke was our stronger driver being in his second year so that came with its own expectations and the thing is F3 is a difficult Championship, you only have to look at the results, the number of different winners, the people in the points, it’s a hard Championship to win.
“So third, I thought we were good for the win, but third is probably a fair result and the way that the last race in Monza finished, with it all decided at the last corners, it’s a strong Championship.
“I think all season long we’ve been good, all three cars have been competitive and quick. The balance, the inner team harmony has been strong, they’ve worked together as a unit, rather than as three individuals but sometimes unfortunately just being the fastest driver isn’t enough.”
It was Browning’s second year with the team in Formula 3 and after a rookie campaign in which he scored just one podium, the Briton was impressive in 2024, winning two Feature Races, including the season opener in Sakhir.
“It’s easy to forget that a lot of these drivers are young guys,” said Bellringer talking about Browning’s season. “So, they are maturing not only as racing drivers, they are maturing as people as well.
“Like with everything, everyone progresses at a different rate, but Luke came into this year in a really good place in his head. Also, it was his second year in F3 with us, so he was familiar with his surroundings, and he was settled in.
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“He obviously came in as part of the Williams Driver Programme so that brings a separate set of criteria to it as well. He expects as a driver what he wants us to do. We expect as Hitech what we want him to do, and we’ve got Williams expecting what they want from us as well.
“So, I think that’s made him mature in his outlook and approach to things, and how he conducted himself well with the prep before race meetings, the work in the sim, the work with his race engineers, it was all really strong. I think we started the season in a good place which was reflected in his performance in Bahrain where he had the win in the Feature Race.”
Browning was one of six drivers that started the Monza weekend with a chance of winning the title. He was on 123 points, trailing Fornaroli by just six heading into Qualifying where he ended up in P14.
Fornaroli was on pole while his other title rival Gabriele Minì was third, but Bellringer believes that it was his penalty for the Sprint Race, where he started in P18, that damaged his title hopes.
“The Monza thing at the end was difficult,” said Bellringer. “I think if we hadn’t, along with the 10 other drivers, got the penalty in Qualifying, the grid drop for the Sprint Race, looking at how that race panned out, I think we would have got a strong result there.
“I think he would have then made the dog fight in the last race a genuine three-way one rather than just Gabi and Leo with us trying damage limitation.”
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Bellringer also spoke highly of his two rookie drivers Stenshorne and Shields, believing that the competitive nature of the Championship meant that while both improved through the season, the results did not show it.
“I think because F3 is so competitive and you look at the depth of talent there is out there, using Cian as an example, he has progressed massively from how he came to us in Jerez this time last year for the first test to where he is today, it’s a night and day difference,” he explained.
“He has improved in his preparations pre-event, his simulator time, his driving of the car, the working relationship he has with his race engineer, and working with the other two drivers when they are working through data collectively, he has improved massively.
“But unfortunately, that doesn’t show as a wholesale step forward in the timing sheets. Same with Martinius, he progressed all season, with the way he worked in and out of the car.
“He’s got raw speed, and I think he understands the way Formula 3 works and how to be successful in it. Unfortunately, with Formula 3, it’s not just about being the fastest car it’s all the peripheral things that comes with it.”
Looking back at the season, Bellringer picked out several highlights from the season, although he was partial to their victories and Browning’s podium in Monte Carlo. But the spirit fostered within his team this year is something he will take away from 2024.
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“I think the spirit in the team and the way that the team works is really good,” he said. “Obviously I am biased, I am their Team Manager and I put the team together, so I’ve got a bit of a slanted view on it.
“But most of my mechanics are young guys, so they are now forming into a tightknit close group and I think that comes across in the way that they prepare the cars, the standard of our presentation in the awning, the way they conduct themselves when we have scenarios in the pit lane, either accident damage for nose changes, or pitstops.
“I think they conduct themselves well and they’ve got the mentality now that they win or lose as a team, rather than as an individual car crew. I think that’s where the strength of Hitech F3 comes, it’s that they are a team unit not 11 individuals.”