BRDC F4 rebranded as British Formula 3
The MSV-run BRDC F4 series will instead be known as BRDC British Formula 3 from the 2016 season onwards.
Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport
BRDC
The series has announced that an agreement was reached with the FIA to license the category as a national F3 championship.
This means that the category will now award points towards the F1 superlicense on a 10-7-5-3-1 system.
For the past three years, MSV-run BRDC F4 held the Formula 4 license in the UK, albeit it was not recognised as an official part of the FIA's new Formula 4 initiative, with the MSA Formula series occupying that niche in the country instead.
The move to turn BRDC F4 into an F3 series follows the introduction of a new, more powerful car for the 2016 season - the FA-016 Tatuus-Cosworth.
"I am delighted that we have successfully worked with the FIA and MSA to streamline British single-seater motorsport and establish a clear and logical hierarchy for both drivers and teams," said MSV boss Jonathan Palmer.
"Our much advanced 2016 BRDC F4 Tatuus Cosworth car has proved an outstanding success, being very close to the performance of British F3 in its heyday - but at less than half the budget.
"Cost effectiveness and value for money is critical to any championship’s health, and having set standards with our BRDC F4 Championship we are now doing the same at F3 level with the BRDC British F3 Championship."
British F3 name comes back
The announcement ends what has been a one-year hiatus for the British F3 series, which had shut down in 2014.
The championship had been around since 1951 but grid numbers dropped dramatically in the recent years, not helped by the FIA's push to strengthen European F3.
After fielding only five full-time entries in 2014, the series folded after a proposed merger with German F3 did not come to fruition.
The German championship itself, meanwhile, also went on hiatus and is yet to announce a return date.
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