Billy Monger has set his sights on competing in the FIA F3 Championship next year, and carried out extraction tests with the halo in Abu Dhabi last weekend.
Monger has driven in BRDC British F3 this year, finishing sixth in the points in his first full season of racing since rehabilitating after losing both legs in a crash at Donington Park in April 2017.
Now that his system for operating his car – Monger uses his stump to brake with a raised pedal – has been developed, he feels he is ready for the next step.
It is mandatory that drivers are able to get out of their cars in under eight seconds in an emergency, but it took Monger less than three to escape a Carlin F2 car.
Motorsport.com understands that was not a full FIA extraction test as there was no official observer present, and he will need to do that before competing in F3, but it shows Monger is capable of passing the test.
The FIA F3 Championship is new for 2019, with the GP3 Series merging with the European Formula 3 Championship to sit below Formula 1 and Formula 2, as the GP3 Series did before.
“It would be a great step for me to make,” Monger told Motorsport.com. “That’s plan A, that’s what we’re aiming for.
“It offers a lot, being on the F1 package obviously helps but also it’s a new series which I think will help me.
“In these kind of categories you often find a big team finds the edge and they keep hold of that for years. I think with it being a new car and a new championship it will be a more even playing field. For me that’s what I want.
“After the year we’ve had and the progress we’ve made, I think it would be a great opportunity for me. I want to test myself against the best young drivers, and prove myself.”
Monger confirmed that he was worried to see if he could escape a car quickly enough now that the halo has been introduced in F3.
“I have to prove I can get out with the halo, and hopefully in a couple of weeks that should be confirmed,” he added.
“I thought it could be a problem. I’ve tried it and practiced with the Carlin F2 car and it was very easy for me, it was probably easier than the F3 car.
“I can use the halo as leverage to push myself up and over.”
During a Formula 2 TV broadcast, commentator Alex Jacques claimed that Monger would test at the Yas Marina circuit in the GP3 Series post-season test Thursday to Saturday this week, but Monger will not drive in that test.
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