Alexander Alexandrovich Smolyar ( rus, Александр Александрович Смоляр; born 19 July 2001) is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

who most recently competed in the

FIA Formula 3 Championship The FIA Formula 3 Championship is a third-tier international single-seater racing championship and organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship launched in 2019 as a feeder series for the FIA Formula 1 ...

for

MP Motorsport MP Motorsport (previously Marcel Peters Motorsport) is a Dutch auto racing team currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The team has also participated in Auto GP, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern Europea ...

Racing career

Lower formulae

2017 was Smolyar's debut season in single-seater racing. He competed for

SMP Racing SMP Racing is the motor sport endurance racing team and also motorsport management created in 2013 by Boris Rotenberg, founder of the SMP Bank of Russia. Description The goal of SMP Racing is to train and unveil new talents. The team's training ...

in the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

and

Formula 4 FIA Formula 4, also called FIA F4, is an open-wheel racing car category intended for junior drivers. There is no global championship, but rather individual nations or regions can host their own championships in compliance with a universal set of r ...

Championships, finishing 3rd in both. He scored a total of 24 podiums, with all of his race wins coming in the Spanish Championship.

Formula Renault Eurocup

2018

In the following two years the Russian driver raced in the

Formula Renault Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault S ...

. In his debut campaign, driving for

Tech 1 Racing Tech 1 Racing is a racing team based in Toulouse, France. They currently compete in the World Series by Renault and Eurocup Mégane Trophy. Tech 1 also operate the Panis Racing LMP2 entry to the European Le Mans Series and the Ultimate LMP2 Pr ...

, Smolyar finished 12th in the standings, beating out two of his three teammates and helping the team to finish 5th in the team championship.

2019

His 2019 season would prove to be much more successful. He finished 3rd and won three races, only being beaten in the championship by

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the nat ...

Victor Martins Victor Martins (born 16 June 2001) is a French- Portuguese racing driver and member of the Alpine Academy. He won the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup and the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship. Career Karting Born in Quincy-sous-Sénart to a Fre ...

and his

R-ace GP R-ace GP is an auto racing team from France, involved in many areas of motorsport, specifically those involving Renault. They are currently competing in the Formula Regional European Championship, Italian F4 and ADAC F4. History R-ace GP was ...

teammate,

Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri (born 6 April 2001) is an Australian racing driver who previously served as the reserve driver for Alpine F1 Team, having previously been in the team's driver academy. He won the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup with R-ace GP, and wo ...

FIA Formula 3 Championship

2020

Smolyar was signed by

ART Grand Prix ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...

to drive for them in the

2020 Formula 3 Championship The 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship was the eleventh season of the third-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also second season under the moniker of FIA Formula 3 Championship, a multi-event motor racing championship for single-seat ...

alongside ADAC F4 champion

Théo Pourchaire Théo Jérôme Julien Pourchaire (born 20 August 2003) is a French racing driver, who most recently competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for the ART Grand Prix team and the reigining Formula 2 vice-champion. He is currently a member of the ...

and

Sebastián Fernández Sebastián Bruno Fernández Miglierina (born 23 May 1985) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Danubio. Club career upFernández with Málaga in 2012 Born in Montevideo, Fernández started his professional pl ...

. Despite a slew of strong performances, which included a pole position at the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone ...

and a win on the road at the first round in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

the Russian's season was plagued with bad luck. This included having his win taken away by a penalty for weaving on the Hangar straight as well as a collision at the first corner in Budapest. Smolyar scored his only podium of the season in the second race at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of M ...

and ended up eleventh in the standings, behind eventual runner-up Pourchaire, but ahead of his more experienced teammate Fernández.

2021

For the 2021 season Smolyar re-signed with ART, this time partnering

Frederik Vesti Frederik Vesti (born 13 January 2002) is a Danish racing driver who is set to compete in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Prema Racing. He is a member of the Mercedes Junior Team and the inaugural champion of the Formula Regional European ...

and racing returnee

Juan Manuel Correa Juan Manuel Correa Borja (born August 9, 1999) is an American-Ecuadorian racing driver who races under an American license and is set to compete in the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship with Van Amersfoort Racing. Career Karting Correa beg ...

. Smolyar's start to the season was strong, with him taking his first Formula 3 victory in the first race of the

opening weekend The following is a list of the highest-grossing opening weekends for films. The list is dominated by recent films due to inflation, steadily increasing production and marketing budgets, and modern films opening on more screens. Biggest worldwide o ...

. He then continued his good form and came out victorious in race one at the

Circuit Paul Ricard The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit ha ...

, after having battled from sixth on the grid to first on the final lap. Smolyar finished the season with a total of 106 points, placing 6th in the championship. During that season, he scored a total of 2 wins, 2 fastest laps, and 4 podiums.

2022

On 20 January 2022, Smolyar announced that he would switch to

for the 2022 season. However, he was banned of using the

flag due to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was initially not due to race in the championship due to the mentioned war, but eventually was allowed to race. Smolyar was forced to miss the Silverstone round of the championship since he could not get to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

due to

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

issues, and was replaced by

Filip Ugran Filip-Ioan Ugran (born 12 September 2002) is a Romanian race car driver who last competed in the 2022 European Le Mans Series for Algarve Pro Racing. He previously competed in the 2022 Euroformula Open Championship for Van Amersfoort Racing. He ...

. He returned to his seat for the remaining events and picked up his sole win of the season in the feature race in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. Smolyar ended up tenth in the standings, being the highest placed driver to have missed a round.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Complete Karting World Championship results

Racing record

Racing career summary

Complete SMP F4 Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete F4 Spanish Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault Eurocup results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smolyar, Alexander 2001 births Living people People from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Russian racing drivers Spanish F4 Championship drivers SMP F4 Championship drivers FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers SMP Racing drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers R-ace GP drivers ART Grand Prix drivers MP Motorsport drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers Karting World Championship drivers Russian Circuit Racing Series drivers