Alexander Smolyar is a Russian single-seater driver who spent three seasons in the FIA Formula 3 Championship between 2020 and 2022, emerging as a regular race-winner without ever mounting a full title challenge.
Junior career
Smolyar built his reputation in the Formula Renault Eurocup, where in 2019 he finished third in the standings with three race wins and several further podiums, earning his step up to FIA F3 with the powerhouse ART Grand Prix team.
Formula 3
He joined ART Grand Prix for the 2020 FIA F3 season as an 18-year-old. In a competitive rookie campaign he took pole position at the Hungaroring and a maiden podium with third place in the second Monza race, scoring in ten of the eighteen rounds to finish 11th overall.
Staying with ART for 2021 alongside Frederik Vesti and Juan Manuel Correa, Smolyar enjoyed his strongest season. He won the opening race of the year and added a second victory at Paul Ricard, fighting through from sixth on the grid to lead on the final lap. Two wins, four podiums and 106 points lifted him to sixth in the championship.
For 2022 he switched to MP Motorsport for a third F3 campaign, where he claimed a victory in the Hungaroring feature race in tricky wet conditions.
After F2/F3
Smolyar did not progress to FIA Formula 2, his career affected in part by the wider restrictions on Russian competitors following 2022. He remains one of the more accomplished F3 race-winners of his era never to take the step up.