Photos: FIA F3 European Championship

The inaugural season for the revamped European F3 championship was met with a lot of excitement from all sides involved, but, ultimately, wound up being the expected evolution of the F3 Euro Series – a great grid with some fascinating racing, yet still mostly dominated by Prema and Mucke despite the involvement of the two big British squads.

It was a Marciello – Rosenqvist show, but that didn’t mean there weren’t lots of people to watch all around the grid – veterans, regional F3 graduates and ambitious upcomers from ADAC Formel Masters and Formula Pilota China alike. Below, we give you the rundown of the drivers who headlined FIA F3’s first year…

1. Raffaele Marciello

Italy, Prema Powerteam, age 18

489.5 points, 13 wins, 19 podiums, 12 pole positions, 7 fastest laps

After lighting up the F3 Euro Series with a powerhouse debut season in 2012 following two decent campaigns in Italian single-seaters, the pressure was on Marciello in 2013 as the Ferrari protege came into the championship as the favourite (further bolstered by Pascal Wehrlein’s DTM promotion).

Over the first four rounds he took six wins from 12 races despite losing one due to a technical infringement. Many were ready to call it there, but a dreadful weekend at Spielberg severely decreased his lead. The pattern continued for the rest of the year. A phenomenal weekend at Nurburgring would be followed by an absolute shocker at Zandvoort and, due to the inconsistencies, he had to wait until the last round to officially become champion.

It was not perfect – he noticeably struggled when not in the lead and seemed to falter when Prema wasn’t the best car at a given round. But he was often so eerily untouchable that you tend to forget the bumps. Having set the pace in GP2 and Formula Renault 3.5 testing, he looks set to continue his winning ways next season with the latter series his likely destination. Season rating: 8/10

2. Felix Rosenqvist

Sweden, Mucke Motorsport, age 22

457 points, 10 wins, 18 podiums, 4 pole positions, 10 fastest laps

2013 marked Rosenqvist’s third year in European F3, after a stellar debut in 2011 and a very up-and-down 2012. After Wehrlein was called up to DTM, the Swede quickly slotted into the status of Mucke’s chief title hope and fully lived up to that title as the season went on.

The severely rainy opener at Monza wound up being his worst showing of the year, as from that point on he began reliably increasing his points tally. When Marciello faltered at Spielberg, Rosenqvist took advantage with a stunning triple victory and then scored more points than anyone at the Norising. Just like Marciello, he also had some crucial points losses, stalling on the grid at Nurburgring and going off in qualifying at Vallelunga. Still, each time, the Swede fought his way back into the points, fighting for every single position.

It wasn’t enough in the end, but it sure made an impression. His F3 tenure should be over now and, while he hasn’t been that prominent in post-season testing, he would be a very welcome addition to the GP2 or the FR3.5 grid. If not, his Mercedes and Mucke ties should create a DTM opportunity. Season rating: 8

3. Alex Lynn

United Kingdom, Prema Powerteam, age 20

339.5 points, 3 wins, 14 podiums, 5 pole positions, 4 fastest laps

After three years with Fortec, which included a Formula Renault UK title and a solid debut season in British F3, Lynn secured a Prema deal for his European move and was soon one of the potential title contenders.

The first rounds went rather according to plan, as he reliably made the points and fought for podiums, even taking a maiden pole at Silverstone. At another British track – Brands – he finally took his first victory and later added another at Norisring. There were some issues and inconsistencies mid-season, but that was ironed out quick, as he made the top eight in the final eleven races of the championship, adding yet another victory at Vallelunga. Having secured third in the standings, he then confidently won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.

Another year of F3 seemed to be the plan, but after the Macau triumph, the Briton instead lined up a switch to GP3 with Carlin. He’s also been accepted into the Red Bull Junior Team, which should provide a clear path of progression for his career. Season rating: 8

4. Lucas Auer

Austria, Prema Powerteam, age 19

277 points, 1 win, 9 podiums, 3 fastest laps

Auer might be the nephew of the President of FIA’s Single-Seater Commision – one Gerhard Berger – but nepotism has nothing to do with where he is right now. He broke into FIA F3 on merit, having taken the 2011 JK Racing Asia title in his debut year and then finishing third in German F3 in 2012.

Not a lot of people mark their first race in a championship with a podium – but that’s what the Austrian managed at Monza, following it up with a similar success at Silverstone. He kept reliably bagging points throughout the first half and inherited his first victory when Marciello was disqualified at Brands.

There was a bit of pattern change in half two, as Auer reliably finished within the top seven, yet only managing the occasional podium. He briefly challenged Lynn for third in the standings, but wound up settling for fourth. He’s already sealed the deal to do a sophomore FIA F3 campaign, switching to Mucke, with who he’ll surely be expected to challenge for the title. Season rating: 8

5. Harry Tincknell

United Kingdom, Carlin, age 22

227 points, 1 wins, 2 podiums, 2 pole positions

Having been mostly UK-bound for the early years of his single-seater career, Tincknell had a big jump ahead of him in the switch to European F3, despite having two previous years in the British series.

But from race one Tincknell adapted exceptionally well. He scored in all three races at Monza and then held on to his first win in the series from pole at Silverstone. At Brands, he added another podium, but that’s where standout performances came to a halt as the Briton continuously put in solid but unremarkable weekends, before a return to form at Hockenheim with three fifth-place finishes.

He still seems to lack that one final tenth, but the fact that he’s second only to Rosenqvist in total points finishes is one to be proud of. Mentored by Allan McNish, Tincknell has been linked with a move into the LMP2 class of endurance racing and it’s hard to imagine a driver more perfect for the role.?Season rating: 7

6. Jordan King

United Kingdom, Carlin, age 19

176 points, 2 podiums, 1 fastest lap

The highest-placed driver without prior F3 experience in the standings, Formula NEC runner-up King was a more than welcome addition to the grid, but ended up surpassing expectations.

The initial adjustment phase, which yielded some quality finishes yet also a bit too many retirements, was over at Spielberg, where King snatched his first podium in the series. From that point on, he was reliably a force at the front, with four fourth-place finishes and another podium at Zandvoort.

Having also added the British F3 title to his CV in 2013, the young Briton really put himself on the market, testing in a number of series after the season was over. Still, he is expected to stay in FIA F3, where he could look to end Prema’s dominance. Season rating: 8

7. Tom Blomqvist

United Kingdom, EuroInternational, age 19

151.5 points, 3 podiums

Another Formula Renault UK champion in the field, Blomqvist scored a Red Bull Junior Team spot after a strong 2012 and stayed on for a sophomore year in FIA F3.

Having joined EuroInternational, who he knew from a grandiose part-time campaign in German F3 last year, Blomqvist was rather surprisingly left by himself, as the second seat of the car was unfilled for most of the season. That did not make things easy for him or the squad and, together, they were often rather inconsistent. Still, the talent and experience showed – he scored three podiums in the first three rounds and was generally a reliable points finisher, which allowed him to repeat his rookie year’s result of seventh place.

As Red Bull have been pretty ruthless when it comes to selection, in both past and present, one tough year proved enough for Blomqvist to lose his backing. Still, it seems he won’t be lost without it, as he’s heavily tipped to join Carlin for a 2014 campaign in FIA F3, with backing from KFC Indonesia alongside Gelael and Giovinazzi. Season rating: 7

8. Pipo Derani

Brazil, Fortec Motorsports, age 20

151.5 points, 3 podiums

After a promising rookie year in Formula Renault NEC was followed up by three difficult campaigns in various F3 championships, the Brazilian needed to perform big-time in 2013.

But, while his team-mates got up to speed in the FIA F3 championship rather quickly, Derani had a very tough adjustment period, scoring a rather paltry 18 points over the first five rounds. However, just when Fortec began losing drivers and struggling for results, something clicked for Derani. At Nurburgring, he was suddenly the team leader, taking two podiums as he doubled his pre-round points tally. More strong weekends followed, capped off with another podium at Vallelunga and, finally, he firmly took over as the top Fortec driver in the standings – something that seemed completely implausible halfway through.

His season culminated with a third-place finish in the prestigious Macau GP. Shortly after that, Derani announced a switch to Road to Indy’s Pro Mazda series for 2014. He’s earned that one fully. Season rating: 7

9. Sven Muller

Germany, ma-con/Van Amersfoort Racing, age 21

122 points, 1 podium

The 21-year-old ADAC Formel Masters graduate was tipped for great things in FIA F3 after a stellar rookie year with Prema in 2012. However, plans came undone when he was not retained by the Italian squad, forcing him to secure a quick move to the familiar ma-con squad.

The partnership wouldn’t last all year as Muller, who was routinely quick but kept narrowly missing out on podiums and being involved in way too many crashes, switched to Van Amersfoort Racing come Zandvoort. While that didn’t dramatically improve his results, he found some welcome consistency and managed a great final weekend at Hockenheim where he finally took his first podium of the year.

It seemed rather likely that Muller could stick around as one of F3’s experienced drivers, but he wound up securing Porsche backing for a season in the Carrera Cup Germany, where he has the potential to build a long career in sportscars. Season rating: 7

10. Alexander Sims

United Kingdom, ThreeBond with T-Sport, age 25

112 points, 5 podiums, 1 fastest lap (12/30 races)

When T-Sport needed a replacement driver for the departing Buller, they wisely opted to call up McLaren GT3 man Sims, who further solidified himself as an exceptionally handy guest driver in 2013.

He made that especially apparently in his four rounds with T-Sport, as he climbed into the top ten in the standings with a very limited schedule. Stepping in at Norisring, he immediately showed frontrunning pace, confidently taking two top-five finishes. At Nurburgring, he gave the team their first podium of the year, and while Zandvoort didn’t go so well, he was the man of the moment at Vallelunga, taking podiums in all three races on a track generally dominated by Prema.

Combined with his outright brilliant guest showings in GP3, Sims has duly returned into the single-seater limelight, despite the rather above-average age. It’s fair to say he’s earned at least one crack at GP2 or FR3.5, but if he continues in single-seaters, another year at the F3 level is more likely. Season rating: 8

11. Felix Serralles

United States, Fortec, age 21

104 points, 2 podiums, 1 fastest lap

Fortec’s chief hope in F3 after coming within one round of the British crown, the talented Puerto Rican had some serious expectations to live up to in his first year in the European championship.

The season started well enough, too. As Fortec were coming to grips with the new challenge, Serralles delivered some good finishes in the first two rounds before hitting a jackpot at Hockenheim, where he finished runner-up twice. His season would completely come apart after that. He left Spielberg and Brands empty-handed and, following two decent enough showings at Norisring and Nurburgring, would not score again for the remainder of the year, consistently hitting trouble and seemingly struggling due to a back injury remission. The absolute lowpoint came at the Hockenheim finale when, after colliding with Estonian Kevin Korjus, he deliberately ran into the latter’s car and was excluded from the race.

Having missed Macau, Serralles has now joined series newcomers West-Tec for 2014. He’s surely talented enough to succeed, but there are issues that need ironing out. His career will hinge on whether he can do that as soon as possible. Season rating: 6

12. Josh Hill

United Kingdom, Fortec, age 22

56 points, 1 podium (15/30 races)

Coming out of what is perhaps the most successful racing family in single-seaters, Hill finally entered the big leagues in 2012 when he took third in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC. Pressure was again on to perform this year as he lined up the switch to European F3.

The first two rounds at Monza and Silverstone weren’t the easiest, as he often failed to maximize his pace and only took two points finishes. But at Hockenheim, it all suddenly clicked as Hill took a very impressive podium finish in race two. He’s remained largely on-pace for the next two rounds, despite some rather inconsistent performances.

Midway through the rather promising season, Josh officially called it quits on his motorsports career, instead focusing on music. Season rating: 7

13. Eddie Cheever, Jr.

Italy, Prema Powerteam, age 20

50 points

After a good sophomore year in Italian F3, Cheever was finally given the nod to the European scene, and remained with Prema for his rookie year in the FIA series.

As matching his teammates would probably have been a rather tall order, his occasional points finishes early on were a pretty decent start. However, there wasn’t much in the way of noticeable improvement at mid-season, where he had a seven-race non-scoring streak, as he continued to struggle with converting decent qualifying results into points. It wouldn’t have been a season to be remembered fondly, but his performance on home turf at Vallelunga was genuinely encouraging, as he took his best finish of the season in fourth and his second-best – a fifth place.

He might be done with single-seaters after this year, as news has been circulating that he’s lined up a seat in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Season rating: 6

14. Pascal Wehrlein

Germany, Mucke Motorsport, age 19

49 points, 1 win, 3 podiums, 2 pole positions, 2 fastest laps (3/30 races)

After an outright stunning rookie year in F3 Euro, Wehrlein was set to come back for a title campaign, but was called up at short-notice by the Mercedes DTM squad.

He still got to do the opening weekend at Monza and showed just what we’d be in for if he stuck around, with a double pole and a victory in tricky conditions.

His rookie year in DTM went alright after all, despite some rather noticeable bad luck. He’ll surely stick around for another year in touring cars at least, but, as we’ve seen previously, there’s always a chance he’ll be back to running open-wheelers at some point down the line. Season rating: N/A

15. Nicholas Latifi

Canada, Carlin, age 18

45 points

After a rather quiet, if promising, rookie single-seater year in Italian F3 and a TRS campaign, the Canadian youngster wound up making the huge FIA F3 jump with Carlin.

Surpisingly, it took Latifi just one round to adapt – in race four of the season, he suddenly took a very impressive fifth-place finish and then had a number of other standout results as the year went on.

There was not much in the way of consistency, which explains the 45 points, but the pace shown by Latifi was extremely promising for a single-seater sophomore. He deserves another year in FIA F3 at the very least and looks rather set to get the chance, potentially switching to Prema. Season rating: 7

16. William Buller

United Kingdom, ThreeBond with T-Sport/Fortec, age 21

39 points (15/30 races)

If Buller’s Formula Renault 3.5 venture was the really good part of his season, his fourth year in Formula Three, on the contrary, didn’t quite go to plan.

After some very promising pre-season tests with the T-Sport squad, he was expected to fight at the front, but the pace just wasn’t there. His brilliant opening race, where he went from 12th on the grid to fourth, wound up his best result of the year. Opting for a change of scenery after just four rounds, he signed up to race with Fortec, but, after his debut round with them yielded no points, the Northern Irishman called it quits on European F3, focusing on the British series instead.

While his F3 efforts this year have been extremely par for the course, he has shown something special in 3.5 and is expected to make the full-time switch in 2014. Season rating: 6

17. Antonio Giovinazzi

Italy, Double R Racing, age 19

31 points

After British F3 was scaled back, the ultra-promising Formula Pilota China champion wound up getting a European F3 drive in just his second year in single-seaters.

To say it was a challenge would be an understatement, as both he and the team lacked the experience to regularly fight for points. Yet Giovinazzi still looked very competent – he routinely finished on the outskirts of the top ten, picking up the occasional point and noticeably improving along the way. Much of his season was hurt by poor qualifying – he hadn’t started higher than tenth before the Hockenheim finale. The German track, however, seemed to suit him and Double R reasonably well and, having made it in the top ten for all three grids, he almost doubled his points total in one weekend.

Largely reliant on the backing of his teammate Sean Gelael, as the rookie duo will move higher up the field for 2014 by joining Carlin, where Giovinazzi in particular could shine. Season rating: 7

18. Lucas Wolf

Germany, URD Rennsport, age 19

28 points, 1 podium

A year ago, the underexperienced ADAC Formel Masters graduate surprised Formula 3 with a podium in his otherwise tough maiden season and, as such, was deserving of another European F3 campaign with family-run team URD Rennsport.

Admittedly, with a severely increased grid, it was always going be much harder to replicate the feat. And, for most of it, Wolf was achieving results par for the course – only managing to break into the top ten on one weekend and often involved in incidents. However, the Spielberg weekend midway through the season saw Wolf fight on an entirely different level. He qualified for all three races in the top three and, despite one DNF, managed to bag a podium.

It’s tough to see where 2014 will take the young German – it’d make sense to stay in F3, but he’s tried his hand at GT3 racing and might end up switching his focus. Season rating: 6

19. Michael Lewis

United States, Mucke Motorsport, age 22

23 points (27/30 races)

Having not been retained by Prema after an up-and-down rookie season in F3, American Michael Lewis struggled to find another seat on the grid and was not there for the opener, after a predicted deal with Romeo Ferraris fell through.

He was, however, the obvious choice for Mucke to replace the outgoing Wehrlein and stepped into the German’s seat from round two. Still, it was Rosenqvist’s year in the team, as the rest seemed to struggle – and the American was no exception. A quiet and ultimately disappointing second year saw him race mostly on the outskirts of the top ten, picking up the occasional points but failing to achieve standout results.

At 22, the California native could afford another year in F3, but looking for outside alternatives seems more sensible – he’s definitely capable enough to adapt to the Road to Indy racing scene should it come to that. Season rating: 5

20. Dennis van de Laar

Netherlands, Van Amersfoort Racing, age 18

22 points

Dutchman Dennis van de Laar was a surprise promotion for Van Amersfoort Racing, joining their FIA F3 squad after just one midfield year in German F3.

As such, rookie season struggles for inevitable. To van de Laar’s credit, he adapted rather quickly, scoring in the opening two races when the Dutch squad’s car was showing very promising pace.

The promising start didn’t seem to lead to much and, by the end, he was outclassed by new teammate Muller, finishing with a best result of sixth to the German’s podium. Still, it was a decent enough rookie season and one that van de Laar will be hoping to follow up on, having secured a deal to race with Prema in 2014. Season rating: 6

21. Jann Mardenborough

United Kingdom, Carlin, age 22

12 points

There’s one thing that always prefaces any discussions of Mardenborough’s results – that being, his background. The GT Academy winner didn’t come from karting and, instead, is one of the “gamer turned racer” types. His first season in cars came in 2012, when he looked spectacularly sharp in British GT.

A new challenge beckoned for 2013 in the form of single-seaters and FIA F3 in particular. And, while Mardenborough doesn’t have the background to match any of his competitors, he’s shown a rather remarkable ability to adapt, being a rather consistent factor in the midfield from the get-go.

His best finish did come in the penalty-fest that was the Norisring opener and his 12 points pale in comparison to Latifi’s 45, yet, on sheer pace, he was mighty impressive. He has tested in FR3.5 and GP3 and looked impressively ready for a switch, but his single-seater efforts are probably not his main focus. Season rating: 7

22. Roy Nissany

Israel, Mucke Motorsport, age 19

11 points

After two midfield years in ADAC Formel Masters, Nissany opted for the rather huge leap to FIA F3 – admittedly, a move that worked out well in the past for others.

However, Rosenqvist was the only driver this year capable of consistently bagging points in the orange car and Roy was no exception. To his credit, it was a better season than expected – while he was often amongst the backmarkers, he was more than capable of fighting for the occasional point.

His middle of the season was probably stronger than the end, yet it still wound up painting a nice picture. He’s earned the chance to be retained by Mucke for 2014. Season rating: 5

23. Mitch Gilbert

Australia, Mucke Motorsport, age 19

10 points

After finishing fourth in his rookie German F3 year, Gilbert looked more than ready for the FIA F3 switch and lined up a very good seat with Mucke.

So, not much was indicating that a “nightmare” year was upcoming. But, in the end, that’s what happened. He was surprisingly lacking pace over the few opening rounds, often running with the backmarkers, and, while points and other decent finishes started coming in in the second half, it was not enough to salvage the year.

But those things happen. And, indeed, Gilbert has shown his considerable talent before and has what it takes to bounce back from a tough year. A change of scenery will suit him well for 2014, as he looks to be a prime candidate for a Fortec seat. Season rating: 5

24. Andre Rudersdorf

Germany, ma-con, age 18

3 points

German youngster Andre Rudersdorf came into 2013 after two titles the previous year, but, when compared to FIA F3, both were pretty minor (Austrian F3 and German F3 Trophy Class).

So, with a smaller team like ma-con, all Rudersdorf really needed to do was run on-pace and, for the majority of the running, he lived up to the mission.While let down by his qualifying efforts (making the top 20 on the grid only twice), he’s generally been neat and tidy in the races, which allowed him to pick up three points.

Should be retained by ma-con for 2014 and will hopefully strive to become a more prominent part of the top ten. Season rating: 5

25. John Bryant-Meisner

Sweden, Fortec Motorsport, age 19

2 points (6/30 races)

The Swede, recovering from an injury that sidelined him for pretty much all of 2012, spent most of this year racing German F3, but did try out the final FIA F3 rounds with a clear goal of stepping up to the category in 2014.

He’s made an impression, too, managing to mostly keep up with the other Fortec drivers in both qualifying and races. Reliably in the midfield on his debut, he would record five top-16 finishes and, among them, picked up two points. If this was the audition for 2014, you’d have to imagine that he passed it. Season rating: N/A

Daniil Kvyat

Russia, Carlin, age 19

1 win, 7 podiums, 5 pole positions, 2 fastest laps (21/30 races)

Red Bull Junior Team’s Daniil Kvyat was a surprise part-time acquisition by Carlin, as the Russian was simultaneously signed up for GP3.

Ultimately, it turned into a double campaign and one Kvyat could be mighty proud of. He took an against-odds pole during his first round and, while struggling with starts, still managed to convert that into a podium. He was masterful at Spielberg, taking a triple pole but ultimately finishing runner-up to Rosenqvist on all three occasions. Finally, he managed to convert his fifth pole into a win at Zandvoort and then capped off his campaign with several other strong finishes.

Sure, there were off rounds, but they weren’t due to any inherent lack of pace. And, with this kind of FIA F3 guesting on his resume and a GP3 title, Kvyat, who was promoted by Red Bull into an F1 seat for next year, can make that step with his head held high. Season rating: 8

The rest of the field

Double R’s Sean Gelael and Tatiana Calderon did not wind up scoring points, although it wasn’t for the lack of trying, especially on the Indonesian’s part. Gelael, thus, has probably fulfilled his goals for the huge step to FIA F3 and, at 17, remains a very interesting prospect.

Dmitry Suranovich began the season with Fortec, but ended up retiring from racing altogether after the first round. Alfonso Celis and Ed Jones both appeared in one-offs with the British team at later stages.

Mans Grenhagen was extremely promising in testing for Van Amersfoort Racing, but couldn’t convert the pace into any points and was replaced after one too many crashes. Spike Goddard was competent but quiet in his first season with T-Sport, albeit finding himself in a fair share of incidents in wheel-to-wheel racing.

Sandro Zeller had a tough year after a somewhat encouraging rookie season in 2013, while Romeo Ferraris couldn’t really find themselves in a position to fight for points during the several appearances with Gary Thompson and Michela Cerruti.

Kevin Korjus and Stefano Coletti checked off an appearance each to qualify for the Macau GP. Finally, Toyota Racing Series New Zealand double champ Nick Cassidy was very rapid on his two guest rounds, but never quite managed to convert the pace into a standout result.

The post 2013 FIA F3 European Championship season review appeared first on Formula Scout.

Alex Lynn swept up in the European F3 qualifying at Brands Hatch, setting the quickest time in both sessions to take pole for all the three races of the weekend.

It was a spectacularly successful qualifying for Prema, with Raffaele Marciello and Lucas Auer securing second and third respectively for each of the races, making it three 1-2-3 starts for the Italian team.

Having finished second to Marciello in group A of qualifying one, Sven Muller will be starting race one in fourth place, ahead of Felix Rosenqvist and Harry Tincknell. Tom Blomqvist lines up in seventh, while Michael Lewis, Josh Hill and Jann Mardenborough will make up the top ten. For race two, the grid for which is made up from second-best times in session one, the starting top ten is identical.

Qualifying two saw a huge shunt for Mucke’s Lewis, who was sent to the hospital for check-ups. In the timesheets for the session, Lynn narrowly edged out the other group winner, Marciello, with Auer yet again in third. Tincknell secured fourth, ahead of Rosenqvist and Mans Grenhagen. In seventh, Jordan King will be starting ahead of Muller, while row five will host Hill and Mardenborough.

Session one

Session two

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Photo: FIA F3 Europe

The two qualifying sessions for the Silverstone round of the European F3 championship saw Harry Tincknell and Alex Lynn score their debut poles in the category.

The Carlin man, Tincknell, enjoyed a remarkable session one in qualifying, mastering the drying track with three laps that were better than any other driver’s best. Thus, as the session was red-flagged with less than two minutes to go, Tincknell emerged as the polesitter for races one and two.

Fellow Brit Lynn took second for race one ahead of Raffaele Marciello and Felix Rosenqvist (with the trio lining up in reverse order for race two by their second-best times), as Nicholas Latifi took fifth for both races. Eddie Cheever, Jr. and Lucas Auer both recorded a sixth and a seventh, while Will Buller, Mans Grenhagen and Pipo Derani rounded out the top ten for race one and two.

The second qualifying session took place in wetter conditions and saw Prema record a 1-2 for race three with Lynn ahead of Marciello on the front row. Rosenqvist took third ahead of Jordan King and Buller, while Latifi beat his teammate Tincknell to sixth. Auer, Dennis van de Laar and Sven Muller completed the top ten. The session was red-flagged early on when Tom Blomqvist stopped on track – as such, he failed to set a time and will start at the back along Andre Rudersdorf and Sandro Zeller, who also didn’t record a full lap.

Race one grid

Race two grid

Race three grid

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With the season starting at Monza this weekend, we take a look at the 30-car grid for the revamped category, full of quality young drivers.

Whether Gerhard Berger’s European F3 project will improve the state of things across the Formula Three category remains to be seen, but it’s hard to argue against one thing – the European F3 grid for 2013 assembled some of the most promising young drivers in single-seaters. With championship contenders from last year’s F3 Euro Series returning to have a go at it once again and plenty of talented youngsters coming in from other F3 categories, the 30-car grid looks as impressive as ever.

While the continuation of the lineage set by the F3 Euro Series is clear (as the newly-rebranded European F3 will run mostly as a support series for DTM and will continue the very commendable practice of live online streaming), the championship underwent some drastic changes. Among the most important is the disappearance of reverse-grid races, as all three races in a round will now yield the same amount of points and will be formed via more direct methods.

Here’s the driver-by-driver look at the 2013 European F3 season, ahead of the first round that’ll take place this weekend at Monza.

Prema Powerteam

Raffaele Marciello

Age: 18
Nation: Italy
2012: Third in Formula 3 Euro Series

It comes as very little surprise that Marciello was retained by Prema for the 2013 season and, perhaps, even less of the surprise that he inherited the coveted number “1” in the team that claimed the title last year with Dani Juncadella.

Joining the Ferrari Driver Academy as he graduated out of karting at the start of 2010, Marciello worked his way through Formula Abarth and Italian F3, finishing third in both. However, it is 2012 that put Marciello on the map as the Italian joined Prema in the F3 Euro Series for a campaign that would see him unexpectedly challenge for the title. He won three races in the first two rounds; another three victories would follow and, despite not being able to finish some of the races due to aggressive driving in the series, he ended the season a very strong third.

Throughout testing, he has confirmed his top form so far, often being fastest on the grid and proving his immense one-lap pace. With the reverse-grid races gone (and Marciello wasn’t too great at those), he is surely the main championship contender, and while the competition has got tougher, don’t bet against him replicating Juncadella’s feat.

Alex Lynn

Age: 19
Nation: United Kingdom
2012: Fourth in British Formula 3

The rest of Prema’s powerhouse four-car lineup is entirely rookies, led by Lynn. Rightly considered by many as one of Britain’s best upcoming single-seater drivers, Lynn, quite frankly, surpasses even that definition by being one of the most adaptive and quick drivers of the massive European F3 grid.

He claimed the Formula Renault UK Winter Series title at the end of his first single-seater season in 2010, and was virtually untouchable when he stayed in the category in 2011, taking the title by a country mile. His upward trajectory in junior single-seaters continued in 2012 when Fortec gave him a seat in British F3. Lynn finished the season in fourth, gaining massive momentum by the end of the year to start challenging for poles and wins, with his maiden victory at the penultimate round serving as proof of development. He then took pole and a third-place finish on his Macau debut.

That weekend he signed a deal with Prema to race in European F3. It’ll be the first time in his career that Lynn will part ways with Fortec, but, going by his frontrunner pace in testing, that doesn’t concern him much.

Lucas Auer

Age: 19
Nation: Austria
2012: Second in German Formula 3

He might be the nephew of the ex-F1 man Berger, but Auer’s speed would get the recognition it deserves even without that factoid. 2011 saw Auer’s first stab at single-seater racing and it was a grand rookie campaign that saw him win the JK Racing Asia series title, narrowly beating the vastly more experienced Afiq Ikhwan by seven points.

After his Toyota Racing Series campaign in early 2012 (marked with one podium and two poles), Auer joined van Amersfoort in German F3. With two wins over the year, he snatched away second place during the last few rounds and finished as the series vice-champion.

Auer made a return to Toyota Racing Series yearly this year and was a major title contender, but, with a penalty at the last round, ended up third behind Nick Cassidy and his European F3 teammate Lynn. He hasn’t been quite as quick as Alex in the testing, but the step-up Auer is making is quite a bit bigger, so expect him to start winning by the end of the year.

Eddie Cheever, Jr.

Age: 19
Nation: Italy
2012: Second in Italian Formula 3

The son of American ex-F1 driver of the same name, Cheever, Jr. completes the Prema lineup, graduating to their European F3 squad from the now-defunct Italian F3.

He started his single-seater career with seasons in Swiss Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Abarth, finishing tenth in both. Another promotion a year later and Cheever was in Italian F3, raising the result to three podiums and finishing ninth. Unlike Marciello, Cheever stayed in the category for 2012 and was a major title contender. He finished second in both the European and the Italian classifications, after nearly snatching the title away from Riccardo Agostini – however, he was among a number of post-race disqualifications at the end of the last round and so only managed second.

It’s hard to tell what Cheever can achieve throughout the season as his results during pre-season testing were fairly inconsistent and he lacks the experience at the level that most of the series frontrunners have. However, he should be a regular points finisher and could be a podium contender, should a race go particularly his way.

Mucke Motorsport

Pascal Wehrlein

Age: 18
Nation: Germany
2012: Second in Formula 3 Euro Series

Mucke’s top man of 2012, Pascal Wehrlein, will move on to Merc’s DTM squad, replacing Ralf Schumacher, this year after finishing runner-up to Juncadella in the F3 Euro Series his rookie year. Still, he isn’t completely done with F3, as he will make an appearance at the Monza round of the series.

After making his single-seater debut in ADAC Formel Masters in 2010 and running away with the series title in 2011, Wehrlein stunned the racing world with his first F3 year, as he took a win and multiple podiums on his way to a very strong second in the standings, with a super-consistent second half of the year.

He would’ve surely been a title favorite had he stayed in the series, showing some very strong results in testing and coming off of a fantastic rookie year. However, a DTM seat is not something he could refuse, but it will be nice to see him fight for the win at Monza at the very least.

Felix Rosenqvist

Age: 21
Nation: Sweden
2013: Fourth in Formula 3 Euro Series

For Felix, another man out of the 2012 Mucke lineup, this will be his third season in European F3 and, just like last year, it’s hard not to imagine him at the front of the grid.

Rosenqvist began his single-seater career in 2007 and raced in various local Formula Renault categories until 2009, winning titles in Asian FR2.0 and Swedish FR2.0. He graduated to German F3 in 2010 and was fifth with Performance Racing with two wins against a very competitive grid. In 2011, he joined Mucke in the Euro Series and did exceptionally well in his rookie year, finishing fifth and winning the prestigious Masters of F3 race.

He entered the 2012 season as one of the main title contenders, but had a pretty weak start to the season and let Juncadella and others run away in the standings. His form returned by the end of the season and, rather ominously for 2013, winning four of the final six feature races on the way to fourth before finishing second at Macau. He wasn’t exactly quickest in testing but, with Rosenqvist’s experience and fantastic end of last year form, he will surely add to his win tally in 2013.

Mitchell Gilbert

Age: 18
Nation: Australia
2013: Fourth in German Formula 3

Malaysian-born Aussie Mitchell Gilbert is another promising German F3 graduate on the 2013 European F3 field, with Mucke expanding their contingent in the series from two to four cars.

18-year-old Gilbert began his full-time single-seater career in 2011, entering the hyper-competitive Formula Renault 2.0 UK field, in which he finished an impressive fifth, behind major names in the junior ladder. That success could not have gone unnoticed and, in 2012, Gilbert switched from Fortec to Performance Racing and German F3. Alongside Auer, he fought for wins against far more experienced drivers and was fourth at the end of it, with two victories to his name.

While he hasn’t been a regular top ten man in testing so far, it’s easy to forget that his experience is extremely limited, compared to some drivers on the grid. As such, with this year serving as preparation for a further foray to the top of the ladder, consistent and regular finishes with a handful of points and takeaway noticeable results would already be a massive achievement.

Roy Nissany

Age: 18
Nation: Israel
2012: Ninth in ADAC Formel Masters

The fourth driver in the Mucke lineup is Roy Nissany, the son of ex-F1 tester Chanoch and a Mucke man since 2011. Nissany made his transition from karting to single-seaters in 201o, with a Formula Lista Junior campaign that saw him finish eighth in the Swiss series. He transferred to the German stepping stoner series ADAC Formel Masters in 2011 and, joining Mucke, finished eleventh in his rookie season with two podiums.

Last year saw Nissany continue in ADAC FM, where he finally took his maiden win in the series and ended the season in ninth. With an early deal it can be assumed he has a large budget like his father, but, for an ADAC FM graduate with not that much experience, he has been placing solidly in the lower half of the top 20 in testing.

Carlin

Harry Tincknell

Age: 21
Nation: United Kingdom
2012: Fifth in British Formula 3

With British F3 reduced to four events, Carlin made the necessary full-time transition to the European series and their front man Harry Tincknell went along with them.

After two years in Formula Renault UK, over the course of which he amassed four wins and a Winter Series title, Tincknell joined Fortec in British F3 in 2011 and, with a maiden win, took eleventh place in the standings. He was expected to fight for the title with Carlin in 2012, but it didn’t quite work out as he never had quite the speed to challenge the leading trio. However, with his remarkable consistency and a mastery of reverse-grid races, he finished a commendable fifth, with four wins – all of them achieved outside of feature races.

There will be no reverse-grid races in European F3, but, with his grand pace during testing, it looks like he might do fine without them. It’s hard to expect Carlin to go a year in F3 without wins and Tincknell might just be the one to deliver them.

Jordan King

Age: 19
Nation: United Kingdom
2012: Second in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

The three people lined up by Carlin alongside Tincknell are quite a bit les experienced than he is, but can be expected to make a substantial impression this year. Jordan King is, perhaps, the most likely driver to rival Carlin’s veteran Tincknell – especially after his 2012 performance left a lot of people impressed.

King switched to single-seaters full-time in 2011, joining Manor in Formula Renault 2.0 UK for its final season. He finished an impressive eighth in his rookie season, before making his graduation to the Eurocup and NEC the next year. He scored a maiden podium in the primary FR2.0 category, while in NEC he was challenging fellow Brit Jake Dennis for the title, although ultimately had to settle for second place. King also had some very impressive performances overseas, taking the MRF Challenge title in 2011 and finishing second in the 2012-2013 championship.

King was surprisingly on par with Tincknell throughout the testing, both of them setting quite impressive times, so don’t be surprised if his name makes a couple of headlines during his rookie year.

Nicholas Latifi

Age: 17
Nation: Canada
2012: Seventh in Italian Formula 3

One of the less experienced drivers on the grid, 17-year-old Toronto-born Latifi could very well be an interesting man to watch this year.

He made his debut on the European single-seater scene in 2012 with an Italian Formula Three campaign. With a Vallelunga win and three other podium finishes in the latter half of the season, he finished seventh overall, with a significant spike in his results after he switched from BVM to JD Motorsport. He then joined Giles for a TRS campaign, finishing ninth in a field of F3’s best.

His testing results have been encouraging so far and with the pace he’s been showing, he will easily make it in the top 15 at the end of the year.

Jann Mardenborough

Age: 21
Nation: United Kingdom
2012: Sixth in British GT

While most fresh faces on the grid should be classified as European F3 rookies, Mardenborough falls in the category of, in general, single-seater rookies.

Winning the Nissan GT Academy for Playstation gamers in 2011, Mardenborough completed his transition to a full-time racer in 2012, joining British GT and finishing sixth. It was quite a surprise, however, to see him join the TRS field in the beginning of 2013 in order to prepare himself for the main season – perhaps even more of a surprise that he actually did really well against F3’s finest, finishing tenth with a front row start to his name.

He’s also been on-pace in testing, and while a further single-seater career doesn’t seem to figure much in his goals, he’ll probably do well enough throughout the season.

Fortec Motorsport

Felix Serralles

Age: 20
Nation: Puerto Rico
2012: Third in British Formula 3

With Fortec doing the same as Carlin and switching from British F3 to European F3, they were also in a need of a proven frontrunner? and it seems, with Felix Serralles, they have one.

Serralles started his career in the US, taking third in the Skip Barber National Championship in 2010 along the way. He transitioned to Europe in 2011, taking 14th in the Eurocup Formula Renault with Fortec in his rookie year. Continuing with the team, Serralles moved to the British F3 series and was in the title fight against Carlin’s Jack Harvey and Jazeman Jaafar until the very last round, finishing third at the end of the year.

Fortec’s form in testing is a bit suspect, but Serralles certainly looked as their best driver. Fighting for the title would probably be a long shot, but he’s very likely to contend for individual race wins.

Pipo Derani

Age: 19
Nation: Brazil
2012: Eighth in British Formula 3

Derani, like Serralles, is moving up from British F3 with Fortec, after being a race-winner in the series in 2012. He started his single-seater career in 2009 with a foray in FR 2.0 NEC, where he finished seventh.

Derani moved to F3 in 2010, taking tenth in the German championship, before joining Fortec in British F3. He was 15th in his rookie season with a maiden podium, while the second season saw him move up to eighth.

The Brazilian has been reasonably quick in testing, not quite matching the pace set by Serralles, but being close enough. With his massive F3 experience, he should be able to fight for individual podiums.

Josh Hill

Age: 22
Nation: United Kingdom
2012: Third in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

Son to one F1 World Champion and grandson to another, Josh Hill will be making his debut in European F3 in 2012.

Hill, 22, has been a junior single-seater regular since 2009, starting his career off with two seasons in UK Formula Ford with Jamun. He won five times in his second year, finishing fifth in the standings, before moving up to Formula Renault 2.0 UK with Manor, where he finished seventh. In 2012, he progressed to FR 2.0 NEC, where he finished third, behind fellow Brits Dennis and King, with five race wins.

Hill hasn’t gotten quite up to speed in testing so far, but he’s completely new to F3 machinery and it may take him some time to adjust. With Fortec behind him, he can be expected to perform well in the latter half of the season.

Dmitry Suranovich

Age: 17
Nation: Russia
2012: No points in GP3

Belarus-born Russian youngster will be making a bit of a step down from GP3 this year, but at 17 it’s quite understandable.

Suranovich started his foray into single-seaters in 2010 with a part-time Formula Abarth campaign with Euronova. He made quite a step up to GP3 in 2011 and actually did fairly decent for a complete rookie, despite failing to score points, with a best finish of eleventh.

He hasn’t been particularly quick in testing so far, but, again, it’s completely new territory for the guy and he can probably start fighting for the points by the end of the year.

Double R Racing

Tatiana Calderon

Age: 20
Nation: Colombia
2012: Ninth in Formula3 Open

After racing in the Star Mazda championship (which is part of Road to Indy over in the US) for two years, scoring two podiums in 2011, Colombian racer Calderon made a switch to European single-seater racing. She got the season off to a great start last year, with a podium in the European F3 Open Winter Series, and went on to participate in the series full-time, finishing ninth in the main championship.

In early 2013, she prepared for a future European F3 foray by running in the TRS, where she finished twelfth with ETEC. She got signed by newcomers Double R shortly after they announced their switch from British F3 and did all the pre-season testing with them. Going by her performance in that and taking into account the team’s relative inexperience, she will probably fight for the occasional points finish.

Antonio Giovinazzi

Age: 19
Nation: Italy
2012: Formula Pilota China champion

After impressive karting results in 2011 (with a third place in the KF2 World Cup), Giovinazzi made an impression on the single-seater world right away with his 2012 debut. He joined Eurasia Motorsport in Formula Pilota China and went on to take the title by a landslide, with six wins over the season and overall 13 podiums in 18 races. He also made a one-off appearance in Formula Abarth and took two wins and a second place against series regulars in very difficult weather conditions.

Giovinazzi isn’t particularly well-funded so his seat with Double R is a pleasant surprise and he’ll surely produce a great result or two for the team throughout the season, even though he’s making such a massive step-up. Even though wins might be pretty far down the line, he’s surely a man to watch – particularly considering his outright excellent pace in the final pre-season test.

Sean Gelael

Age: 16
Nation: Indonesian
2012: Fourth in Formula Pilota China

Just like Giovinazzi, Sean Gelael made his debut in single-seaters in 2012 in Formula Pilota China and also had a quality rookie year with Eurasia Motorsport, finishing fourth in the standings with one win over the course of the year.

He was supposed to join Double R in British F3, but after the calendar was reduced, him and his FPC teammate were moved to the European series. Unlike the Italian, Gelael is pretty well-funded, with his native sponsors also funding Giovinazzi as well. He’s done very decent for a 16-year-old rookie in testing so far and could very well match Calderon throughout the season.

ma-con Motorsport

Sven Muller

Age: 21
Nation: Germany
2012: Sixth in Formula 3 Euro Series

Another ADAC Formel Masters graduate on the grid, Sven Muller was set to retain his Prema seat for 2013, but was replaced in the end. Thankfully for the championship, the very talented German found a seat with ma-con and will surely be one of the outside title contenders during the year.

Muller started his single-seater career in 2010, joining Eifelland in ADAC FM, finishing ninth in his debut series. He stayed in the series for a second year, joining ma-con with which he took four wins on his way to third in the championship. Muller joined Prema for the F3 Euro Series in 2012 and was, for a bit, the most impressive rookie on the field. He was passed by Wehrlein after a couple of rounds, but was also improving quite a bit, culminating in a double pole at Zandvoort and a maiden win at Hockenheim.

Consistently in the top five in testing, Muller looks like a possible title candidate and, while that might prove a bit challenging with a smaller team, he’ll surely add to that maiden win of his.

Andre Rudersdorf

Age: 17
Nation: Germany
2012: German F3 Trophy class and Austrian F3 champion

Graduating from karting in 2011, Rudersdorf joined Krafft Walzen in ADAC Formel Masters and finished 18th overall, placing highest in his team. In 2012, he was signed on by his current team, ma-con, to race in the Trophy class of German F3. The season saw him win that by a huge margin as well as taking the Austrian F3 title.

European F3 will surely be a huge step-up from the Trophy class of German F3, but he’s done surprisingly well in testing so far. With Muller as his teammate and a fairly noticeable learning curve, Rudersdorf might just start fighting for points by the end of the season, though, with the step up he’s making, that’s quite a bit to ask for.

Threebond with T-Sport

Will Buller

Age: 20
Nation: United Kingdom
2012: Fifth in Formula 3 Euro Series

While Buller’s aptitude on-track is unquestionable, his possibly greatest asset in F3 in 2013 will be his massive experience at the level, as the Brit is rivaled by pretty much only Rosenqvist when it comes to Formula Three record.

At 20, Buller already has a long junior single-seater career behind him, dating back to 2008 and Formula BMW Europe, where he finished 12th and tenth in two seasons with Fortec. 2010 saw Buller switch to British F3 with Hitech, finishing eighth in the standings. He entered 2011 as one of the title contenders, rejoining Fortec, yet was only fourth in the end. Last year, Buller entered into the F3 Euro Series, joining Carlin. He was a major title contender for a big part of the season but ultimately was only fifth due to a late-season slump in form. He also took a race win in an otherwise disappointing GP3 campaign.

With T-Sport and their Nissan engine seeming quite quick in testing, Buller should have all he could need to take the fight to the title yet again. He probably doesn’t have the outright pace to match the likes of Marciello and Lynn, but his consistency and experience should definitely make him a factor.

Spike Goddard

Age: 20
Nation: Australia
2012: British Formula 3 National class champion

While Goddard might be the same age as his teammate, it is an obvious fact he has nowhere near the levels of experience possessed by Buller and, as such, this will be very much a learning year for the youngster.

The Aussie graduated from karting in 2009 and spent two years racing in local series before joining British Formula Ford in 2011. Entering the series with Jamun Racing, Goddard finished tenth in his rookie year, with a season best finish of fifth. He joined T-Sport in 2012 for a British F3 campaign in the lower “Rookie” class, which he won with relative ease, only having one main competitor for the majority of the season.

European F3, as such, might seem like a pretty huge step and the testing has confirmed that thus far, as Spike has been generally on-pace, but not exactly troubling the top ten. It’s very likely that his season will go along those lines with an occasional points finish being a very realistic target.

Van Amersfoort Racing

Dennis van de Laar

Age: 20
Nation: Netherlands
2012: Ninth in German Formula 3

Another German F3 graduate, van de Laar is also one of the less-experienced drivers on the grid, but whatever predictions could be made about his season were quite skewed by his and his team’s pace during testing.

Van de Laar, 19, started his career in 2010 with third in the Formido Swift Cup, taking a win and four additional podium finishes along the way. He joined Van Amersfoort in 2011 for a campaign in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, where he was seventh at the end of the year in a massive grid. The next year saw him graduate to German F3, continuing on with the same team – not quite matching his teammates Auer and Rene Binder, he did, nonetheless, achieve one podium finish on his way to ninth.

Again, you could say that the step up van de Laar making is huge and he’d be expected to struggle, but his pace in testing so far has been quite solid and, should he keep it up, he can surely be a consistent points finisher, maybe even scoring a podium or two in his rookie year.

Mans Grenhagen

Age: 19
Nation: Sweden
2012: Third in Formula 3 Open

Grenhagen’s signing with Van Amersfoort came a bit out of the left field, yet, after the Swede has topped a day of testing and has been consistently up there with the expected contenders, it’s hard not to believe the team made a right call.

His single-seater career started off in 2009, when he was eighth in the Swiss-based Formula Lista Junior. In 2010, Grenhagen joined Jenzer in Formula Abarth, but raced part-time only, scoring some points in the eight races out of 14 he took part in. He then missed 2011 but made quite a triumphant return in 2012’s F3 Open. He was the main title contender up until the half-point yet, with his main rivals gaining ground, he went through a bit of a slump in form, falling to third at the end of the year.

After putting himself on the map in 2012, the sky’s the limit for this year, and it seems Grenhagen is approaching it with full intention to make the best out of the opportunity. With him and his teammate very quick in the testing, Mans might well fight for the title and will probably do so, provided he ironed out the mistakes that plagued him in F3 Open.

Romeo Ferraris

Gary Thompson

Age: 20
Nation: Ireland
2012: Fourth in Japanese F3 National class

The number 22 seat at Romeo Ferraris was always going to be a last-minute decision, with American Michael Lewis seemingly on pole for it after testing with them at Barcelona. However, it was Irish F3 veteran Thompson who snatched up the spot at the end, at least for the first round at Monza.

Thompson kicked off his single-seater career with a second in Formula BMW Pacific in 2009, losing out on the title to GP2 man Rio Haryanto. He then joined KCMG in Japanese F3’s national class, where, over the three years, he finished fifth (twice) and fourth in the standings, taking two wins in the process.

He hasn’t had a chance to test before the icy Monza so the pace remains a bit of a mystery, but it will certainly be a tough challenge, as Thompson hasn’t raced the F312 before.

Michela Cerruti

Age: 26
Nation: Italy
2012: 30th in Formula 3 Open/15th in German Formula 3

Despite being the oldest out of the drivers on the grid, Cerruti is also one with the least single-seater experience. Having raced in different categories of racing before (with wins in the Italian GT Championship and the touring car Superstars Series), Cerruti only tried single-seater racing in 2011, debuting in the Toyota Racing Series and then partaking in part-time campaigns in German F3 and F3 Open.

As such, the step up to European F3 will certainly be huge and, going by the testing, Cerruti will mostly be at the back for the opening races at least. Whether she can get up to speed or not remains to be seen, but, with her previous touring car successes, you shouldn’t rule that out.

EuroInternational

Tom Blomqvist

Age: 19
Nation: United Kingdom
2012: Seventh in Formula 3 Euro Series

The Red Bull Junior Team newcomer will continue in European F3, switching to the EuroInternational team that’s just entered the championship.

At 19, the son of rally driver Stig Blomqvist has achieved multiple successes in junior single-seaters. He finished third in Formula Renault 2.0 Sweden in his debut year and, switching to the UK series in 2010, won the title ahead of the now-former Red Bull Junior Team driver Lewis Williamson. In 2011, he finished sixth in an injury-curtailed season with Peformance Racing in German F3 before embarking on a full-time campaign in European F3 with ma-con, while simultaneously joining EuroInternational for a part-time schedule in German F3 – he was seventh in the first and fifth with five wins in the second.

He’s been notably quick in the testing so far, topping one of the Barcelona sessions and generally being near the top, so Blomqvist will surely be one of the guys to beat. He’ll certainly get his maiden series win at that point, but a top five finish overall is more than likely. He should have a teammate in time for Silverstone.

Jo Zeller Racing

Sandro Zeller

Age: 21
Nation: Switzerland
2012: 12th in Formula 3 Euro Series

Son of team owner Jo Zeller (a 12-time Swiss F3 champion), Sandro will remain the only driver supported by the team after his last year teammate Andrea Roda left for Auto GP.

At 21, Zeller has multiple years of F3 experience behind him. He started single-seater racing in 2008, joining Formula Lista Junior and scoring his maiden pole position. He was fifth in that very series in 2009, and also moved on to F3 with his father’s team. In 2010, Zeller joined German F3, finishing 17th. He raced a part-time campaign in the F3 Euro Series in 2011, while simultaneously securing the Austrian F3 title for the first time. Last year, he was the only driver in the Euro Series to race an old-spec F308, yet still finished 12th, beating his teammate.

With a switch to F312s, Zeller could finally be a points contender and yet his pace as of yet is unclear due to him missing a couple of tests.

URD Rennsport

Lucas Wolf

Age: 18
Nation: Germany
2012: 11th in Formula 3 Euro Series

Rounding out our preview is another promising German youngster in Lucas Wolf, who will continue with URD for another year.

Wolf made his debut in single-seaters in 2010, scoring a maiden podium in his rookie season of ADAC Formel Masters. He finished eighth that year and stayed on for another year, repeating his results in the standings, albeit now having taken a victory. Family-run URD Rennsport brought Wolf over to the F3 Euro Series in 2012, where he finished 12th overall. He scored a podium in the very last round at Hockenheim, after turning in a strong streak of decent finishes.

Wolf has shown decent pace in testing so far, but, with the increased amount of participants, it might be a bit hard to replicate his 2012 result. Still, as he’s shown decent improvement over the year, he might very well surprise us this year.

The post 2013 FIA F3 European Championship driver-by-driver preview appeared first on Formula Scout.

The track was still covered in ice at the start of the day, forcing the organisers to postpone running. Finally, the morning session started, shortened to two hours, during which Derani emerged as quickest. Italian rookie Antonio Giovinazzi was a very impressive second ahead of another Fortec man, Felix Serralles. Three Prema drivers – Lucas Auer, Raffaele Marciello and Alex Lynn – completed the top six, with Dutchman Dennis van de Laar taking seventh. His teammate Mans Grenhagen was ninth, right behind Buller and ahead of Mucke’s top man and recently announced DTM driver Pascal Wehrlein.

The second session went on for a full four hours and saw drastically better times set. Lynn seemed set to top the timesheets but was dethroned to second by fellow Brit Buller in the closing minutes. Marciello was third this time, ahead of EuroInternational’s Tom Blomqvist and Giovinazzi, who’s enjoyed an outstanding day of testing. Derani was sixth ahead of Carlin’s top man Harry Tincknell, as Auer, Serralles and Grenhagen rounded out the top ten.

Morning session results

Afternoon session results

The post Derani and Buller top final day of European F3 pre-season testing appeared first on Formula Scout.

Prema Powerteam’s Raffaele Marciello and Lucas Auer topped the morning and the afternoon session respectively on day one of European F3’s pre-season testing at Catalunya.

Marciello was quicker by almost 0.5 seconds than his nearest rival in session one, Alex Lynn, who also drives for Prema. T-Sport’s Will Buller was a further 0.2 seconds down, with Mans Grenhagen and Sven Muller completing the top five.

Last year’s vice-champion Pascal Wehrlein finished the first session in sixth, ahead of Auer and Dennis van de Laar. EuroInternational’s Tom Blomqvist and the highest-placed Carlin driver Jordan King completed the top ten.

It was Grenhagen who took the lead early on in the afternoon session, but, with an hour and a half to go, his time was bested by Auer, who stayed on top until the end of the session.

Carlin’s Harry Tincknell was second by the end of it, with Lynn and King taking third and fourth. Wehrlein, Grenhagen and Antonio Giovinazzi took fifth to seventh, with Fortec’s best man Felix Serralles, Mucke’s Felix Rosenqvist and Carlin’s Nicholas Latifi completing the top ten.

Morning session results

Afternoon session results

The post Prema drivers top day one of European F3 testing at Barcelona appeared first on Formula Scout.

Mans Grenhagen will contest the FIA F3 European Championship in 2013 with Van Amersfoort Racing, according to the Dutch magazine START. The Swede is set to partner Dennis van de Laar and a third, yet unconfirmed driver.

Grenhagen, 19, made his graduation from a successful karting career to single-seater racing in 2009, taking part in the Formula Lista Junior series. Scoring one podium and one pole position, Grenhagen finished tenth overall in a season dominated by Kevin Giovesi. In 2010, Grenhagen joined Jenzer Motorsport for a campaign in Formula Abarth. Competing in four out of seven championship rounds, he finished 15th overall with two fourth-place finishes as his best results.

The Swede was not racing in anything major in 2011, but returned the subsequent year to contest F3 Open. He made his debut in the winter series for that championship, taking the victory in one race out of two. The first half of the main season went very well for him as he and Gianmarco Raimondo traded first place in the standings from race to race. However, the second half saw results diminish and, with three wins overall, Grenhagen finished third in the standings.

Van Amersfoort are expected to run a third car in this year’s European F3, with Richie Stanaway known to be a prime candidate for the seat.

The post Mans Grenhagen joins Van Amersfoort in European F3 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Niccolo Schiro survives last-corner collision with stationary rival and teammate Gianmarco Raimondo to cross the line on three wheels and snatch the championship, while future GP2 racer Facu Regalia wins both races…

F3 Open

After the GP3, Italian F3 and Formula Abarth finales this season, you wouldn’t expect to see title deciders that would top those in 2012. However, once again motorsport reinforced its state as a unique and massively unpredictable category of sports, as the F3 Open finale at Catalunya has produced more drama than one could’ve possibly expected it to. What looked like a fairly standard (for our sport, anyway) title showdown between Gianmarco Raimondo and Niccolo Schiro turned into a chaotic and unpredictable finale thanks to rain, guest drivers and dropped scores.

Raimondo entered the weekend with a seemingly massive 15 point lead over Schiro with nobody else in mathematical contention for the title. However, the 15 points ended up being quite a tad misleading as the fact that there would be dropped scores wasn’t that well-known or often mentioned by the commentators. Entering the weekend, Raimondo’s worst results were a fourth and a fifth (22 points in total), while Schiro’s – a fourth and a DNF (12 points in total), so that made the real gap just five points.

Going on after a spectacular double win at Monza, Schiro started off this round with a pole position, lining up alongside Facu Regalia on the grid, while Raimondo lined up fourth, behind Roberto La Rocca. The first race, as it often happens this year, proved fairly drama-free, with Regalia taking the lead from Schiro with a better start and keeping it for the entire 17 laps. Schiro had to contend with second, while the podium was completed by Alex Riberas, who was participating in this round as one of the guest drivers. That status, therefore, made him ineligible for any points and the 15 for third went to Raimondo. Mans Grenhagen completed the top five ahead of La Rocca and Ed Jones, another guest driver.

Away from the title fight, Regalia was unstoppable (Photo: f3open.net/Fotospeedy)

Therefore, entering the final race on Sunday, with dropped scores taken into account, Raimondo’s lead over Schiro was decreased to just one point. The second qualifying session saw Regalia emerge as the quickest with Jones taking second, but, more attention was due to the next row of the grid, where the title contenders lined up alongside each other, Raimondo ahead. The start of the race was hectic and, while Regalia kept his lead, both Raimondo and Schiro ended up going wide into T1, the former colliding with La Rocca and badly damaging his car. As both drivers ended up pretty far down the order after the start, it looked like the outcome would be favourable for Raimondo because Schiro needed to finish third or higher among the F3 Open regulars to improve on his final points total.

However, at that point, it started to rain, which caused a couple of spins and produced a safety car. While Schiro went into the pits for a tyre change, Raimondo was also there, his mechanics vainly attempting to straighten out the bent suspension of his vehicle. Both got out of the pits way down the order but, as the safety car came in, Schiro started finding major pace on his tyres and began to overtake the field, with Raimondo lacking the vehicular integrity to do so. With the race running to time (due to the safety car) and ten minutes remaining on the clock, Schiro was fifth already, with Regalia, Jones, Riberas and Tatiana Calderon ahead of him.

Raimondo was also putting on a performance, overtaking much less damaged cars on his way to seventh, but, as things stood, Schiro would claim the title. With three or so laps to go, Calderon retired in the gravel, promoting Schiro to fourth (second among regulars), with Grenhagen five seconds behind him and Raimondo a further five back, needing to pass both of them for the title. That he did not do. Instead, Raimondo went into the pits for whatever unclear reason with nothing actually being done to his car, and, after talking to someone from his team, drove out back on track, seemingly surrendering any title hopes he had.

On the last lap, the leading group had to avoid a stalled car right on the inside of the final corner, which Regalia did to take his second win of the round. Jones and Riberas also managed to go on the outside and complete the podium while Schiro took the inside line and clipped the stalled car (that belonged to, interestingly enough, his teammate and only competitor for the title) with his rear wheel. However, the collision did not bring Schiro’s car to a halt and it crossed the line in the title-securing fourth squarely thanks to momentum, avoiding what could be the biggest scandal in junior single seater history. Grenhagen completed the top five.

Too close for comfort: Schiro and Raimondo at the start of the decisive race (Photo: f3open.net/Fotospeedy)

As such, with 272 points, Schiro is the crowned F3 Open champion after a finale that is sure to be remembered for quite some time. In second is Raimondo, missing the title by five points, while in third is Grenhagen, who is probably glad to see the season over after the misfortunate second half of it that he’s had.

Formula Pilota China

After stealing the show in the Formula Abarth season finale, Antonio Giovinazzi returned to the primary series of his 2012 campaign and absolutely dominated its penultimate round at Sepang.

Giovinazzi was untouchable in the two qualifying sessions, clearing the field by over a second in both. In race one, he scored an utterly crushing victory in difficult weather conditions, as second-placed Raj Bharath crossed the finish line 40 seconds later after only ten laps. Main title rival Dan Wells did well to complete the podium, while the leader of the “Best Asian Driver Trophy” standings Parth Ghorpade was fifth behind Afiq Ikhwan.

The six-lap sprint race was also won by Giovinazzi in dominant fashion with Bharath and Wells completing the podium again. Series regulars Sean Gelael and Ren Nagabuchi rounded out the top five.

Finally, Giovinazzi did a similar job in the final race of the weekend, finishing 16 seconds ahead of Wells with Ghorpade taking third. Nagabuchi was fourth while Ikhwan completed his second FPC round of the year in fifth.

In the standings coming into the final round, Giovinazzi has amassed a 40 point lead over Wells. Ghorpade, while still third in the standings, is seemingly out of contention (63 points adrift with only 55 available in a round), but the championship situation is still a little unclear as dropped scores might come into play. The final round of the season will take place at, yet again, Sepang with three races on December 8th.

Giovinazzi heads Wells and Ghorpade (Photo: FormulaPilotaChina.com)

PaddockScout Driver of the Weekend: Facu Regalia – Even if he benefited from doing the GP2 test at the same circuit earlier in the week and in mixed conditions, the Argentine was faultless. A sign of potential from the well-funded racer ahead of his anticipated step-up to GP2 for next year.

The post Roundup: Schiro pips Raimondo to F3 Open title in dramatic finale appeared first on Formula Scout.

All the action from Paul Ricard and much, much more on a hectic weekend as several series come to a conclusion for 2012 and others reach a critical point…

Formula Renault 3.5

Robin Frijns entered the penultimate round of the season at Paul Ricard with a massive lead of 24 points over Jules Bianchi. However, two races later, and it is now the Frenchman who is leading the title hunt, although Frijns and Sam Bird remain hot on his heels.

On Saturday it was Nick Yelloly who seemed to have mastered the wet conditions in which the qualifying session was held, scoring his first pole position of the season. The usual suspects were right up there with him, though ? Frijns in second, Bianchi in fourth and Antonio Felix da Costa between them. However, as it is often the case with wet Formula Renault 3.5 races, the order of the grid didn?t seem to matter all that much once the race started. A poor getaway from Yelloly allowed Frijns and Bianchi to overtake him yet it was surprisingly Andre Negrao who led the race after the first lap with an overtaking move around the outside. For the first few laps Negrao genuinely seemed to be marginally faster than the rest of the field but, as Frijns started struggling with his car a bit, Bianchi emerged as the quickest driver in the chase after the leader. He soon caught up to Negrao and overtook him, only to seemingly go off the track alongside the Brazilian driver a few laps later. With Bianchi and Negrao down to their original grid positions (fourth and fifth), it was Yelloly who inherited the race. Yet at that point Felix da Costa emerged as the class of the field and soon took the lead away from the Brit after a pretty great fight that saw them trade positions multiple times.

The rest of the race was, perhaps, a bit less hectic but there was still plenty of events going on. It was becoming evident that Frijns had some severe pace problems, his car marginally slower than everyone around him as he dropped down the order, creating multiple ?trains? along the way. At some point, former series champion Mikhail Aleshin spun out of sixth after overtaking Frijns, while, a few laps later, an excellent performance from Negrao was brought to a close when his car stopped on the main straight. With this kind of mayhem surrounding him, Bianchi made another costly mistake, which allowed Daniil Move through into what would later become the final podium position.

Felix da Costa (right) won his battle with Yelloy for Race 1 honours (Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI)

There were no more surprises at the top of the field, though, as Felix da Costa confidently drove to his second victory in a row ahead of Yelloly. The rest of the field arrived 20 seconds later with Move ahead of Bianchi, Marco Sorensen and Kevin Magnussen. Frijns did well to hold on to seventh, holding off Nico Muller for a big portion of the race, with the Swiss driver never managing to find a way through and finishing in eighth. The top ten was rounded up by Kevin Korjus and Bird. GP3 graduate Aaro Vainio was sixteenth while Daniel Abt retired after four laps.

Bianchi and Bird confirmed their status as very experienced drivers by locking out the front row for race two. Unsurprisingly, rain brought mayhem into the race yet again and much of the grid was reshuffled as there were plenty of collisions and strategic mistakes. While Bianchi kept the lead into turn one, the real pacesetter soon emerged, that being Felix da Costa, who stormed from seventh on the grid to take the lead in the race. However, Tech 1 outplayed Arden Caterham and, after the mandatory stops, Bianchi was back ahead and finished the race in first. Felix da Costa and Bird completed the podium with Yelloly and Sorensen behind them, the latter having a particularly impressive race after starting in 19th. Frijns got off to a good start but soon found himself falling down the order in an unfortunate repeat of race one. He finished ninth, behind Vainio, Muller and Korjus (who started the race in last). The top ten was completed by Lucas Foresti. Abt qualified in tenth but was involved in a collision into Turn 1 and later received a time penalty for not respecting track limits, which didn’t affect his 18th place.

With the Catalunya round remaining, Bianchi is now leading Frijns by five points with Bird a further 19 down. Only they can still win the title mathematically as Yelloly and Sorensen, fourth and fifth in the standings, are now more than 50 points adrift. The fight for fourth is also shaping up to be quite exciting with Sorensen one point behind Yelloly and five points ahead of Felix da Costa, despite the latter having missed the first three rounds.

Eurocup Formula Renault

The penultimate round of the season at Paul Ricard was of utmost importance for the championship as the series leader Stoffel Vandoorne went into it with an 11 point gap over his only, at this point, rival Daniil Kvyat.

Vandoorne?s weekend was off to a great start as he topped the timesheets in his group in qualifying for the first race. However, due to changing conditions that would only mean second for him as the time set by Javier Tarancon, who was quickest in the other group after Mikko Pakari?s pole time was deleted, ended up giving him pole. Kvyat lined up third on the grid ahead of Edward Jones, who managed his best qualifying of the year.

Kvyat and Vandoorne continue to be the class of the huge Eurocup field (Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI)

Despite the championship rivals right on his back, Tarancon managed to keep his lead through lap one and held it for half the race yet, after immense pressure from Vandoorne, he ended up cutting a chicane when defending. According to the stewards, that gave him an illegal advantage, meaning Tarancon ended up with a post-race penalty of 10 seconds that would in the end drop him outside of the points.

Even with the sketchy defending, Vandoorne managed to get ahead of Tarancon and would go on to claim his fourth win of the season. Tarancon finished second on the road but, with the penalty, it was Kvyat who inherited that place while Guilherme Silva completed the podium. Steijn Schothorst, who spent a big part of the race fighting for third, retired on lap 11, which gave fourth and fifth to Oscar Tunjo and Oliver Rowland. Andrea Pizzitola held off Stefan Wackerbauer for sixth while Nyck de Vries finished right behind them. Finally, Melville McKee passed Esteban Ocon on the last lap for ninth with Ocon completing the top ten.

In qualifying for the second race, Kvyat and Vandoorne both set the fastest time in their respective groups, yet it was Vandoorne who enjoyed better conditions this time, claiming his sixth pole position of the season. Yet that was almost negated when Vandoorne lost the lead to Kvyat at the start and then went off-track, rejoining in twelfth. From there, he took on a massive recovery drive and ended up finishing second, only behind Kvyat. Ocon and Paul-Loup Chatin did well to score third and fourth, while William Vermont managed an incredible fifth after starting in 25th. Rowland, McKee, Alex Riberas, Jones and Felipe Fraga completed the top ten.

The gap, therefore, stays the same as the series wraps up at Catalunya on October 19-21.

FIA Formula Two

The 2012 season of the Formula Two championship concluded at Monza and Luciano Bacheta emerged as the series champion.

Still, it was probably a bit closer than Bacheta would’ve wanted it to be, as he entered the round with a lead of 33.5 points over Matheo Tuscher. Tuscher, not giving up on the title hopes, was quickest in the Saturday qualifying but Bacheta did well to line up alongside him on the front row. Into Turn 1, however, it was Kevin Mirocha who lead the race with Bacheta keeping second ahead of Tuscher. The Swiss driver was clearly the quickest on track, though, soon proving it by first overtaking Bacheta and then stealing the lead away from Mirocha. He kept that lead until the end of the race and claimed his second win of the season ahead of a charging Christopher Zanella. Mirocha finished third ahead of Bacheta while Harald Schlegelmilch finished fifth on his return to racing and his series debut.

Tuscher again belied his experience and mastered the difficult conditons on Saturday (Photo: Formula Two)

The gap between the two was down to 20.5 points but that still seemed a pretty tall order for Tuscher, since he needed another win and a bad result from Bacheta. He didn’t help matters by qualifying in sixth for race two (although Bacheta only managed seventh himself) as Markus Pommer took pole with Zanella second.

A good start from Zanella saw him lead after lap one and, from there, he claimed an easy victory. Pommer received an unfortunate puncture which cost him a good finish and saw Mirocha finish in second. Bacheta became series champion by finishing third, ahead of Mihai Marinescu and Tuscher.

The top six of the championship are as follows – Bacheta, Tuscher, Zanella, Pommer, Marinescu and Mirocha.

F3 Open

Gianmarco Raimondo went into the penultimate round of the season at Monza with a massive lead over Niccolo Schiro yet the Italian did everything he could to keep the intrigue alive.

For race one, however, it was Mans Grenhagen who claimed pole position, looking to break the streak of bad luck that left him with very much an outside shot at the title. Raimondo lined up alongside him, yet neither of them ended up getting the win. Instead, it was Schiro who made the headlines with his brilliant victory from fourth on the grid. Staying in his position for four laps, the Italian then overtook Facu Regalia, subsequently passing Raimondo a few laps later. With two laps to go, Schiro took the lead from Grenhagen and crossed the finish line in first. Grenhagen, Raimondo and Regalia finished without further shuffling, while Kevin Giovesi took fifth.

Raimondo put himself in pole for race two with Schiro alongside him. Yet again, the Italian made the best out of his grid position, taking the lead on the first lap and scoring a dominant win. Sam Dejonghe and Kevin Giovesi completed the podium with Raimondo only managing fourth. In fifth, Alexandre Cougnaud scored the best result of his season.

The season will wrap up on November 2-4 at Catalunya. Raimondo is leading the championship with 261 points but Schiro is now a lot closer, 16 points down. Grenhagen’s 11th place in race two means that he is out of the title fight, with 54 points up for grabs and him being 77 points down.

Schiro didn't let the home crowds down (Photo: f3open.net/Foto Speedy)

Formula Abarth

With multiple drivers competing for the title and all of three races to go, the final round of the season at Monza was shaping up to be a thriller. Combine that with the fact that two titles were being decided in the same races and between virtually the same drivers (as, alongside the main series championship, this was also the round that would determine the winner of the Italian series) and you would be expecting even more excitement. However, the level of suspense produced by the championship in these three days was probably not predicted by absolutely anyone.

Three people came into the weekend in contention for the main European title – Nicolas Costa enjoying a healthy lead over Luca Ghiotto and Bruno Bonifacio. However, Ghiotto made it clear early on that he was not giving up the fight, qualifying in second for race one and taking pole for race three, while Costa could only answer with third and fourth respectively.

Not that the qualifying ended up mattering much as lap one brought mayhem and safety cars into pretty much all of the weekend’s races. Race one began with Gregor Ramsay hitting Bonifacio’s car, ending the title hunt for the latter and bringing out the safety car. Despite the ensuing shuffling that went on down the field, Santiago Urrutia, who started the race from pole, lead the majority of it but went off closer to the end of the race. As such, Emanuele Zonzini inherited the lead, but he wasn’t to win that, as Antonio Giovinazzi overtook him with one lap to go and secured the win in his first race in the series. A feat all the more impressive when you consider that the Formula Pilota China driver started the race from 15th, which also happened to be last. Zonzini finished second with Ghiotto third and Urrutia recovering to fourth. Crucially, Costa only managed sixth behind Kevin Jorg.

Costa’s sixth allowed him to start from pole in the reverse grid race but he didn’t manage to keep the lead, giving it up to Urrutia, who went on to win the race. Giovinazzi also ended up ahead of Costa and finished second, while Jorg was right behind him, crossing the line in fourth. Ghiotto, who was trying to overtake Costa for third at one point in the race, ended up going off and only finished fifth.

Thus, Costa and Ghiotto went into the last race as the only contenders in both series. Costa was ahead of Ghiotto by 12 points in the European standings, while his lead in the Italian series was only nine points.

Giovinazzi nearly upstaged the title battle on his European debut (Photo: acisportitalia.it)

In the best traditions of this year’s GP3 finale (which also took place at Monza), both titles came down to the wire. Ghiotto started the race from pole but had to battle for the lead with Urrutia and Giovinazzi for almost all of the race. At the same time, Costa went off on lap three and had to mount a massive recovery drive from 11th. And so he did, ending up fourth behind those battling for the win with a few laps to go. At one point, Urrutia spun, seemingly giving the victory to Ghiotto, but it was Giovinazzi who got to stand on the top step of the podium, beating his compatriot to the line by less than 0.05s. Costa inherited third ahead of Urrutia and female racer Samin Gomez.

As such, Costa secured both titles in a very hectic and dramatic final weekend. In both cases, the vice-champion title went to Ghiotto. However, two different people came third – in the European series, Urrutia lost out to Bonifacio for that spot, but he got to enjoy being third in the Italian series, as he finished level on points with Zonzini with two more wins to his name.

Formula 3 Euro Series

Daniel Juncadella had a near-perfect weekend at Valencia, strengthening his championship lead ahead of the final round of the season at Hockenheimring. Despite that, Juncadella didn?t actually win any of the races, which allows another three drivers to still have an outside shot at the title.

One of them, Ferrari prot?g? Raffaele Marciello, got his weekend off to a great start by claiming pole position for the first race of the weekend, lining up ahead of Felix Rosenqvist and Juncadella. Funnily enough, the same drivers lined up in the first three positions for the third race, except this time Juncadella had pole ahead of Rosenqvist and Marciello.

Into race one where Rosenqvist made a great start from second to lead into turn one with Marciello and Juncadella behind him. However, Rosenqvist?s efforts would later be nullified by a drive-through penalty that he earned by being out of position during the start, meaning that the lead belonged to Marciello yet again. The Italian managed to make use of that, taking a comfortable win ahead of Juncadella and Tom Blomqvist. Emil Bernstorff finished fourth, ahead of title contenders Pascal Wehrlein and William Buller. Carlos Sainz, Jr. had another race to forget after his badly thought-out move on Blomqvist into Turn 2 left him without a front wing, unable to continue the race. There was no shortage of further incidents as Michael Lewis spun Sven Muller and received a drive-through while Rosenqvist ruined a possible recovery drive when he ran into Andrea Roda and received another penalty.

Juncadella moved closer to the title at his home event (Photo: F3 Euro Series)

For the reverse grid race, Lewis lined up on pole ahead of Muller. Thankfully, there was no further drama between the teammates as they finished just like they started, Lewis taking his first win of the season. Wehrlein was third ahead of Blomqvist and Buller while Juncadella didn?t manage to recover any places, finishing where he started ? in seventh. Marciello?s lack of consistency struck once again as the Italian went off-track early on and ruined his car?s suspension over the kerbs.

Race three was another fairly quiet one that saw Rosenqvist make another great start and steal the lead from Juncadella into Turn 1. He never gave it back and eased to victory, with Juncadella and Marciello completing the podium. Wehrlein finished fourth, to keep second in the standings, ahead of Blomqvist. Buller found himself way down in ninth, severely hurting his already slim title chances.

Coming into the last round of the championship at Hockenheimring, which will take place on 19-21 October, Juncadella will be leading Wehrlein by 35 points, with a maximum of 60 available. Marciello is third, a further 1.5 behind, while only a miracle could make Buller?s title hopes come true, as he is now 55.5 points behind the leader.

British F3

The season finale at Donington was already shaping up to be a classic due to both Jazeman Jaafar and Felix Serralles leaving Silverstone with very realistic title chances. However, on Wednesday, Brit Jack Harvey managed to come out on top in an appeal process over a 30-second time penalty he received after the second race of the penultimate round. The penalty being overturned meant that Harvey now enjoyed an additional 14 points (for finishing in second) and was right there in the mix, three points behind Serralles and six behind Jaafar.

On Saturday, Harvey proved he intends to make full use of this newly-found opportunity by securing his ninth and tenth pole positions of the season for races one & three. Later that day, he was unbeatable in race one, leading from lights to flag to secure his sixth win of the season. Jaafar finished second to stay strong in the hunt while Alex Lynn completed the podium. Serralles, having started third, finished one place down, ahead of Hannes van Asseldonk.

Harvey did exactly what he needed to (Photo: Jakob Ebrey/RSF)

Harry Tincknell started race two from reverse grid pole and took his fourth victory of the season (all of them in reverse grid races). Pipo Derani did well to hold on to second when he was under pressure from Serralles for most of the race. Closer to the end, Serralles ran wide and allowed Pietro Fantin into third, which the Brazilian kept until the chequered flag. Van Asseldonk scored another fifth with Harvey in sixth. Jaafar had a good start to his race but his attempt to overtake Lynn ended with them both retiring as the Brit picked up a puncture and failed to take the corner.

As such, Harvey entered the last race as the championship leader with Serralles only three points behind and Jaafar a further two down. It was a great set-up for a thrilling race but Harvey wasn’t gonna let that happen, starting from pole and leading from lights to flag, which, obviously, won him the title. Lynn and Jaafar completed the podium ahead of Tincknell and Derani. Serralles ran in fifth for most of the race but ended up losing it twice which demoted him to eighth.

With Harvey being the champion, Jaafar claimed the title of vice-champion and Serralles had to contend with third. In fourth, Lynn completed a great first season in the series while Tincknell finished the year in fifth place.

Formula Ford

The final round of the season took place at Donington and, unfortunately, only two out of the scheduled three races were run.

Eric Lichtenstein took pole for all three races of the weekend, but that didn’t stop series veteran Antti Buri from finally claiming the title. Buri lined up in second for each of the races (always ahead of Julio Moreno in third) and, although he only finished the first race in fifth, that was enough for him to be crowned champion. Lichtenstein won his 11th race of the season but that wasn’t enough to keep him in contention.

Race two saw only seven out of twelve people complete all the laps with Buri and Lichtenstein among those who failed to finish (which ended Lichtenstein’s streak of eight consecutive race wins). As such, Jake Cook took his second win of the season ahead of Cavan Corcoran and Ryan Cullen.

The third and final race of the weekend was cancelled following red flag delays during and after the final FIA GT1 race.

German F3

Eriksson proved why he's champion (Photo: formel3.de)

Jimmy Eriksson entered the final round of the 2012 season at Hockenheimring needing only three points to secure the title. Funnily enough, he didn?t even wait for the actual races to do that, securing pole position on Friday for races one & three and netting six points for that.

However, even after being crowned series champion, Eriksson stayed as motivated as ever, which he proved by winning the first race from pole. Kimiya Sato and Mitchell Gilbert completed the podium ahead of Artem Markelov and Dennis van de Laar. Lucas Auer, who started alongside Eriksson on the front row, ended up in eighth.

Auer started the second race from reverse grid pole alongside Rene Binder, yet neither of them ended up occupying the top step of the podium. Instead, it was Markelov who took his second win of the season with Auer and Eriksson completing the podium. Mitchell Gilbert came in fourth ahead of Binder.

Eriksson, still seemingly putting in a lot of effort despite securing the title, scored a win in the final race of the season. Sato and Auer completed the podium with Gilbert and Yannick Mettler close behind. As such, Auer finished second in the standings with Sato third, Gilbert fourth and Blomqvist fifth, despite the latter running in only five rounds out of nine.

ADAC Formel Masters

The season finale at Hockenheimring was shaping up to be a very close affair as points leader Gustav Malja went into the weekend with a lead of two points only over Marvin Kirchhofer. Yet, in the end, the title was wrapped up in advance as Kirchhofer only needed two races to make up the points deficit and then secure the title.

The qualifying saw Kirchhofer claim pole for the first two races with Thomas Jager and Malja behind him. Race one saw Kirchhofer enjoy a lights-to-flag victory, but Malja did his best to stay in the title fight, taking second from Jager on lap one and finishing in that position. Jager ended up third ahead of Jeffrey Schmidt, Jason Kremer and Beitske Visser.

Kirchhofer stuffed the opposition (Photo: ADAC Formel Masters)

Race two followed a similar pattern in that Kirchhofer once again claimed a dominant victory, leading every lap on the way to it. This time, however, Jager held on to second and Malja had to contend with third ahead of Schmidt, Indy Dontje and Visser. Malja?s third place meant that, with one race to go and 15 points available for the win, he was now trailing Kirchhofer by those very 15 points. Seeing how Malja only had three wins to Kirchhofer?s six, he would not be able to go above the German in the standings, which made Kirchhofer the series champion. One has to wonder why Jager wasn?t asked to let Malja through, as they happen to be teammates.

Still, that didn’t end up mattering much in the end, as Kirchhofer started the reverse grid race in eighth and won it anyway, completing an absolutely perfect weekend. Schmidt and Malja completed the podium ahead of Jager, Dontje and Visser.

After a weekend like this, Kirchhofer is the rightful champion with Malja a fairly close second. The rest of the field, over 100 points down on the two, is led by Schmidt, who beat Kremer to third by two points.

French F4

Alex Baron needed all of one point to secure the championship during the penultimate round of the season at Le Mans. Predictably, that task proved to be easy for a guy who?s absolutely dominated the championship so far and, by claiming pole for both races of the weekend during the qualifying session, Baron clinched the title.

Baron then let his guard down a bit and lost race one to Simon Tirman after getting passed for the lead on lap one. Baron did manage second ahead of Egor Orudzhev and Victor Sendin.

Race two also went to Tirman as Baron dropped out of the points after leading for seven laps and only finished in 13th. The podium was completed by Orudzhev and Sendin with Simon Gachet in fourth.

A weekend without wins probably didn’t do much harm to the newly-crowned champion’s mood while Tirman’s two victories allowed him to build up a massive gap in the fight for second. Enzo Guibbert, Gachet and Sendin are all within ten points in the battle for third, so there’s still some semblance of intrigue left.

Intersteps

Matt Parry went into the title decider at Croft with a massive lead over his closest rival, Matt Mason, and did what he needed to do, not allowing the fact that Mason claimed pole for the three races of the weekend unsettle him. In race one, he finished third behind Mason and Jack Aitken (the former scoring his eighth win of the season), while in race two he secured his title by claiming his 13th win of the season. Aitken continued a strong weekend by finishing second in race two, ahead of Cameron Twynham, while Mason was only fifth. Finally, Aitken claimed his second victory of the season ahead of Sean Walkinshaw and Parry whereas Mason had another unfortunate race, finishing sixth.

PaddockScout Driver of the Weekend: Marvin Kirchhofer – lots of contenders for that one, but in the end, the one who truly had a flawless weekend is the ADAC Formel Masters champion. Kirchhofer came into the weekend in second but his three wins (one of which came in a reverse grid race) did not leave Malja any chances. Absolutely perfect.

Next weekend: Thanfully things calm down somewhat with the majority, presumably, watching the Japanese Grand Prix. There is some Formula Renault action though, with the Alps series visiting Mugello for its penultimate round while the BARC title battle concludes at the British Touring Car event at Silverstone.

The post Roundup: Bianchi steals FR3.5 points lead with home win appeared first on Formula Scout.

There were off-weekends for the title rivals in GP2 at Hockenheim, while in GP3 Patric Niederhauser grabbed another win and Mitch Evans extended his advantage…

GP2 Series

A damp track saw most of the field start on wets for the feature race in Hockenheim, but a gamble by Johnny Cecotto to start on slicks paid off big time. As the track dried out quickly, Cecotto drove his way through the field while everyone else headed for the pits. When Cecotto eventually made his mandatory stop he stayed out in the lead to win his second feature race of the season. Fabio Leimer took second, ahead of Stephane Richelmi – the only other man to start on slicks.

Felipe Nasr took fourth ahead of polesitter Giedo van der Garde, while Nigel Melker slipped to sixth after flying into the lead in the difficult conditions at the start. Points leader Luiz Razia was seventh, with James Calado taking eighth and the reverse grid pole.

The Racing Steps driver drove away in the sprint race to make a well-earned return to the top step of the podium after his win in Malaysia. Van der Garde was second, with Nasr completing a fine weekend with third. Leimer was fourth ahead of Esteban Gutierrez and Cecotto. Post-race penalties promoted Razia’s rival Davide Valsecchi to seventh, after an earlier spin. Razia too spun and dropped to the back on the first lap before recovering to tenth.

Razia leads Valsecchi by ten points, and despite their bad weekends they’re still more than 30 points clear of anyone else – Gutierrez’s weekend hampered by a grid penalty for a Silverstone collision. The season continues this weekend at the Hungaroring.

GP3 Series

Heavy rain caused the first race to start behind the safety car, but a number of drivers were still on slicks, including front row starters Daniel Abt and Mitch Evans. Those driver then came in to change to wet tyres, but with conditions worsening the race was then red-flagged. Conor Daly led when the race eventually got back underway, but he was passed for the lead by Patric Niederhauser, who was able to add to his victory from Race 2 in Valencia.

Kevin Ceccon completed the podium on the road but was later penalised for not having his tyres fitted in time at the start of the race. That meant that fellow Italian Giovanni Venturini finished third on just his second weekend in the series. Matias Laine was fourth, while the conditions helped fellow Finn Aaro Vainio to recover from a grid penalty and finish fifth, ahead of his title rival Evans. Tamas Pal Kiss was sixth, with Abt and Evans recovering to seventh and eighth.

Abt beat Evans off the line in race two to take the lead, before a lengthy safety car period as Vicky Piria received medical attention after an aerial crash at the hairpin. At the restart Evans retook the lead from Abt, before another safety car period after Fabiano Machado took to the air after running wide at turn one. Evans crossed the line to take his third win of the season, ahead of Abt and Daly. Pal Kiss, Laine, Vainio, Tio Ellinas and Venturini.

The win extended Evans’ lead over Vainio to 18 points, with Abt, Niederhauser and Daly separated by just one point in the battle for third. The Hungaroring hosts round six of eight.

Conor Day was beaten to the win in the first race, but still took two podium finishes (Photo: GP3)

Auto GP

Former F1 driver Antonio Pizzonia returned to single-seaters for his home round at Curitba, and finished up having won both of the races. The Brazilian won the first after a poor start for pole-sitter Adrian Quaife-Hobbs. Still, third place behind main rival Pal Varhaug was going to be enough for the Briton to win the title but a nightmare pitstop saw him finish third. Sergey Sirotkin completed the podium, ahead of Daniel De Jong and Chris van der Drift.

Quaife-Hobbs mastered his start in the second race to jump from third to first, and had a 35 second lead when he headed for the pits to make his mandatory stop three laps from the end. He misjudged his entry though and slid into a tyre wall and into retirement, handing victory to Pizzonia. Van der Drift and De Jong completed the podium ahead of Sirotkin, while Varhaug’s fifth place meant that he can not catch Quaife-Hobbs at the season finale at Sonoma, handing the Brit the title.

Formula 3 Sudamericana

Formula Abarth points leader Nicolas Costa took a win and a second place at the season opener at Curitiba, a result matched by 18-year-old Fernando Resende.

Formula Two

15-year-old Matheo Tuscher claimed his maiden win at Paul Ricard, after claiming his third pole position of the year in qualifying. Points leader Luciano Bacheta was second, ahead of fellow Brits Daniel McKenzie and Dino Zamparelli. Markus Pommer, Kevin Mirocha, Mihai Marinescu and Christopher Zanella completed the top eight.

Pommer won the second race from pole, ahead of Tuscher and Zanella. Mirocha was fourth, Bacheta fifth, Zamparelli sixth, Marinescu seventh and McKenzie eighth.

Bacheta continues to lead the points by 32.5 points, with Tuscher second. There are six weeks until the penultimate round of the season at the Hungaroring.

Tuscher enjoyed his best weekend in F2 yet (Photo: Formula Two)

F3 Open

Niccolo Schiro joined Gianmarco Raimondo and Mans Grenhagen in the title battle by winning both races at Paul Ricard. Points leader Raimondo finished both races in second place, while Grenhagen was only 16th in the first race before coming third in race two. Facu Regalia, who chose F3 Open over Auto GP and GP3 at the weekend, was the man who completed the podium in Grenhagen’s absence in race one.

Formula Renault BARC

Josh Webster boosted his title chances with a double win at Croft, fresh from his class-winning F3 debut at the Masters of Zandvoort. Scott Malvern maintained his standings lead with a fourth and a second, but it was a bad weekend for the third title contender and single-seater rookie Seb Morris, who retired from the first race and was 11th in the second race.

PaddockScout Driver of the Weekend: Seeing as a certain 31-year-old former F1 driver doesn’t really fall into PaddockScout’s remit, I’ll give the award this week to Matheo Tuscher, who’s just about young enough to be Pizzonia’s son.

Next weekend: GP2 and GP3 again from the Hungaroring, while the best in F3 are in action at the British series round at Spa.

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