Hall of fame

The Formula 3 Euro Series starts to its ninth season in 2011. The foundation for the junior series was laid in Paris in January 2003 when the Deutsche Motor Sport Bund e.V. (DMSB) and the French Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA) set the final gears in motion for the historic merger. The Formula 3 Euro Series was born.

On 26 April 2003 the inaugural race was staged at the Hockenheimring. Five automobile manufacturers, Opel, Mercedes, Renault, Mugen-Honda and Toyota, supplied the engines for the singleseat formula cars. In the chassis area, however, the Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara had a monopoly. The first winner of a Formula 3 Euro Series race to enter his name in the annals of history was Ryan Briscoe (Opel). Crossing the finish line in first place at seven other races in 2003, the Australian in the end crowned himself as the dominant champion. Like the runner-up, Christian Klien, Briscoe managed the leap into Formula 1 a season later. In the following years he clinched victories in the IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Fabio Carbone is a driver Inaugural champion Ryan Briscoe in 2003 was the first champion of the Formula 3 Euro Series deserving a special mention. At the second round in Pau the Brazilian was the first and only winner of the 158 races contested so far with a Renault engine. The remaining 157 exploits went to Mercedes-Benz (116), Opel (22) and Volkswagen (19).

In the second year of the Formula 3 Euro Series four different power-plants continued assuring the presence of a variety of engines. On the chassis front, a second chassis manufacturer even dared attacking Dallara’s supremacy – albeit with little success. The two Lola-Dome racing cars of Christian Montanari and Toni Vilander failed to score any points for their team, Coloni Motorsport. Jamie Green was much more successful in clinching top positions.

Thanks to seven race victories the Briton secured the title, heralding a six-year – and to date unbroken – string of championship exploits by Mercedes-Benz as engine manufacturer and ASM (later ART Grand Prix) as team title winner. Green switched to the DTM as a Mercedes-Benz factory driver. Nico Rosberg, as well, hit a jackpot. The fourth-placed finisher of the 2004 season found employment as a test driver for the Formula 1 team BMW-Williams and today is Michael Schumacher’s team colleague in the F1 Mercedes factory team. Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 Formula 1 champion, finished the 2004 Euro Series season in fifth place.

2005 saw another manufacturer, SLC, venturing onto the chassis terrain. And yet again it was Fabio Carbone who made a new mark as the only driver in the series’ history so far to score points in a car that was not built on a Dallara chassis. In an SLC R1 Opel he clinched 15 championship points. This best mark, however, was overshadowed by the performances delivered by Lewis Hamilton. The subsequent Formula 1 champion drove in a class of his own and, to date, has been holding the following records: the longest string of victories (5), the largest number of victories in one season (15), the largest number of best times in qualifying in one season (12), the largest number of fastest laps in one season (10) and the highest points score in one season (172). The female gender was represented in the Euro Series as well: Julia Kuhn was the first woman to race the series. Natacha Gachnang, Gina-Maria Adenauer (both in 2006) and Cyndie Allemann (in 2007) followed her example.

The series’ organisers responded to Lewis Hamilton’s superior season and introduced the reverse starting order in 2006. After this change, only one qualifying session was held, which determined the grid positions for the first race. The starting order for the second race was based on the results of the first race. The winner starts from position eight and the eighth-placed finisher from pole. The rule change bore fruit. Fans saw eleven different winners at the season’s 20 races. Even Peter Elkmann, competing with a weaker Opel engine, entered his name on the winners’ list. Paul di Resta scored the largest number of exploits and in the end lifted up the championship trophy. His performances were rewarded with a Mercedes-Benz cockpit in the DTM. The Scotsman finished 2010 as the DTM champion. In the coming season he is fulfilling his dream of securing a regular Formula 1 cockpit. The runner-up of the 2006 Euro Series, Sebastian Vettel, drove his career forwards too. He moved to Formula 1 as a test and spare driver for BMW-Sauber, and then switched to Toro Rosso and Red Bull to celebrate his first Grand Prix victories. In 2010 he became the youngest world champion in F1 history with Red Bull.

In terms of suspense 2007 was on a par with the previous season. The Swiss Romain Grosjean driving with a French licence fought for the championship with his compatriot Sébastien Buemi and Nico Hülkenberg. After some initial difficulties during the first half of the season the German became increasingly strong in the second half and won four races. Grosjean was successful six times and ultimately clinched the title. Whereas Grosjean and Buemi moved up to the GP2 Series, Hülkenberg ran another season in the Formula 3 Euro Series.

In 2007, Volkswagen entered the series as the – so far – sixth engine manufacturer. Maximilian Götz, Jonathan Summerton, Carlo van Dam and Marco Holzer took turns at the wheel of racing cars fitted with Volkswagen engines. The most recent chassis experiment was undertaken by the French manufacturer Mygale. Esteban Guerrieri and Michael Devaney did their laps at Magny-Cours as guest entrants – Guerrieri surprised with a fifth-place finish in the second race. After two runners-up (Adrian Sutil in 2005 and Sebastian Vettel in 2006) Nico Hülkenberg, in 2008, was the first champion from Germany to enter the annals of the series’ history. Hülkenberg was determined as the title winner as early as after the first race on the penultimate race weekend at Le Mans. At the end of the season his track record showed seven wins, six pole positions and seven fastest race laps. It was notable that Hülkenberg clinched all of his wins at the first races of a weekend.

In the following season “Hülki” tackled the next higher task in formula racing, the GP2 Series. And he was successful in this endeavour because he took the title in this series as well. His performances were rewarded with a regular cockpit in the Williams 2010 Formula 1 team. In their first full Euro Series season, in 2008, Volkswagen – with Franck Mailleux, Edoardo Mortara and Robert Wickens – scored three victories straight away. Despite a weak second half of the season, Mortara managed to finish as the runner-up. With six to eight Volkswagen-powered cars per event the German manufacturer has fully established itself in the junior series.

Hülkenberg and Mortara left to join the GP2 Series and the role of the favourite was practically handed to the third overall finisher of the year 2008, Jules Bianchi. With a Mercedes engine and ART Grand Prix as a successful team at his side, his prerequisites were perfect. And the Frenchman did not disappoint anyone either. After a fair to middling season opener at Hockenheim Bianchi really picked up momentum. On the following five race weekends he clinched victory in the first of two races and at Zandvoort he even celebrated a double victory. With further triumphs at Barcelona, Dijon-Prenois and at the Hockenheim finale Bianchi increased his track record to nine wins in the season. His points score left a clear mark as well: with 114 versus 75 points, his advantage over the overall runner-up, Christian Vietoris, was more than significant. For Bianchi, too, this title became the stepping stone into the GP2 series which he finished in third place overall last year.

In 2010 the Formula 3 Euro Series saw a major change in terms of sporting successes. Mercedes’ string of victories as an engine supplier and ART Grand Prix as the title winning team was broken. Thanks to Edoardo Mortara Volkswagen and the French Signature team managed to replace the winners. The Italian claimed victory in seven out of 18 races and triumphed with a large gap in front of his German team mate Marco Wittmann. Mortara made a giant leap to second place behind Lewis Hamilton in the honour roll of point scorers in the Formula 3 Euro Series.