2010 Formula 3 Euro Series Explained

The 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series season was the eighth championship year of the Formula 3 Euro Series. It began on 10 April at Circuit Paul Ricard and finished on 17 October at Hockenheim after eighteen races at nine meetings. Grids for the 2010 season were substantially down on the previous season; with a maximum of sixteen drivers taking part in any of the season's meetings, after teams Manor Motorsport, SG Formula, Carlin Motorsport, HBR Motorsport and Kolles & Heinz Union all pulled out to focus on other series.

On track, series veteran Edoardo Mortara returned to the formulae after a season competing for Arden International, and with seven victories – all coming in the Saturday, higher points-awarding races – during the season, Mortara took the championship at the wheel of his Signature-run Dallara-Volkswagen, giving Volkswagen their first Euro Series championship. Second place was not resolved until the final round, as Mortara's teammate Marco Wittmann and ART Grand Prix's Valtteri Bottas battled over the placing. Bottas had to win the final race to deny Wittmann of second place, but could only finish third and thus Wittmann completed the Signature 1–2, taking a single victory during the season at the first Hockenheim meeting. Bottas finished third for the second consecutive season, after his first two Euro Series wins – although he had previously won two successive Masters of Formula 3 events at Zandvoort, which is a non-championship race – at the Norisring and Oschersleben.

Bottas' teammate Alexander Sims also matched his final 2009 placing, taking fourth place with one victory once again, winning the opening sprint race of the season at Paul Ricard but took four further podium finishes to confirm fourth. Mücke Motorsport's Roberto Merhi completed the top five, taking his first Euro Series win in the first Hockenheim sprint race. Other sprint race victories included four for the Motopark Academy squad, including three successive for top rookie finisher – seventh in the championship – António Félix da Costa who won at the Nürburgring, Zandvoort and Brands Hatch having started each from the front row due to the series' reverse-grid system for the top eight finishers from the previous day's race. Kevin Magnussen, on a one-off outing from his usual commitments in the German Formula Three championship, also claimed a sprint race victory for Motopark at Valencia. Daniel Juncadella won the final race of the season at Hockenheim, while Jim Pla, ART's third driver, took the other victory at Oschersleben. Signature's 1–2 championship finish allowed the team to claim their respective championship, while the Nations Cup was won by Italy through Mortara.

Prize tests

The top drivers in the championship standings at the end of the year were rewarded with a wide range of prize tests in various other racing categories. The top three drivers – Mortara, Wittmann and Bottas – all received a Formula Renault 3.5 Series test.

As well as that, Mortara received a Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters test^[1] in the Audi A4, as he finished as top Volkswagen-engined driver as champion. Bottas, as top Mercedes-Benz driver received a test in the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.^[2]

Drivers and teams

2010 Entry List Team No Driver Rookie Chassis Engine Rounds ART Grand Prix 1 Valtteri Bottas^[3] F308/026 Mercedes All 2 Alexander Sims^[4] F308/048 All 11 Jim Pla^[5] F308/070 All 30 Esteban Gutiérrez^[6] F308/049 2 Mücke Motorsport 3 Roberto Merhi^[7] F308/050 Mercedes All 4 Carlos Muñoz^[8] F308/042 All Signature 5 Edoardo Mortara^[9] F309/023 Volkswagen^[10] All 6 Marco Wittmann F308/011 All 14 Laurens Vanthoor F308/033 All Prema Powerteam 7 Nicolas Marroc^[11] F308/047 Mercedes All 8 Daniel Juncadella^[12] F309/014 All Motopark Academy 9 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs^[13] F308/099 Volkswagen 1–2 10 Matias Laine F308/096 All 13 António Félix da Costa^[14] F308/098 All 15 Kevin Magnussen F308/099 3 16 Mika Mäki^[15] 5–7 17 Tobias Hegewald^[16] 8 18 Christopher Zanella 9 33 F308/092 5–7 31 Jimmy Eriksson F305/045 2 34 nowrap Renger van der Zande F308/092 8 nowrap China Sonangol-Motopark 32 Luís Sá Silva F305/004 Volkswagen 2 Jo Zeller Racing 38 Sandro Zeller F306/014 Mercedes 2, 9

Driver changes

Changed Teams

• Mika Mäki: Signature → Motopark Academy
• Roberto Merhi: Manor Motorsport → Mücke Motorsport
• Edoardo Mortara: Kolles & Heinz Union → Signature
• Alexander Sims: ASL Mücke Motorsport → ART Grand Prix
• Marco Wittmann: ASL Mücke Motorsport → Signature

Entering/Re-Entering Formula 3 Euro Series

• António Félix da Costa: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 & Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (Motopark Academy) → Motopark Academy
• Jimmy Eriksson: Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (Motopark Academy) → Motopark Academy
• Tobias Hegewald: GP3 Series (RSC Mücke Motorsport) → Motopark Academy
• Daniel Juncadella: Formula BMW Europe (EuroInternational) → Prema Powerteam
• Matias Laine: Formula Renault UK (CRS Racing) → Motopark Academy
• Kevin Magnussen: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 & Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (Motopark Academy) → Motopark Academy
• Nicolas Marroc: German Formula Three Championship (Racing Experience) → Prema Powerteam
• Carlos Muñoz: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 & Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup (Epsilon Euskadi) → Mücke Motorsport
• Jim Pla: Formula BMW Europe (DAMS) → ART Grand Prix
• Adrian Quaife-Hobbs: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 & Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (Motopark Academy) → Motopark Academy
• Luís Sá Silva: Asian Formula Renault Challenge (Asia Racing Team) → Motopark Academy
• Laurens Vanthoor: German Formula Three Championship (Van Amersfoort Racing) → Signature
• Sandro Zeller: Formula Lista Junior (Jo Zeller Racing) → Jo Zeller Racing

Leaving Formula 3 Euro Series

• Jules Bianchi: ART Grand Prix → GP2 Series (ART Grand Prix)
• Sam Bird: Mücke Motorsport → GP2 Series (ART Grand Prix)
• Mirko Bortolotti: Carlin Motorsport → GP3 Series (Addax Team)
• Andrea Caldarelli: SG Formula → Italian Formula Three Championship (Prema Powerteam)
• Johnny Cecotto Jr.: HBR Motorsport → GP2 Series (Trident Racing)
• Matteo Chinosi: Prema Powerteam → unknown
• Stefano Coletti: Prema Powerteam → Formula Renault 3.5 Series (Comtec Racing)
• Carlo van Dam: Kolles & Heinz Union & SG Formula → Le Mans Series (Atlas FX-Team Full Speed)
• Tom Dillmann: HBR Motorsport & Prema Powerteam → German Formula Three Championship (HS Technik)
• Pedro Enrique: Manor Motorsport → GP3 Series (ART Grand Prix)
• Victor García: Prema Powerteam → Formula Renault 3.5 Series (KMP Racing)
• Tiago Geronimi: Signature → unknown
• Brendon Hartley: Carlin Motorsport → Formula Renault 3.5 Series (Tech 1 Racing)
• Johan Jokinen: Kolles & Heinz Union → FIA Formula Two Championship
• Alexandre Marsoin: SG Formula → unknown
• Kevin Mirocha: HBR Motorsport → Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (SL Formula Racing)
• Nico Monien: Mücke Motorsport → German Formula Three Championship (URD Rennsport)
• Atte Mustonen: Motopark Academy → unknown
• César Ramos: Manor Motorsport → Italian Formula Three Championship (BVM – Target Racing)
• Jake Rosenzweig: Carlin Motorsport → Formula Renault 3.5 Series (Carlin)
• Tim Sandtler: Prema Powerteam → unknown
• Basil Shaaban: Prema Powerteam → unknown
• Adrien Tambay: ART Grand Prix → Auto GP (Charouz-Gravity Racing)
• Nick Tandy: Kolles & Heinz Union → Porsche Supercup (Konrad Motorsport)
• Jean-Karl Vernay: Signature → Firestone Indy Lights (Sam Schmidt Motorsports)
• Christian Vietoris: Mücke Motorsport → GP2 Series (Racing Engineering)
• Henkie Waldschmidt: SG Formula → unknown
• Robert Wickens: Kolles & Heinz Union → GP3 Series (Status Grand Prix)

Team changes

• Carlin Motorsport and Manor Motorsport left the series to participate in the new-for-2010 GP3 Series.^[3]
• SG Formula and Kolles & Heinz Union also left the series.^[17]
• Motopark Academy changed their engine supplier from Mercedes to Volkswagen.^[3]

Race calendar and results

• A nine-round calendar was announced on 18 December 2009.^[18] The calendar was reduced to eight rounds on 29 January 2010 after the Euro Series decided to skip the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters events at Lausitz and the second Hockenheim round.^[19] However, the series did add a season-closing round at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.^[19] This was later removed, in place of a round at Paul Ricard in support of the Le Mans Series, with the second Hockenheim round returning.^[20]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team
1	R1	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet	10 April	nowrap	Daniel Juncadella	Marco Wittmann	Edoardo Mortara	Signature
	R2		11 April		Daniel Juncadella	Alexander Sims	ART Grand Prix
2	R1	Hockenheimring (GP Circuit)	24 April	Marco Wittmann	Edoardo Mortara	Marco Wittmann	Signature
	R2		25 April		Valtteri Bottas	Roberto Merhi	Mücke Motorsport
3	R1	Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia	22 May	Edoardo Mortara	Daniel Juncadella	Edoardo Mortara	Signature
	R2		23 May		Kevin Magnussen	Kevin Magnussen	Motopark Academy
4	R1	Norisring, Nuremberg	3 July	Edoardo Mortara	Edoardo Mortara	Edoardo Mortara	Signature
	R2		4 July		Edoardo Mortara	Valtteri Bottas	ART Grand Prix
5	R1	Nürburgring	7 August	Edoardo Mortara	Edoardo Mortara	Edoardo Mortara	Signature
	R2		8 August		Daniel Juncadella	António Félix da Costa	Motopark Academy
6	R1	Circuit Park Zandvoort	21 August	Edoardo Mortara	Edoardo Mortara	Edoardo Mortara	Signature
	R2		22 August		Edoardo Mortara	António Félix da Costa	Motopark Academy
7	R1	Brands Hatch, Kent	4 September	Laurens Vanthoor	Marco Wittmann	Edoardo Mortara	Signature
	R2		5 September		nowrap	António Félix da Costa	nowrap	António Félix da Costa	Motopark Academy
8	R1	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben	18 September	Valtteri Bottas	Valtteri Bottas	Valtteri Bottas	ART Grand Prix
	R2	nowrap	19 September		Valtteri Bottas	Jim Pla	ART Grand Prix
9	R1	Hockenheimring (National Circuit)	16 October	Edoardo Mortara	Valtteri Bottas	Edoardo Mortara	Signature
	R2		17 October		Daniel Juncadella	Daniel Juncadella	Prema Powerteam

Standings

Drivers

• Points are awarded as follows:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	PP
Race 1	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1	1
Race 2	6	5	4	3	2	1	0	0

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%; text-align: center" Pos Driver LEC HOC VAL NOR NÜR ZAN BRH OSC HOC Pts 1 Edoardo Mortara 1 2 2 3 1 6 1 3 1 6 1 11 1 Ret 6 Ret 1 DSQ 101 2 Marco Wittmann 2 3 1 4 11 7 2 2 5 2 3 6 3 5 7 2 3 7 76 3 Valtteri Bottas 9 6 3 5 2 4 3 1 6 7 2 Ret 4 4 1 11† 2 3 74 4 Alexander Sims 3 1 Ret 8 3 5 4 4 4 3 4 5 5 8 2 8 4 5 63 5 Roberto Merhi 5 4 4 1 4 Ret 5 11 3 5 5 3 11 10 5 9 5 2 56 6 Laurens Vanthoor Ret 5 Ret Ret 5 3 9 5 2 11 7 2 2 7 13 4 6 DSQ 42 7 António Félix da Costa 8 8 7 9 6 Ret 7 Ret 7 1 8 1 8 1 3 Ret 9 4 40 8 Daniel Juncadella 4 7 8 2 9 9 10† 6 12 10 Ret 9 6 3 4 6 8 1 35 9 Carlos Muñoz Ret 12 14 Ret 10 Ret 6 9 14 9 6 4 7 2 8 10† 11 6 18 10 Jim Pla 7 11 13 6 DNS 8 Ret 8 8 4 10 13 13 12 9 1 12 11† 13 11 Nicolas Marroc 11 10 10 13† 8 2 11† 10 9 8 13 12 12 11 10 3 Ret 8 10 12 Kevin Magnussen 7 1 8 13 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 6 9 5 7 7 14 Matias Laine 10 13 9 10 Ret 10 8 7 11 Ret 12 10 10 6 11 Ret 10 9 3 15 Christopher Zanella 10 Ret 9 7 DNS DNS 7 Ret 2 16 Tobias Hegewald 12 7 1 17 Mika Mäki 13 Ret 11 8 9 9 0 Guest drivers ineligible for points Renger van der Zande 14 5 0 Esteban Gutiérrez 6 Ret 0 Sandro Zeller 15† 11 13 10 0 Jimmy Eriksson 11 Ret 0 Luís Sá Silva 12 12 0 Pos Driver LEC HOC VAL NOR NÜR ZAN BRH OSC HOC Pts

Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap – Rookie Cup

† — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Teams

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%; text-align: center" Pos Team LEC HOC VAL NOR NÜR ZAN BRH OSC HOC Pts 1 Signature 1 2 1 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 5 5 2 1 7 193 2 3 2 4 5 6 2 3 2 6 3 6 2 7 6 4 3 DSQ 2 ART Grand Prix 3 1 3 5 2 4 3 1 4 3 2 5 4 4 1 1 2 3 148 7 6 13 6 3 5 4 4 6 4 4 13 5 8 2 8 4 5 3 Mücke Motorsport 5 4 4 1 4 Ret 5 9 3 5 5 3 7 2 5 9 5 2 74 Ret 12 14 Ret 10 Ret 6 11 14 9 6 4 11 10 8 10 11 6 4 Motopark Academy 6 8 5 7 6 1 7 7 7 1 8 1 8 1 3 7 7 4 60 8 9 7 9 7 10 8 Ret 10 Ret 11 8 9 6 11 Ret 9 9 5 Prema Powerteam 4 7 8 2 8 2 10 6 9 8 13 9 6 3 4 3 8 1 44 11 10 10 13 9 9 11 10 12 10 Ret 12 12 11 10 6 Ret 8 Guest teams ineligible for points Jo Zeller Racing 15 11 13 10 0 Pos Team LEC HOC VAL NOR NÜR ZAN BRH OSC HOC Pts

Nations Cup

	Nation	Points
1		96
2		90
3		76
4		76
5		70
6		41
7		40
8		23
9		18
10		8
11		2
Guest nations
		0
		0
		0
		0

See also

• 2010 British Formula 3 season
• 2010 German Formula Three season
• 2010 GP3 Series season
• 2010 Masters of Formula 3

External links

• The official website of the Formula 3 Euro Series

Notes and References

1. News: I premi 2010: test DTM e World Series Renault. 5 January 2010. ItaliaRacing.net. it. Inpagina. 6 January 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100612060822/http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=25840&cat=7. 12 June 2010. dead.
2. News: Bottas absolviert Test für Mercedes. 23 February 2011. Fabian. Schneider. Motorsport Magazin. de. Adrivo Sportpresse GmbH. 30 March 2011.
3. News: Carlin e Manor via dal campionato . Costa . Massimo . 13 November 2009 . ItaliaRacing.net . Inpagina . it . 13 November 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100612062457/http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=25534&cat=7 . 12 June 2010.
4. Freeman. Glenn. 10 December 2009. Pit & Paddock: Sims targets glory with ART. Autosport. 198. 11. 22.
5. Freeman. Glenn. 26 November 2009. Pit & Paddock: Euro Series beckons for Pla. Autosport. 198. 9. 23.
6. News: A Hockenheim ci sono 17 iscritti . 20 April 2010 . ItaliaRacing.net . Inpagina . it . 20 April 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100612063900/http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=27061&cat=7 . 12 June 2010.
7. News: Merhi switches to Mucke for 2010 . 9 December 2009 . autosport.com . . Beer . Matt . 9 December 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100105171020/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80507 . 5 January 2010 . live.
8. News: Munoz to race Euro for Mucke . 22 December 2009 . autosport.com . . Mejia . Diego . 22 December 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091225122844/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80641 . 25 December 2009 . live.
9. News: Mortara returns to F3 with VW. 11 February 2010. autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Anderson. Ben. 11 February 2010.
10. News: Wittmann e Vanthoor con Signature . 24 November 2009 . ItaliaRacing.net . Inpagina . it . 24 November 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141213020621/http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=25628&cat=7 . 13 December 2014 .
11. News: Prema signs Marroc for Euro Series. 8 February 2010. autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Pablo. Elizalde. 8 February 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100211084008/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81339. 11 February 2010 . live.
12. News: Juncadella joins Prema for Euro F3. 8 February 2010. autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Pablo. Elizalde. 8 February 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100211214233/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81331. 11 February 2010 . live.
13. News: Motopark signs Quaife-Hobbs, Laine . 9 December 2009 . autosport.com . . Beer, Matt . Mills, Peter . 9 December 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091213035333/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80499 . 13 December 2009 . live.
14. News: Ocean Racing Technology signs agreement with Antonio Felix da Costa. Ocean Racing Technology. oceanracingtech.com. 11 December 2009. 11 December 2009.
15. News: Mäki and Zanella to return with Motopark Academy. gpupdate.net. GPUpdate. 22 July 2010. 30 January 2011.
16. News: First match point for Edoardo Mortara . . ITR e.V. . 16 September 2010 . 16 September 2010 . And the Portuguese da Costa will contest the home event of his squad with two new team-mates: the 21-year-old German Tobias Hegewald will make his Formula 3 Euro Series debut for the Oschersleben based team and Renger van der Zande is going to make his comeback, at the wheel of a Motopark Academy racer. . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120306025903/http://www.f3euroseries.com/news_newsausgabe.php?id=2975 . 6 March 2012 .
17. News: SG Formula e Kolles&Heinz non sono tra gli iscritti 2010. 16 December 2009. ItaliaRacing.net. it. 16 December 2009. Inpagina. https://web.archive.org/web/20100612064127/http://www.italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=25756&cat=7. 12 June 2010. dead.
18. Web site: 2010 International Series: Formula 3 Euro Series. fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 18 December 2009. 19 December 2009.
19. News: Euro Series to race at Magny-Cours. Steven. English. autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 29 January 2010. 29 January 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100201233007/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81123. 1 February 2010 . live.
20. News: Euroseries calendar confirmed. crash.net. Crash Media Group. 19 February 2010. 20 February 2010. 25 September 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120925235232/http://www.crash.net/f3/news/157002/1/euroseries_calendar_confirmed.html. dead.