2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship explained

The 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship is a multi-event motor racing championship for third-tier single-seat open wheel formula racing cars that is held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in two-litre Formula Three racing cars which conform to the technical regulations, or formula, for the championship. It was the sixth edition of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

The season saw the début of the Dallara F317 chassis package. Although it is only an aero-upgraded F312 chassis, the F317 was built as a replacement for the aging F312 chassis package which débuted in the first season of the championship back in 2012.

Prema Powerteam successfully defended the teams' championship for the fifth time in row. While the drivers' and rookies' title was secured with two races to spare by Carlin's driver Lando Norris. He became the first non-Prema driver to win the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.^[1] Joel Eriksson on his second year with Motopark improved his performance to the runner-up place in the standings. While Prema's Maximilian Günther was not able to get better in the championship, but remained in the top-three at the end of the season. His teammate Callum Ilott was the last driver who was a championship contender and won on the different types of circuits. Jake Hughes, Jehan Daruvala and Ferdinand Habsburg took their wins at Nürburgring, Norisring and Spa respectively.^{[2] [3] [4]} Guanyu Zhou, Ralf Aron and Nikita Mazepin completed the top-ten in the standings and all of them had more than one podium.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed during the 2017 season:^[5]

Team Chassis Engine Driver Status Rounds Motopark F315/007 Volkswagen 1 Joel Eriksson^[6] All F315/003 10 Petru Florescu^[7] 8–9 4 Jüri Vips^[8] 10 F314/016 33 Marino Sato^[9] All 47 Keyvan Andres Soori^[10] All F316/020 55 David Beckmann^[11] 4–10 Prema Powerteam^[12] F316/016 Mercedes 3 Maximilian Günther^[13] All F315/004 8 Guanyu Zhou^[14] All F317/003 25 Mick Schumacher^[15] All 53 Callum Ilott^[16] All Van Amersfoort Racing Mercedes 5 Pedro Piquet^[17] All 17 Harrison Newey^[18] All F317/005 55 David Beckmann^[19] 1–3 15 Max Defourny^[20] 8 16 Felipe Drugovich^[21] 10 F316/010 96 Joey Mawson^[22] All Hitech Grand Prix F316/019 Mercedes 7 Ralf Aron^[23] All F317/011 11 Tadasuke Makino^[24] 1–5, 7–10 34 Jake Hughes^[25] All F316/018 99 Nikita Mazepin^[26] All Carlin F316/014 Volkswagen 21 Jake Dennis^[27] 1–3 Ameya Vaidyanathan^[28] 6–8 F312/010 Devlin DeFrancesco^[29] 9–10 F315/001 27 Jehan Daruvala^[30] All F317/001 31 Lando Norris^[31] All F312/004 37 Sacha Fenestraz^[32] 8 62 Ferdinand Habsburg^[33] All

Driver changes

• Force India junior and 2016 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 driver Jehan Daruvala and 2016 Euroformula Open runner-up Ferdinand Habsburg joined the series with Carlin.^[30] 2016 Formula Renault 2.0 champion Lando Norris, who competed in the last round of the 2016 season with Carlin, raced full-time with the team.^[31] 2016 GP3 Series driver Jake Dennis returned to Carlin, with which he previously raced in the championship in 2014.^[27] entered the series with Carlin.^[33]
• Ralf Aron switched from Prema Powerteam to HitechGP.^[23] Jake Hughes, who competed in the final round of the 2016 season with Carlin, will race full-time with Hitech GP. They were joined by 2015 F4 Japanese runner-up Tadasuke Makino.^[24]
• Italian F4 driver Marino Sato and Euroformula Open driver Keyvan Andres Soori joined the series with Motopark.^[9] Motopark driver Sérgio Sette Câmara stepped up to 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship with MP Motorsport.^[34] Red Bull Junior driver Niko Kari, who finished tenth in the 2016 European Formula 3, competed in the GP3 Series with Arden International.^{[35] [36]}
• Callum Ilott and Guanyu Zhou, who raced for Van Amersfoort Racing and Motopark in 2016 respectively, switched to Prema Powerteam.^{[16] [14]} Mick Schumacher, runner-up in the 2016 ADAC F4 and Italian F4 championships, and son of seven time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, joined the series with Prema Powerteam. 2016 champion Lance Stroll graduated to Formula One with Williams F1, leaving his Prema's seat vacant.^[37]
• David Beckmann, who competed for Mücke Motorsport in 2016 from round 3 onwards, joined Van Amersfoort Racing.^[19] ADAC F4 champion Joey Mawson continued his collaboration with Van Amersfoort Racing.^[22] Anthoine Hubert and Mercedes F1 junior driver George Russell, who finished eighth and third in the 2016 European Formula 3 season respectively, joined the GP3 Series with ART Grand Prix.^[38]

Calendar

A provisional ten-round calendar was announced on 30 November 2016.^[39] The finalised calendar was announced on 16 December 2016.^[40]

		Circuit	Date	Supporting
1	1	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	14 April	6 Hours of Silverstone
	2		15 April
	3		16 April
2	4	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza	29 April	WTCC Race of Italy
	5		30 April
	6
3	7	Circuit de Pau-Ville, Pau	20 May	Pau Grand Prix
	8		21 May
	9
4	10	Hungaroring, Mogyoród	17 June	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
	11		18 June
	12
5	13	Norisring, Nuremberg	1 July
	14		2 July
	15
6	16	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps	28 July	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup
	17
	18		29 July
7	19	Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort	19 August	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
	20		20 August
	21
8	22	Nürburgring, Rhineland-Palatinate	9 September
	23		10 September
	24
9	25	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	23 September
	26		24 September
	27
10	28	Hockenheimring, Baden-Württemberg	14 October
	29
	30		15 October

Results

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	R1	Silverstone Circuit	Lando Norris	Lando Norris	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
	R2		Callum Ilott	Joel Eriksson	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	nowrap	Mick Schumacher
	R3		Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	nowrap	Prema Powerteam	Lando Norris
2	R1	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	Jehan Daruvala	Lando Norris	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
	R2	Joel Eriksson	Callum Ilott	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	Lando Norris
	R3	Joel Eriksson	Joel Eriksson	Callum Ilott	Prema Powerteam	Lando Norris
3	R1	Circuit de Pau-Ville	Callum Ilott	Lando Norris	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	Lando Norris
	R2		Lando Norris	Maximilian Günther	Maximilian Günther	Prema Powerteam	Lando Norris
	R3		Lando Norris	Lando Norris	Maximilian Günther	Prema Powerteam	Jehan Daruvala
4	R1	Hungaroring	Maximilian Günther	Ferdinand Habsburg	Maximilian Günther	Prema Powerteam	Jehan Daruvala
	R2		Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Prema Powerteam	Joey Mawson
	R3		Joel Eriksson	Joel Eriksson	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	Lando Norris
5	R1	Norisring	Jake Hughes	Ralf Aron	Maximilian Günther	Prema Powerteam	Jehan Daruvala
	R2		Ralf Aron	Callum Ilott	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
	R3		Maximilian Günther	Callum Ilott	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	Jehan Daruvala
6	R1	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Lando Norris	Nikita Mazepin	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
	R2	Lando Norris	nowrap	Ferdinand Habsburg	nowrap	Ferdinand Habsburg	Carlin	Jehan Daruvala
	R3	Callum Ilott	Joel Eriksson	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
7	R1	Circuit Park Zandvoort	Lando Norris	Lando Norris	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
	R2		Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Prema Powerteam	Lando Norris
	R3		Lando Norris	Callum Ilott	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
8	R1	Nürburgring	Lando Norris	Max Defourny	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
	R2		Jake Hughes	Jake Hughes	Jake Hughes	Hitech GP	Lando Norris
	R3		Callum Ilott	Lando Norris	Lando Norris	Carlin	Lando Norris
9	R1	Red Bull Ring	Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Prema Powerteam	Lando Norris
	R2		Joel Eriksson	Lando Norris	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	Lando Norris
	R3		Joel Eriksson	Jake Hughes	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	Jehan Daruvala
10	R1	Hockenheimring	Callum Ilott	Lando Norris	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	Lando Norris
	R2		Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Prema Powerteam	Jehan Daruvala
	R3		nowrap	Maximilian Günther	nowrap	Maximilian Günther	nowrap	Maximilian Günther	nowrap	Prema Powerteam	Lando Norris

Championship standings

Scoring system

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Drivers' championship

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%; text-align: center"
	Driver	SIL			MNZ			PAU			HUN			NOR			SPA			ZAN			NÜR			RBR			HOC			Points
		R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3
1	Lando Norris	1	9	3	1	2	2	2	2	Ret	8	14	3	11	1	3	1	Ret	1	1	3	1	1	2	1	4	2	17	2	11	4	441
2	Joel Eriksson	4	1	2	4	1	4	1	Ret	5	10	2	1	4	10	7	9	2	2	2	12	12	10	9	8	2	1	1	1	4	2	388
3	Maximilian Günther	3	4	4	7	4	3	3	1	1	1	6	6	1	3	2	3	3	Ret	3	7	3	13	12	7	3	7	5	10	2	1	383
4	Callum Ilott	Ret	2	1	9	7	1	Ret	3	2	5	1	2	Ret	9	9	14	6	4	5	1	19	4	3	4	1	4	Ret	4	1	5	344
5	Jake Hughes	13	3	13	10	13	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	2	4	7	Ret	2	5	Ret	4	Ret	8	2	5	2	1	2	11	13	16	12	5	8	207
6	Jehan Daruvala	10	8	6	2	8	9	10	9	11	3	8	9	6	4	1	4	5	5	9	16	14	6	10	5	13	5	6	5	8	20	191
7	Ferdinand Habsburg	12	13	12	3	5	5	8	8	6	15	10	12	Ret	15	8	8	1	6	4	6	2	5	6	Ret	6	9	4	3	20	Ret	187
8	Guanyu Zhou	7	7	Ret	5	6	10	Ret	Ret	10	7	3	4	3	8	12	12	17	3	16	8	4	9	14	Ret	9	19	14	13	3	3	149
9	Ralf Aron	Ret	16	10	8	9	8	5	5	3	Ret	12	13	9	5	4	11	8	7	Ret	10	8	14	5	3	12	6	18	8	10	19	123
10	Nikita Mazepin	Ret	15	7	11	10	11	4	7	Ret	12	11	10	10	18	10	2	7	11	11	11	10	Ret	11	16	Ret	3	2	6	6	7	108
11	Harrison Newey	6	10	9	17	Ret	15	6	4	4	6	15	18	5	7	15	7	13	9	10	4	7	12	8	6	19	12	11	14	14	17	106
12	Mick Schumacher	8	6	18	6	3	6	9	11	12	9	9	11	7	12	Ret	6	9	8	6	9	11	8	15	11	7	10	8	11	18	18	94
13	Joey Mawson	5	11	8	14	16	Ret	Ret	16	Ret	4	7	8	Ret	13	11	5	10	10	14	14	9	3	7	20	18	8	7	15	15	9	83
14	Pedro Piquet	9	18	11	16	Ret	7	7	13	8	17	13	14	2	6	Ret	10	16	12	7	Ret	6	Ret	17	13	10	15	15	7	7	6	80
15	Tadasuke Makino	11	19	15	12	14	13	13	12	7	13	17	17	8	14	Ret				Ret	15	16	7	4	19	5	17	3	9	9	11	57
16	David Beckmann	14	17	14	Ret	15	14	11	14	Ret	11	5	5	12	11	6	Ret	15	16	Ret	5	13	Ret	16	15	8	11	9	17	13	10	45
17	Jake Dennis	2	5	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	9																						41
18	Max Defourny																						11	18	9							2
19	Marino Sato	16	12	17	13	11	12	14	Ret	13	16	16	15	13	16	13	15	11	14	15	18	17	16	Ret	12	14	16	10	18	19	16	1
20	Sacha Fenestraz																						15	13	10							1
21		15	14	16	15	12	Ret	12	15	Ret	14	18	16	14	17	14	13	12	13	12	13	15	17	19	14	15	14	Ret	20	Ret	14	0
22																	16	14	15	13	17	18	19	21	18							0
23	Petru Florescu																						18	20	17	17	18	13				0
Guest drivers ineligible to score points
	Jüri Vips																												21	12	12	0
	Devlin DeFrancesco																									16	20	12	19	17	14	0
	Felipe Drugovich																												16	16	15	0
	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	Points
		SIL			MNZ			PAU			HUN			NOR			SPA			ZAN			NÜR			RBR			HOC

Rookies' Championship

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%; text-align: center"
valign=middle		valign=middle	Driver	SIL			MNZ			PAU			HUN			NOR			SPA			ZAN			NÜR			RBR			HOC			valign=middle	Points
1	Lando Norris	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	Ret	3	4	1	3	1	2	1	Ret	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	5	1	2	1	628
2	Jehan Daruvala	4	2	2	2	3	3	3	2	1	1	2	3	1	2	1	2	1	2	3	4	4	3	3	2	3	2	1	2	1	5	539
3	align=left nowrap	Mick Schumacher	3	1	4	3	2	2	2	3	2	4	3	4	2	3	Ret	4	2	3	2	2	3	4	5	5	2	4	3	3	4	4	436
4	Joey Mawson	2	4	3	5	5	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	2	1	2	Ret	4	3	3	3	4	4	3	2	2	2	7	5	3	2	4	3	2	392
5	Marino Sato	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	Ret	3	5	5	5	4	5	4	5	4	5	5	5	5	7	Ret	6	4	5	4	5	5	3	304
6	Max Defourny																						5	6	3							33
7	Sacha Fenestraz																						6	4	4							32

Teams' championship

Prior to each round of the championship, two drivers from each team – if applicable – were nominated to score teams' championship points.

Pos	Team	Points
1	Prema Powerteam	829
2	Carlin	702
3	Motopark	614
4	Hitech GP	463
5	nowrap	Van Amersfoort Racing	357

Notes and References

1. News: Allen. Peter. Norris secures European F3 title with second to Eriksson at Hockenheim. 15 October 2017. formulascout.com. 14 October 2017.
2. News: Woolard. Craig. Hughes resists late Norris charge to take maiden F3 win. 15 October 2017. formulascout.com. 10 September 2017.
3. News: Waring. Bethonie. Daruvala beats Gunther at the Norisring for first F3 win. 15 October 2017. formulascout.com. 2 July 2017.
4. News: Allen. Peter. Habsburg gets first Euro F3 win from eighth, Eriksson charges to second. 15 October 2017. formulascout.com. 28 July 2017.
5. Web site: FIA Formula 3 European Championship announces entry list for coming season. 20 March 2017. 20 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170329054238/http://www.fiaf3europe.com/2017/03/20/fia-formula-3-european-championship-announces-entry-list-coming-season/. 29 March 2017. dead.
6. Web site: Joel Eriksson stays with Team Motopark for 2017. 18 January 2017. 20 January 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170201234426/http://motopark.com/en/newsreader/joel-eriksson-stays-with-team-motopark-for-2017.html. 1 February 2017. dead. dmy-all.
7. News: Florescu teams up with Motopark for rest of F3 season. Gruz. David. Motorsport.com. 5 September 2017. 5 September 2017.
8. News: Simmons. Marcus. German F4 champion Vips makes F3 debut. 11 October 2017. Motorsport.com. 11 October 2017. 6 March 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180306110515/https://www.motorsport.com/eurof3/news/german-f4-champion-vips-makes-f3-debut-964239/. dead.
9. News: MARINO SATO TO COMPETE IN FIA FORMULA 3 WITH TEAM MOTOPARK. 14 February 2017. European Formula 3 Championship. 14 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171101111426/http://www.fiaf3europe.com/2017/02/14/marino-sato-compete-fia-formula-3-team-motopark/. 1 November 2017. dead.
10. Web site: New Signing for the FIA Formula 3 European Championship: Keyvan Andres Soori. 9 February 2017. 10 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170211075333/http://motopark.com/en/newsreader/new-signing-for-the-fia-formula-3-european-championship-keyvan-andres-soori.html. 11 February 2017. dead. dmy-all.
11. News: David Beckmann makes mid-season switch to join Motopark. Simmons. Marcus. Autosport. 9 June 2017. 14 June 2017.
12. Web site: Honda junior Tadasuke Makino testing with Prema Powerteam. Simmons. Marcus. Autosport. 8 November 2016. 8 November 2016.
13. News: Prema retains Mercedes DTM reserve Gunther for 2017 F3 season. Khorounzhiy. Valentin. 28 February 2017. Motorsport.com. 28 February 2017.
14. Web site: Guan Yu Zhou to race with Prema in the 2017 FIA F3 Championship. 12 December 2016. 12 December 2016.
15. Web site: PaddockScout Top 50 2016: 30–21. 21 December 2016. 21 December 2016. "Now he moves on to F3 with Prema, where he should just develop even more.".
16. News: Callum Ilott joins Prema for 2017 European F3 season. Allen. Peter. 22 November 2016. Paddock Scout. 22 November 2016.
17. News: Piquet sticks with Van Amersfoort for second European F3 season. Khorounzhiy. Valentin. 14 February 2017. Motorsport.com. 14 February 2017.
18. News: Newey back with Van Amersfoort for second F3 campaign. Simmons. Marcus. 28 February 2017. Motorsport.com. 28 February 2017.
19. News: Beckmann moves to Van Amersfoort Racing for second F3 campaign. Gruz. David. 12 December 2016. Motorsport.com. 12 December 2016. 19 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170919005531/https://www.motorsport.com/eurof3/news/beckmann-moves-to-van-amersfoort-racing-for-second-f3-campaign-858915/. dead.
20. News: Defourny joins VAR for Nurburgring F3 round. Gruz. David. 6 September 2017. Motorsport.com. 6 September 2017.
21. News: Allen. Peter. Felipe Drugovich gets F3 debut with Van Amersfoort at Hockenheim. 10 October 2017. formulascout.com. 10 October 2017.
22. News: F4 champion Mawson graduates to European F3. Gruz. David. 21 February 2017. Motorsport.com. 21 February 2017.
23. News: Ralf Aron makes Hitech switch for 2017 F3 campaign. Allen. Peter. 10 December 2016. Paddock Scout. 11 December 2016.
24. Web site: Honda junior Makino moves to European F3 with Hitech Grand Prix. Autosport. 23 January 2017. 23 January 2017.
25. Web site: Hughes makes full-time switch to F3 with Hitech. 19 December 2016. 19 December 2016.
26. News: Mazepin to stay with Hitech for second F3 season. Khorounzhiy. Valentin. 13 December 2016. Motorsport.com. 13 December 2016. 14 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161214103027/http://www.motorsport.com/eurof3/news/mazepin-to-stay-with-hitech-for-second-f3-season-858987/. dead.
27. News: Provisional Entry List. 11 April 2017. silverstone.co.uk. FIA. 7 April 2017. 11 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170411144412/http://www.silverstone.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-FIA-F3-Provisional-Entry-List.pdf. dead.
28. News: Vaidyanathan joins Carlin's FIA Formula Three European squad. Carlin. 20 July 2017. 20 July 2017. 5 August 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170805223402/http://www.carlin.co.uk/news/fia-european/vaidyanathan-joins-carlins-fia-formula-three-european-squad/. dead.
29. Web site: DeFrancesco to make European F3 debut with Carlin. Simmons. Marcus. Motorsport.com. 20 September 2017. 20 September 2017.
30. News: Daruvala makes European F3 move with Carlin for 2017. Allen. Peter. 8 December 2016. Paddock Scout. 8 December 2016.
31. Web site: McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Lando Norris to European F3. Simmons. Marcus. Autosport. 8 December 2016. 8 December 2016.
32. Web site: Formula Renault leader Fenestraz to make F3 debut. 4 September 2017. 4 September 2017.
33. Web site: Habsburg joins Carlin for 2017 European F3 campaign. Motorsport.com. 7 December 2016. 7 December 2016.
34. Web site: Sergio Sette Camara secures MP Motorsport seat for 2017 GP2 season. Simmons. Marcus. Autosport. 27 November 2016. 27 November 2016.
35. Web site: Red Bull Juniors confirmed. 18 January 2017. 18 January 2017.
36. Web site: Onko tässä Suomen seuraava F1-kuljettaja?. Is this the next Finnish F1 driver?. 26 November 2016. 26 November 2016. fi.
37. Web site: Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas confirmed as 2017 Williams drivers. 4 November 2016. 8 November 2016.
38. News: Gruz. David. GP3 preview: Can anyone break up an all-ART title fight?. 20 May 2017. Motorsport.com. 11 May 2017.
39. News: Monza returns on 2017 European F3 calendar. Klein. Jamie. 30 November 2016. motorsport.com. 1 December 2016.
40. Web site: 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship calendar finalised — FIA-F3. 2016-12-16. FIA Formula 3 European Championship. 2016-12-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220155904/http://www.fiaf3europe.com/2016/12/16/2017-fia-formula-3-european-championship-calendar-finalised/. 20 December 2016. dead.