2010 British Formula 3 International Series

The 2010 British Formula 3 International Series was the 60th British Formula 3 International Series season. It began on 3 April at Oulton Park and finished on 26 September at Brands Hatch after 30 races at ten meetings, held in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Belgium.

For the third season in succession, a Red Bull Junior Team-supported Carlin Motorsport driver won the championship title. Following on from the successes of Jaime Alguersuari in 2008 and Daniel Ricciardo in 2009, Frenchman Jean-Éric Vergne won the title with two meetings to spare after taking twelve victories in the first 24 races. Vergne eventually finished with thirteen victories and 29 points-scoring finishes – his only failure was a mistake in the wet, final race at Brands Hatch when he slid off the road – as he finished 99 points clear of his team-mate James Calado. Both drivers received a Formula Renault 3.5 Series test for their performances.[1] Calado's five wins helped him to fend off Fortec Motorsport's Oliver Webb, a three-time winner, in the battle for second place in the standings.

Webb's early season form of seven top-two placings in the first nine races had given him the championship lead over Vergne and a 48-point advantage over Calado, but the Carlin driver overhauled his rival following an unbroken of points finishes to the end of the season, while Webb suffered four races where he did not score any points, to end up 43 points behind at season's end. A late season surge by a third Carlin driver, Adriano Buzaid put him within reach of Webb's third place at the final round, but Webb eventually held on by twelve points. Buzaid had taken seven successive podiums, including his only two victories of the season coming at Silverstone and Snetterton. Three other race-winners battled for fifth place in the championship, with Felipe Nasr overhauling both Gabriel Dias and Rupert Svendsen-Cook at the final race of the season. The only other drivers to win a race were reigning National Class champion Daniel McKenzie, who took two wins to an eventual tenth place championship finish, and Alexander Sims, who won at Silverstone while competing in one of two guest appearances with his Formula 3 Euro Series team ART Grand Prix.

The National Class for older-specification machinery was an in-house battle between two T-Sport drivers as Menasheh Idafar and James Cole were the only drivers to compete in all of the meetings; only four drivers competed in the class at all in 2010, with Luiz Razia – who competed at the May Silverstone meeting, to learn the circuit ahead of the GP2 Series meeting later in the season – and Juan Carlos Sistos – who contested the August Silverstone and Snetterton meetings – the only others to compete alongside the T-Sport pair. Idafar eventually won the National Class title by 17 points, taking 17 wins to Cole's twelve, including an overall third-place finish at the final race at Brands Hatch. Sistos took the other victory, finishing ahead of Cole and Idafar on his début in the championship.

Drivers and teams

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Team Chassis Engine No Driver Rounds
Championship Class
  Carlin Dallara F308 Volkswagen 1   Adriano Buzaid All
2   James Calado All
21   Rupert Svendsen-Cook All
22   Jazeman Jaafar All
31   Jean-Éric Vergne All
32   Lucas Foresti All
  Hitech Racing Dallara F310 Volkswagen 3   William Buller All
4   Gabriel Dias All
  Fortec Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 5   Daniel McKenzie All
6   Oliver Webb All
9   Max Snegirev All
  T-Sport Dallara F310 Volkswagen 7   Alex Brundle All
  Räikkönen Robertson Racing Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 8   Daisuke Nakajima All
26   Carlos Huertas All
27   Felipe Nasr All
  Litespeed F3 Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 14   Jay Bridger All
  Sino Vision Racing Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 17   Kevin Chen 2
  Wayne Boyd 4
18   Adderly Fong All
  CF Racing with Manor Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 25   Hywel Lloyd All
28   Rio Haryanto 2–3
  Yann Cunha 8
National Class
  T-Sport Dallara F307 Mugen-Honda[2] 43   Menasheh Idafar All
44   James Cole All
  Motul Team West-Tec Dallara F307 Mugen-Honda 46   Luiz Razia 2
  Juan Carlos Sistos 8–9
Invitation Entries
  Mücke Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 71   Carlos Muñoz 6, 8
  Hitech Racing Dallara F309 Volkswagen 77   Pietro Fantin 5, 8, 10
  ART Grand Prix Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 90   Esteban Gutiérrez 2
  Nathanaël Berthon 6
91   Alexander Sims 2, 6
92   Jim Pla 2, 6
  Prema Powerteam Dallara F309 Mercedes HWA 93   Daniel Juncadella 6
94   Nicolas Marroc 6

Calendar

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The calendar was announced on 7 January 2010.[3] It consisted of ten rounds, with three races at each round.[3] A race weekend consisted of a half-hour first race, a 20-minute "half points" sprint featuring a "semi-reverse" grid, and finally a 40-minute feature race designed to place the emphasis on driver stamina, racecraft and mechanical reliability.[4] From Rockingham onwards, pit stops were implemented during the 20-minute race, in which drivers had to pit inside a 15-minute pit stop window.[5][6]

Round Circuit Date Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning Driver Winning Team National Class Winner Supporting
1 R1   Oulton Park 3 April   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar British GT
R2 5 April   Jean-Éric Vergne   Rupert Svendsen-Cook   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar
R3   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   James Cole
2 R4   Silverstone (Arena) 1 May   James Calado   James Calado   James Calado   Carlin   James Cole FIA GT1 World Championship
R5 2 May   Adriano Buzaid1   Alexander Sims   ART Grand Prix   Menasheh Idafar
R6   James Calado   Oliver Webb   James Calado   Carlin   James Cole
3 R7   Magny-Cours 22 May   Jean-Éric Vergne   Oliver Webb   Oliver Webb   Fortec Motorsport   Menasheh Idafar Superleague Formula
R8 23 May   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   James Cole
R9   Jean-Éric Vergne   Oliver Webb   Oliver Webb   Fortec Motorsport   James Cole
4 R10   Hockenheim 29 May   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   James Cole ADAC GT Masters
R11 30 May   Gabriel Dias   Gabriel Dias   Hitech Racing   James Cole
R12   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar
5 R13   Rockingham 17 July   Oliver Webb   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar British GT
R14 18 July   Daniel McKenzie   Daniel McKenzie   Fortec Motorsport   Menasheh Idafar
R15   Oliver Webb   Felipe Nasr   Felipe Nasr   Räikkönen Robertson Racing   James Cole
6 R16   Spa-Francorchamps 30 July   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar FIA GT1 World Championship
24 Hours of Spa
R17   Felipe Nasr   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar
R18 31 July   Oliver Webb   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   James Cole
7 R19   Thruxton 7 August   Jean-Éric Vergne   James Calado   James Calado   Carlin   James Cole British Truck Grand Prix
R20 8 August   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   James Cole
R21   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar
8 R22   Silverstone (Bridge) 14 August   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   James Calado   Carlin   Juan Carlos Sistos British GT
R23 15 August   Carlos Huertas   Adriano Buzaid   Carlin   James Cole
R24   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar
9 R25   Snetterton 29 August   Adriano Buzaid   William Buller   Jean-Éric Vergne   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar British GT
R26 30 August   James Calado   Gabriel Dias   Hitech Racing   Menasheh Idafar
R27   Adriano Buzaid   Adriano Buzaid   Adriano Buzaid   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar
10 R28   Brands Hatch 25 September   Oliver Webb   Oliver Webb   Oliver Webb   Fortec Motorsport   Menasheh Idafar British GT
R29 26 September   Felipe Nasr   Daniel McKenzie   Fortec Motorsport   Menasheh Idafar
R30   Daniel McKenzie   James Calado   James Calado   Carlin   Menasheh Idafar
  • 1 Fastest lap recorded by Alexander Sims, but he was ineligible to score the fastest lap point.

Standings

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With an extra round at each meeting, the championship's point system was altered slightly for the 2010 season. The first and third races offered points using the system that had been used in 2009 (20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1), with an extra point for the fastest lap. The second race again saw the top ten being awarded points, but the points system rewarded less points; using the points scale 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, with two points for fastest lap.[4]

Pos Driver OUL
 
SIL
 
MAG
 
HOC
 
ROC
 
SPA
 
THR
 
SIL
 
SNE
 
BRH
 
Pts
Championship Class
1   Jean-Éric Vergne 1 5 1 4 5 6 4 1 2 1 5 1 1 9 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 3 1 1 8 2 8 4 Ret 392
2   James Calado Ret 11 6 1 9 1 6 DNS 4 4 6 6 4 6 3 2 4 2 1 2 3 1 5 4 8 7 3 2 5 1 293
3   Oliver Webb 2 8 2 2 22 2 1 2 1 8 2 11 3 8 6 4 5 23 5 3 2 9 7 3 4 15 Ret 1 7 10 250
4   Adriano Buzaid 3 4 5 9 6 5 8 11 11 5 3 4 9 3 4 5 Ret 9 4 6 4 4 1 2 2 2 1 3 3 9 238
5   Felipe Nasr Ret 14 Ret DNS 10 3 Ret 6 7 Ret 13 Ret 7 15 1 7 2 5 7 Ret 6 5 4 12 3 5 5 10 9 7 136
6   Gabriel Dias 7 Ret 4 8 2 8 2 17 3 7 1 5 6 4 Ret Ret 11 4 11 9 Ret 11 14 7 6 1 8 NC 14 Ret 135
7   Rupert Svendsen-Cook 5 1 3 10 Ret 11 18 10 6 12 9 8 11 13 Ret 3 7 7 3 4 5 6 6 6 Ret 14 10 4 6 Ret 131
8   William Buller 10 9 11 12 21 10 3 3 13 10 7 2 5 5 5 Ret 15 15 9 Ret 12 Ret 13 9 7 3 9 6 17 2 111
9   Daniel McKenzie 9 7 10 15 13 15 13 8 5 3 11 16 8 1 12 6 3 10 8 5 9 8 10 10 9 6 12 7 1 6 109
10   Carlos Huertas 4 3 12 5 8 Ret 5 DNS 16 11 10 14 2 7 Ret Ret Ret 22 10 8 13 7 2 17 11 19 7 5 2 8 104
11   Daisuke Nakajima 6 2 7 3 3 21 9 4 Ret 16 Ret 7 10 2 Ret 20 9 Ret Ret Ret 14 10 19 11 5 4 4 9 8 Ret 97
12   Jazeman Jaafar 8 6 13 7 7 7 7 DSQ 10 2 8 3 Ret 11 14 15 Ret 8 13 7 Ret 12 8 13 10 9 6 16 12 11 85
13   Lucas Foresti 17 15 15 14 14 12 Ret 7 9 13 12 9 12 10 11 8 Ret Ret 6 17 7 3 12 5 14 12 13 15 13 Ret 45
14   Jay Bridger 18 12 8 18 15 Ret 10 9 Ret 6 4 12 Ret 17 10 16 16 13 12 10 8 18 20 16 17 13 16 12 11 5 37
15   Hywel Lloyd 14 18 DNS 22 20 14 14 5 8 20 18 15 Ret 14 9 9 8 12 Ret 12 Ret 14 9 15 Ret 17 11 18 16 Ret 23
16   Adderly Fong 16 17 16 23 Ret 19 16 16 Ret 14 Ret Ret 18 20 13 23 18 Ret 15 15 Ret Ret 24 18 12 16 20 Ret Ret 4 12
17   Alex Brundle 15 10 9 13 11 20 Ret 12 Ret 15 14 10 16 12 15 18 17 21 Ret 11 10 16 18 8 13 11 19 13 10 Ret 11
18   Max Snegirev 13 16 14 19 Ret 16 15 15 14 19 Ret 18 15 18 Ret 22 19 18 Ret 16 Ret 13 15 Ret 16 10 15 19 20 Ret 1
19   Wayne Boyd 17 17 13 0
20   Rio Haryanto 21 19 Ret 17 14 Ret 0
21   Yann Cunha 20 22 22 0
22   Kevin Chen 24 DNS DNS 0
guest drivers ineligible for points
  Alexander Sims 11 1 4 13 10 3 0
  Esteban Gutiérrez 6 4 9 0
  Daniel Juncadella 10 Ret 6 0
  Carlos Muñoz 11 6 17 15 11 17 0
  Jim Pla 16 12 13 17 Ret 11 0
  Nathanaël Berthon 19 13 16 0
  Nicolas Marroc 14 Ret 14 0
  Pietro Fantin 17 16 Ret Ret 21 23 14 18 Ret 0
National Class
1   Menasheh Idafar 11 13 Ret DNS 16 18 11 18 15 18 16 17 13 18 8 12 12 20 Ret 13 11 21 17 14 15 18 14 11 15 3 435
2   James Cole 12 Ret 17 17 17 17 12 13 12 9 15 Ret 14 20 7 21 14 19 14 14 15 19 16 20 18 20 17 17 19 12 418
3   Juan Carlos Sistos 17 23 21 19 21 18 72
4   Luiz Razia 20 18 Ret 23
Pos Driver OUL
 
SIL
 
MAG
 
HOC
 
ROC
 
SPA
 
THR
 
SIL
 
SNE
 
BRH
 
Pts

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Anderson, Ben (2010-09-26). "Prize FR3.5 test for British F3 drivers". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
  2. ^ "Idafar signs with T-Sport for National F3 title bid". British Formula 3 Championship. Stéphane Ratel Organisation. 2010-01-28. Retrieved 2010-01-28.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b "2010 British F3 calendar revealed". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2010-01-07.
  4. ^ a b "Race and qualifying format change adds spice to F3". British Formula 3 Championship. Stéphane Ratel Organisation. 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2010-02-12.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Anderson, Ben (2010-06-24). "British F3 to add pitstops". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  6. ^ Carter, Nick (2010-07-13). "Pit stop era starts at Rockingham". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Archived from the original on 2010-07-17. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
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