2016 FIA European Formula 3 Championship

2016 FIA European Formula 3 Championship
Previous:	2015	Next:	2017

The 2016 FIA European Formula 3 Championship will be a multi-event motor racing championship for single-seat open wheel formula racing cars that will be held across Europe. The championship will feature drivers competing in two-litre Formula Three racing cars which conform to the technical regulations, or formula, for the championship. It will be the fifteenth edition of the FIA European Formula Three Championship and the fifth edition after the European Formula Three Championship merged with the Formula 3 Euro Series.

Felix Rosenqvist will be the defending drivers' champion. His team, Prema Powerteam, will be the defending winners of the teams' championship.

Drivers and teams

The following teams and drivers are scheduled to compete during the 2016 season:

Team No. Driver Status Engine Rounds Prema Powerteam 1 Lance Stroll Mercedes 1–4 2 Nick Cassidy 1–4 16 Ralf Aron R 1–4 17 Maximilian Günther 1–4 Carlin 3 Ryan Tveter Volkswagen 1–4 4 Alessio Lorandi 1–4 18 Zhi Cong Li 1–4 19 Raoul Hyman 1 Weiron Tan 4 Van Amersfoort Racing 5 Pedro Piquet Mercedes 1–4 6 Callum Ilott 1–4 20 Harrison Newey R 1–4 21 Anthoine Hubert R 1–4 kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport 7 Mikkel Jensen Mercedes 1–4 8 David Beckmann R 3–4 Motopark 9 Sérgio Sette Câmara Volkswagen 1–4 10 Niko Kari R 1–4 22 Joel Eriksson R 1–4 23 Guanyu Zhou R 1–4 HitechGP 11 Nikita Mazepin R Mercedes 1–4 12 George Russell 1–4 24 Ben Barnicoat R 1–4 25 TBA TBA Threebond with T-Sport 14 Arjun Maini NBE 2–4 15 Threebond 1

Icon Legend R Rookie Cup

Driver changes

Joining FIA European Formula 3

• 2015 Italian F4 champion Ralf Aron will enter the series with Prema Powerteam.
• Ben Barnicoat, who came fourth in the 2015 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season, will join the series with HitechGP, after an initial deal with Prema Powerteam fell through.
• David Beckmann, who raced in ADAC Formula 4 will continue his collaboration with Mücke Motorsport into the championship, but will miss the first two rounds on account of his age.
• Nick Cassidy, who raced for Prema Powerteam in two rounds of the 2015 season, will race full-time with the team.
• ADAC Formula 4 runner-up Joel Eriksson, brother of GP3 driver Jimmy Eriksson, will join the series with Motopark.
• Anthoine Hubert, who finished fifth in the 2015 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season, joins the series with Van Amersfoort Racing.
• 2015 SMP F4 champion and Red Bull Junior driver Niko Kari will join the series with Motopark.
• Nikita Mazepin will join the series with HitechGP.
• Harrison Newey, son of F1 engineer Adrian Newey and runner-up in BRDC Formula 4, will made his debut in the series with Van Amersfoort Racing.
• Pedro Piquet, son of three time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet and two-time Brazilian Formula Three champion, will step up to the series with Van Amersfoort Racing.
• 2015 Italian F4 runner-up Guanyu Zhou joins the championship with Motopark.

Changing Teams

• Maximilian Günther, who raced for Mücke Motorsport for most of 2015 before switching to Prema Powerteam during the last round, will stay with Prema in 2016.
• Raoul Hyman will switch from Team West-Tec F3 to Carlin.
• Callum Ilott, who raced for Carlin in 2015, will switch to Van Amersfoort Racing.
• Zhi Cong Li will switch from Fortec Motorsports to Carlin.
• Alessio Lorandi, who raced for Van Amersfoort in 2015, with switch to Carlin.
• Arjun Maini, will switch from Van Amersfoort Racing to T-Sport.
• George Russell, who raced for Carlin in 2015, will switch to HitechGP.

Leaving Formula 3

• Jake Dennis, Tatiana Calderón and Santino Ferrucci, who finished third, 27th and 11th in the 2015 season, will step up to GP3 with Arden International and DAMS respectively.
• Rookie champion Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon, who finished fourth and seventh in 2015 respectively, will leave the series to compete in GP3 with ART Grand Prix.
• 2015 runner-up Antonio Giovinazzi will step up to GP2 with Prema Powerteam.
• Pietro Fittipaldi, who finished 17th in 2015, will step up to Formula V8 3.5 with Fortec.
• 2015 champion Felix Rosenqvist is ruled out of returning to the series due to a new rule, which says drivers can spend no more than three years in the category. He will be joining the Indy Lights with Belardi Auto Racing.

Team changes

• After making two appearances in the 2015 season, Hitech GP will return full-time to the series, in collaboration with ART Grand Prix.
• Double R Racing, Signature Team, EuroInternational, Team West-Tec and Artline Engineering withdrew.

Calendar

A provisional ten-round calendar was announced on 2 December 2015.

R.	RN	Circuit	Date	Supporting
1	1	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet	2 April	World Touring Car Championship
	2
	3		3 April
2	4	Hungaroring, Mogyoród	23 April
	5
	6		24 April
3	7	Circuit de Pau-Ville, Pau	14 May	Pau Grand Prix
	8
	9		15 May
4	10	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	20–22 May	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
	11
	12
5	13	Norisring, Nuremberg	24–26 June
	14
	15
6	16	Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort	15–17 July
	17
	18
7	19	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps	28–30 July	Blancpain Endurance Series
	20
	21
8	22	Nürburgring, Rhineland-Palatinate	9–11 September	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
	23
	24
9	25	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola	30 September–2 October	European Touring Car Cup FFSA GT Championship
	26
	27
10	28	Hockenheimring, Baden-Württemberg	14–16 October	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
	29
	30

Results

R.	RN	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Rookie winner
1	1	Circuit Paul Ricard	Lance Stroll	Lance Stroll	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Ben Barnicoat
	2		Maximilian Günther	Nick Cassidy	Callum Ilott	Van Amersfoort Racing	Guanyu Zhou
	3		Maximilian Günther	Joel Eriksson	Maximilian Günther	Prema Powerteam	Joel Eriksson
2	4	Hungaroring	Maximilian Günther	Joel Eriksson	Ralf Aron	Prema Powerteam	Ralf Aron
	5		Maximilian Günther	Maximilian Günther	Maximilian Günther	Prema Powerteam	Ralf Aron
	6		Maximilian Günther	Lance Stroll	Ben Barnicoat	Hitech GP	Ben Barnicoat
3	7	Circuit de Pau-Ville	Lance Stroll	Callum Ilott	Ben Barnicoat	Hitech GP	Ben Barnicoat
	8		George Russell	George Russell	George Russell	Hitech GP	Ben Barnicoat
	9		Alessio Lorandi	Anthoine Hubert	Alessio Lorandi	Carlin	Joel Eriksson
4	10	Red Bull Ring	Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Callum Ilott	Van Amersfoort Racing	David Beckmann
	11		Lance Stroll	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Niko Kari
	12		Lance Stroll	Lance Stroll	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Ben Barnicoat
5	13	Norisring
	14
	15
6	16	Circuit Park Zandvoort
	17
	18
7	19	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
	20
	21
8	22	Nürburgring
	23
	24
9	25	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
	26
	27
10	28	Hockenheimring
	29
	30

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

Pos. Driver LEC HUN PAU RBR NOR ZAN SPA NÜR IMO HOC Points 1 Lance Stroll 1 Ret 5 4 8 3 9 4 2 2 1 1 166 2 Callum Ilott 10 1 12 Ret 9 6 5 3 4 1 4 2 128 3 Maximilian Günther 5 Ret 1 5 1 Ret 3 14 13 3 6 3 123 4 George Russell 3 11 18 Ret 4 Ret 4 1 3 5 2 Ret 109 5 Ben Barnicoat 4 Ret 11 9 10 1 1 5 11 10 15 5 88 6 Nick Cassidy 2 2 2 Ret 16 9 2 16 Ret 6 Ret 10 83 7 Mikkel Jensen 13 4 4 10 7 11 6 8 5 4 5 Ret 75 8 Joel Eriksson 6 9 3 3 Ret 2 14 9 6 17 14 6 74 9 Sérgio Sette Câmara 16 5 19 7 5 5 8 2 Ret 13 8 4 74 10 Ralf Aron 7 Ret 7 1 2 DNS 13 6 15 9 12 9 67 11 Guanyu Zhou 14 3 8 8 3 4 11 Ret Ret 14 11 7 56 12 Alessio Lorandi 12 6 9 6 6 12 10 15 1 11 9 17 54 13 Niko Kari 8 16 15 2 Ret 8 19 11 8 20 3 8 49 14 Anthoine Hubert 17 8 6 Ret 13 14 12 7 12 12 10 16 19 15 Ryan Tveter 15 7 Ret 11 11 DNS 7 Ret 7 Ret DNS DNS 18 16 David Beckmann 17 Ret Ret 7 7 12 12 17 Pedro Piquet 11 14 Ret 13 14 7 20 Ret 10 19 Ret 13 7 18 Harrison Newey 9 Ret 14 12 12 10 15 Ret 14 8 16 11 7 19 Arjun Maini Ret 13 16 14 15 15 18 10 9 Ret Ret 18 3 20 Nikita Mazepin 19 12 10 EX Ret 13 16 13 Ret 15 17 14 1 21 Raoul Hyman 18 10 13 1 22 Zhi Cong Li 20 15 17 15 Ret 16 Ret 12 Ret Ret DNS DNS 0 23 Weiron Tan Ret 13 15 0

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Rookies' Championship

Pos.	Driver	LEC			HUN			PAU			RBR			NOR			ZAN			SPA			NÜR			IMO			HOC			Points
1	Ben Barnicoat	4	Ret	11	9	10	1	1	5	11	10	15	5																			191
2	Joel Eriksson	6	9	3	3	Ret	2	14	9	6	17	10	6																			177
3	Ralf Aron	7	Ret	7	1	2	DNS	13	6	15	9	13	9																			151
4	Guanyu Zhou	14	3	8	8	3	4	11	Ret	Ret	14	12	7																			141
5	Anthoine Hubert	17	8	6	Ret	13	14	12	7	12	12	11	16																			124
6	Niko Kari	8	16	15	2	Ret	8	19	11	8	20	4	8																			118
7	Harrison Newey	9	Ret	14	12	12	10	15	Ret	14	8	16	11																			94
8	Nikita Mazepin	19	12	10	EX	Ret	13	16	13	Ret	15	17	14																			60
9	David Beckmann							17	Ret	Ret	7	5	12																			30

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	297
2	Hitech GP	249
3	Motopark	201
4	Van Amersfoort Racing	168
5	kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport	142
6	Carlin	133
7	Threebond with T-Sport	19

External links

• Official website