2010 British Formula Three season

The 2010 British Formula Three season was the 60th British Formula Three Championship 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

Team No Driver Class Chassis Engine Rounds Carlin[2] 1 Adriano Buzaid[3] C Dallara[4] Volkswagen[4] All 2 James Calado[5] C Dallara[4] Volkswagen[4] All 21 Rupert Svendsen-Cook[6] C Dallara[4] Volkswagen[4] All 22 Jazeman Jaafar[7] C Dallara[4] Volkswagen[4] All 31 Jean-Éric Vergne[8] C Dallara[4] Volkswagen[4] All 32 Lucas Foresti[9] C Dallara[4] Volkswagen[4] All Hitech Racing 3 William Buller[10] C Dallara[11] Volkswagen[12] All 4 Gabriel Dias[13] C Dallara[11] Volkswagen[12] All 77 Pietro Fantin[14] I Dallara[14] Volkswagen[14] 5, 8, 10 Fortec Motorsport 5 Daniel McKenzie[15] C Dallara[15] Mercedes HWA[15] All 6 Oliver Webb[16] C Dallara[17] Mercedes HWA[17] All 9 Max Snegirev[18] C Dallara[18] Mercedes HWA[18] All T-Sport 7 Alex Brundle[19] C Dallara[19] Volkswagen[19] All 43 Menasheh Idafar[20] N Dallara[21] Mugen-Honda[21] All 44 James Cole[22] N Dallara[22] Mugen-Honda[22] All Räikkönen Robertson Racing 8 Daisuke Nakajima[13] C Dallara[23] Mercedes HWA[24] All 26 Carlos Huertas[13] C Dallara[23] Mercedes HWA[24] All 27 Felipe Nasr[13] C Dallara[23] Mercedes HWA[24] All Litespeed F3[25] 14 Jay Bridger[26] C Dallara[25] Mercedes HWA[27] All Sino Vision Racing[28] 17 Kevin Chen[29] C Dallara[28] Mercedes HWA[28] 2 Wayne Boyd[30] C Dallara[28] Mercedes HWA[28] 4 18 Adderly Fong[28] C Dallara[28] Mercedes HWA[28] All CF Racing with Manor Motorsport[31] 25 Hywel Lloyd[24] C Dallara[24] Mercedes HWA[24] All 28 Rio Haryanto[31] C Dallara[31] Mercedes HWA[31] 2–3 Yann Cunha[32] C Dallara[32] Mercedes HWA[32] 8 Motul Team West-Tec[33] 46 Luiz Razia[34] N Dallara[35] Mugen-Honda[24] 2 Juan Carlos Sistos[36] N Dallara[36] Mugen-Honda[36] 8–9 Mücke Motorsport 71 Carlos Muñoz[37] I Dallara[37] Mercedes HWA[37] 6, 8 ART Grand Prix 90 Esteban Gutiérrez[29] I Dallara[29] Mercedes HWA[29] 2 Nathanaël Berthon[37] I Dallara[37] Mercedes HWA[37] 6 91 Alexander Sims[29] I Dallara[29] Mercedes HWA[29] 2, 6 92 Jim Pla[29] I Dallara[29] Mercedes HWA[29] 2, 6 Prema Powerteam 93 Daniel Juncadella[37] I Dallara[37] Mercedes HWA[37] 6 94 Nicolas Marroc[37] I Dallara[37] Mercedes HWA[37] 6

Icon Class C Championship N National I Invitation

Calendar

The calendar was announced on 7 January 2010.^[38] It consisted of ten rounds, with three races at each round.^[38] 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.^[39] 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.^[40][41]

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

• ¹ Fastest lap recorded by Alexander Sims, but he was ineligible to score the fastest lap point.

Standings

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.^[39]

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

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)

See also

• 2010 Formula Three Euroseries season
• 2010 GP3 Series season
• 2010 Masters of Formula 3

References

External links

• The official website of the British Formula 3 Championship