Jake Dennis could start 2017 F3 season with Carlin

Dennis raced in the championship in 2014 with Carlin and then '15 with Prema, taking six wins and finishing third in the championship with the latter, before switching to GP3 last year with Arden.

While the 21-year-old is entering GT racing this year with the WRT Audi squad in the Blancpain GT Series, he tested with Carlin - still yet to sign a fourth driver - at the end of 2016 and recently in the official Hungaroring and Red Bull Ring sessions.

He says contesting the first three rounds of the championship at Silverstone, Monza and Pau is "definitely in question" after being asked by Trevor Carlin to keep those weekends free, but ruled out a full campaign as F3 runs as a support to Blancpain's Spa 24 Hours.

"I won't be doing the whole championship, I can tell you that, because I think there is a clash in one of the rounds, so I will be out of title contention anyway," he told Autosport.

"I'd like to do the first three rounds just to enjoy driving a single-seater, it's such a good experience.

"I don't think there is a better single-seater car out there at the moment.

"To do the test was awesome, but then to go and do the races with a team I drove for in 2014 would be awesome.

"Hopefully I'll know in the next week or so, but it's definitely a possibility for sure."

All three of Carlin's currently-confirmed 2017 drivers - Lando Norris, Jehan Daruvala and Ferdinand Habsburg - are rookies, although Norris did contest last year's Hockenheim finale and Macau, while Habsburg tackled the latter with Fortec.

Dennis says that meant his role during testing was to provide a benchmark, help Carlin understand F3's new Dallara update kit and improve its package after a troubled 2016.

"As I was driving the car there were a few areas which needed to be improved, and I think they quite liked having an experienced driver pointing them in the right direction," he said.

"I thought that was that [for single seaters] really, then I signed my Blancpain deal like everyone knows, and I got the call to come to the official tests.

"Again, because there is a new aero package on the car, they wanted just another driver, really.

"It went well, they seemed to have done a really good job. I think the team improved the car and I think they have a strong package for the start of the season."