F3 Euro Series 2010: Runners and riders

#1 Valtteri Bottas (SF)

ART Grand Prix
Dallara-Mercedes
Age: 20
Euro Series starts: 20
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 3rd in F3 Euro Series

The Finn's rookie season was impressive from the word go, but not winning a race - which was mainly down to the dominance of Jules Bianchi - definitely got to him as the year went on.

There's going to be little to choose between Bottas and his incoming team-mate Alexander Sims, so he can't afford a repeat of the 2009 mid-season slump that almost let the Briton sneak the rookie of the year crown.

#2 Alexander Sims (GB)

ART Grand Prix
Dallara-Mercedes
Age: 20
Euro Series starts: 20
Euro Series wins: 1
2009: 4th in F3 Euro Series

Sims starts the season trying to prevent Bottas from becoming the third driver in a row to convert a rookie season with ART into a title-winning campaign with the French squad in year two.

Once he got to grips with an F3 car (with Mucke Motorsport) he was able to get one over on Bottas by taking a maiden win, and were it not for a crash in the season finale, that wasn't his fault, he could have beaten the Finn to top rookie.

#3 Roberto Merhi (E)

Mucke Motorsport
Dallara-Mercedes
Age: 19
Euro Series starts: 20
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 7th in F3 Euro Series

The Spaniard started 2009 impressively with Manor Motorsport and appeared to be a match for the other leading rookies. But he failed to build on that while the others continued to improve and by the end of the year he appeared to have lost ground.

There were still flashes of his speed throughout the season which offer hope for this year, and Mucke have often proved to be ART's closest rival, so he should be able to get some wins.

#4 Carlos Munoz (CO)

Mucke Motorsport
Dallara-Mercedes
Age: 19
Euro Series starts: 0
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 7th in F.Renault WEC, 8th in F.Renault Eurocup

Munoz is by no means the most impressive of the Formula Renault graduates making the common step up to the Euro Series, but the European FR 2.0 scene is fiercely contested, so there's no shame in his results from last year.

He's highlighted qualifying as his major weakness in that category, but he believes that he won't have so many issues this year because he is better suited to a Formula 3 car. He also impressed in winter testing, setting the pace on the final day at Barcelona.

#5 Edoardo Mortara (I)

Signature
Dallara-Volkswagen
Age: 23
Euro Series starts: 42
Euro Series wins: 3
2009: 14th in GP2, Macau Grand Prix winner

After returning to F3 to win the Macau Grand Prix for Volkswagen last year, Mortara has made the step down from GP2 for a campaign in 2010. Considering that he's already been a runner-up in this series (in 2008), there's a lot of pressure to go one better.

He'll already feel at home having raced for Signature during his previous F3 stint and at Macau last year, so he will be firing on all cylinders from round one. It could all depend on whether his Signature-Volkswagen package can finally be a match for ART-Mercedes.

#6 Marco Wittmann (D)

Signature
Dallara-Volkswagen
Age: 20
Euro Series starts: 20
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 18th in F3 Euro Series

The pressure is on Wittmann to deliver this year after a low-key rookie season with Mucke. He's been retained by the Renault F1-affiliated Gravity management programme as he moves to Signature and VW power, and with Mortara alongside him his bosses have a very good benchmark against which to judge him. Last year was far from convincing, so he'll need to step it up.

#7 Nicolas Marroc (F)

Prema Poweteam
Dallara-Mercedes
Age: 23
Euro Series starts: 0
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 12th in German F3

The Frenchman has admitted that he is expecting a tough baptism in the Euro Series after a quiet year in the weaker German F3 championship, where he could only manage one top five finish.

He's also the oldest driver on the grid (Mortara included), so he won't want to spend too long getting to grips with this level of racing.

#8 Daniel Juncadella (E)

Prema Powerteam
Dallara-Mercedes
Age: 18
Euro Series starts: 0
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 2nd in Formula BMW Europe

After two competitive seasons in Formula BMW in which he won three races, Juncadella should be ready for the step up to F3. Prema has a reputation for starting the season well, so he could spring a surprise early on.

The Catalan, who is the nephew of former grand prix driver Luis Perez-Sala, was one of the group of rookies that traded fastest times during winter testing while the experienced drivers didn't worry about headlines, so the initial signs are positive.

#9 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (GB)

Motopark Academy
Dallara-Volkswagen
Age: 19
Euro Series starts: 0
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 4th in F.Renault Eurocup and F.Renault NEC

The Briton has gone about his single-seater education on the continent for the past two years, and his finishing positions in the two hotly-contested European Formula Renault championships show he's developed well since racing T-Cars and Formula BMW on home soil. He stays with Motopark for the step up and has put in some impressive performances in testing so far.

#10 Matias Laine (SF)

Motopark Academy
Dallara-Volkswagen
Age: 19
Euro Series starts: 0
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 14th in F.Renault UK

The Finn didn't put together a full season anywhere last year, but he did manage some top 10 finishes in Formula Renault UK, and scooped a fifth place in one of four starts in the Eurocup in a season of bit part appearances in each, in his first year of car racing.

His brief European exploits with Motopark were enough to convince both sides to work on a deal to keep them together for an F3 campaign.

#11 Jim Pla (F)

ART Grand Prix
Dallara-Mercedes
Age: 17
Euro Series starts: 0
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: 5th in Formula BMW Europe

ART is down from four cars to three this year at the request of the organisers, and that means Pla is the only rookie in the French team's line-up. He should settle in well with the team but, as Adrien Tambay showed last year (by scoring 0 points), nationality and a Formula BMW background isn't always enough to succeed. In Bottas and Sims, he has two very handy team-mates to learn from.

#13 Antonio Felix da Costa (P)

Motopark Academy
Dallara-Volkswagen
Age: 18
Euro Series starts: 0
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: F.Renault NEC champion, 3rd in F.Renault Eurocup

Motopark's line-up of Formula Renault graduates that have already raced for it prior to 2010 is completed by the most successful of the trio. Da Costa was another of the standout performers in Renaults last year, and having been with the German team ever since he started racing cars in 2008, he shouldn't have any trouble settling in.

#14 Laurens Vanthoor (B)

Signature
Dallara-Volkswagen
Age: 18
Euro Series starts: 0
Euro Series wins: 0
2009: German F3 champion

Vanthoor joins the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Christian Vietoris in moving over from German F3 to the Euro Series, and his performance at the Macau Grand Prix for Signature - where he was not too far off team-mates Mortara and Jean-Karl Vernay - suggested that he won't have too much difficulty adapting to the higher quality of opposition.

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