The top 10 British F3 drivers of 2012

The top 10 British F3 drivers of 2012

1. Jack Harvey (GB)
Championship position: 1st (319 points)
Team and car: Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 28
Wins: 7
Poles: 10
Fastest laps: 5

When he was in the rhythm, he truly was the master of the art of driving an F3 car. He had the classic style of past category champions: smooth, yet visibly on the edge of grip, the slide never unnecessarily sapping sideways energy and the #1 Carlin Dallara always going forward. He possibly conceded a few points with circumspection in reversed-grid battles early in the season, but as crunch time loomed he showed feistiness in combat that proved he was not to be messed with.

2. Jazeman Jaafar (MAL)
Championship position: 2nd (306 points)
Team and car: Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 28
Wins: 3
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 3

This was the season when the Malaysian added consistency and application to the raw talent that was previously bubbling beneath the surface. When Harvey was on form, Jaafar was usually his closest challenger - and indeed was superior at Pau and Silverstone. In the reversed-grid races he was the man to watch on cold tyres, diving for gaps others hadn't even dreamed about. That won him a few extra points, although arguably the same approach finally bit him in the final round at Donington when he clashed with Lynn.

3. Felix Serralles (USA)
Championship position: 3rd (299 points)
Team and car: Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes
Starts: 28
Wins: 5
Poles: 3
Fastest laps: 5

There's something compelling about this guy, in the way he shoots for the stars like the one on the Puerto Rican flag proudly emblazoned on his helmet and Fortec Dallara. It's an approach that in 2012 could either end in glorious victory or a comet-like burnout. Serralles loves hanging on with low downforce, and was terrific at Monza and Spa, but he wasn't quite consistent enough. Low-key weekends at Pau - where he was anonymous - and Rockingham proved costly for this rookie, but watch out for him in 2013.

=4. Alex Lynn (GB)
Championship position: 4th (253 points)
Team and car: Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes
Starts: 28
Wins: 1
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 5

Ultra-smooth Lynn was actually quicker than Fortec team-mate and fellow F3 rookie Serralles. But he left it until the penultimate round at Silverstone to really nail it in qualifying and get the results his speed had suggested were possible since the opening weekend. This also showed that the likeable Englishman was acquiring the mental strength to operate in a higher-pressure environment after easily dominating in Formula Renault UK in 2011. There's definitely an F3 title in him next season.

=4. Carlos Sainz Jr (E)
Championship position: 6th (224 points)
Team and car: Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 25
Wins: 5
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 2

The youngest man in the series, and its most enigmatic. With a famous father and Red Bull patronage, there was no escaping the glare of expectation. He was nearly always among the quickest, but couldn't apply this for lap after lap in the way Harvey could. There also remain question marks over his racecraft and his tally of reversed-grid points - 26 compared to 78 for Harvey and 102 for Serralles - illustrates little progress and a few incidents in these races. But when it rained, there was rarely anyone to stop this gifted driver.

6. Harry Tincknell (GB)
Championship position: 5th (226 points)
Team and car: Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 28
Wins: 4
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 1

He switched from Fortec to Carlin this year, but was carrying a nasty finger injury - legacy of a test crash last November - into the season. It probably didn't affect results, and his handshake got noticeably firmer as the year went on! Still, it was a disappointing season for a man who'd had high hopes. He'd usually show flashes of frontrunning form on any weekend, but pace sometimes faded in races. Always cheerful and professional, and was fantastic at converting reversed-grid opportunities into wins.

7. Hannes van Asseldonk (NL)
Championship position: 9th (132 points)
Team and car: Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes
Starts: 27
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 3

The raw ability is there for this Dutch son of a mushroom magnate, but that's exactly what it is: raw. Countless points went scarpering due to accidents early in the season, but underlying this was a strong turn of speed - ironically, too much so for him ever to have a chance of a good reversed-grid spot. He added consistency towards the end of the year and remains a prospect with some promise who should shine if, as expected, he moves to Euro F3 in 2013.

8. Pietro Fantin (BR)
Championship position: 7th (195 points)
Team and car: Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 28
Wins: 1
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 3

Like Tincknell, he switched to Carlin for 2012. The Brazilian lined up with Mark Owen - who, if the Queen was ever to award a birthday honour for services to F3 engineering, would probably be the first man in line for a title. But what the Carlin mega-squad could never give him, as had Hitech Racing in 2011, was a team moulded almost completely around him. For whatever reason results were disappointing, although his late-braking style was rewarded with a startling Norisring pole-and-maximum-points performance.

9. Pipo Derani (BR)
Championship position: 8th (146 points)
Team and car: Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes
Starts: 28
Wins: 2
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 2

Generally, Fortec's Brazilian was at his best on the continental tracks - and took very good podiums at Pau and Monza - but he often struggled to get anywhere near the pace on the UK circuits. That's a shame, because he seems to be quite a good little racer and often made progress in the heat of battle. Such racecraft put him in good stead for the reversed-grid races, where he scored two wins. In the second of these, at Brands, he showed commendable composure under attack from Serralles.

10. Nick McBride (AUS)
Championship position: 10th (85 points)
Team and car: T-Sport Dallara-Nissan
Starts: 28
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

Coming straight out of Formula Ford with a late deal, the Australian knew he'd be up against it. There was nothing wrong with the T-Sport Dallara or with its ThreeBond Nissan engine - a welcome addition to BF3 in 2012 - and Alexander Sims proved as much with his performance in a one-off Euro round at the Nurburgring. McBride is a good guy and bright too, but lacked a team-mate to learn from. He was beginning to look pretty handy mid-season, but faded again in the closing races.

THE REST

If McBride's deal was late, that was nothing compared to Double R Racing's duo of Fahmi Ilyas and Geoff Uhrhane. Ilyas had the benefit of a year's experience under his belt but made few friends with a succession of contact incidents - although ironically his best performances came at barrier-lined Pau and in the wet at Oulton Park. Uhrhane shrugged off a couple of ill-timed early shunts and made progress, but so did the rest of the field, leaving him anchored around the foot of the A-class runners.

When Ilyas threw in the towel, Double R drafted in its driver coach Rupert Svendsen-Cook for the last couple of rounds. The Briton, owner of the paddock's lairiest training shoes, was a tad rusty but looked pretty decent at Silverstone.

Meanwhile, the National Class for older-spec cars had a total of five different chassis out over the course of the season, but sadly never all at the same time.

Australians Spike Goddard and Duvashen Padayachee were the only ever-presents, and it was T-Sport-run Goddard whose winter-testing preparation paid off with the title. Double R's Padayachee - a graduate of Asian Formula BMW - looked more at home on the wider circuits and put in a good winning drive at Spa.

Another T-Sport car joined the fray for the closing races, driven by Bolivian Pedro Pablo Calbimonte. He was pretty soon mixing it with the two Aussies but just missed out on a win.

Part of the reason for that was CF Racing's appearance at three rounds with Adderly Fong and, with its other car, for the finale with team boss Hywel Lloyd. As former A-class runners they were expected to win, and that's exactly what they did, Fong showing particularly well at Snetterton.