F3 to GP3 in 2016 is a step up, not sideways, Jake Dennis believes

Dennis, who finished third in the European F3 points last season, kicks off his GP3 campaign with Arden International at Barcelona this weekend.

The 20-year-old Racing Steps Foundation protege is one of a handful of top F3 drivers crossing over to GP3, and a championship win for any of them would mean they follow in the footsteps of Alex Lynn and Esteban Ocon, who respectively won the 2014 and '15 GP3 titles straight out of F3.

"I can see where people are coming from when they say it's a sideways step," Dennis told Autosport.

"When Esteban moved from F3 to GP3 I thought the same.

"But with the new GP3 car and new engine, and the amount of talented drivers going into GP3 this year, it's just unbelievable.

"The car is a fair chunk faster than F3 - and it's a good car."

Dennis arrives in Barcelona straight after his LMP2 debut in the Spa 6 Hours with the Jota Sport Gibson-Nissan, in which he finished a delayed sixth in class with Giedo van der Garde and Simon Dolan.

"I'm really happy about doing LMP2," said Dennis, who benefits from a new tie-up between Arden and Jota that means he will also contest the Le Mans 24 Hours.

"We're obviously looking at that side of motorsport with the way F1 is going.

"Also, I've gone through all the pressure of a race weekend, the nerves, the race, and it gets you back into it.

"In terms of learning it won't be a great deal [of relevance to GP3], and it'll be tough getting back in the GP3, but what I'll have on my side is I've been through the cycle of a race weekend."

Fellow F3 graduate Alexander Albon, who lines up in GP3 with ART Grand Prix, pinpoints the Pirelli tyres as a tough discipline to master.

"With the Hankooks [from F3] you can push for 20 laps from start to finish," he said.

"The biggest thing I've found is not to overdrive. At the start I found that I was ragging it, F3-style, attacking on corner entries. Do that too much in GP3 and you're already struggling by the last sector.

"I don't think I've ever had it before where you're underdriving. You've just got to bring it to where you're managing it so you're not sliding too much."