The 2012 Formula 3 Euro Series grid guide

Shout it from the rooftops: after thin grids and some tough decisions behind the scenes, the Formula 3 Euro Series is back on track and looks set to provide a strong season of junior single-seater racing.

An 18-car entry for this weekend's Hockenheim season opener, including 15 full-time participants from teams as high-profile as Prema, Carlin and Mucke, means that things are looking up.

Tyre supplier Kumho has left the series, to be replaced by Hankook, while Dallara's new F312 chassis shepherds in a new era for the series. Best of all, the FIA has revived the European Formula 3 Championship for the first time since 1984, with all Euro Series events - plus the Pau and Spa British F3 rounds - counting towards that title.

Here's how the grid shapes up:

PREMA POWERTEAM
Car: Dallara-Mercedes F312

#1. Daniel Juncadella (E)
Age: 20
F3 Euro Series debut: Paul Ricard, 2010
2011: 3rd in F3 Euro Series, 3rd in FIA F3 Trophy, Macau GP winner

#2. Sven Muller (D)
Age: 20
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: 3rd in ADAC Formel Masters

#14. Michael Lewis (E)
Age: 21
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: 2nd in Italian F3

#15. Raffaele Marciello (I)
Age: 17
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: 3rd in Italian F3 (2012: 9th in Toyota Racing Series New Zealand)

Prema driver Roberto Merhi stormed to last year's title, and the Rosin family's squad returns with another strong line-up. In Daniel Juncadella it has the most experienced man in the field, and begins the year as the championship favourite - just - after a race-winning campaign that brought him third in the 2011 points. Much is expected of Italian teenager Raffaele Marciello, who is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy (along with F1 starlet Sergio Perez), but the less-hyped Michael Lewis may just be a better long-term prospect. The American finished a spot ahead of Marciello in Italian F3 last year and only missed out on the title at the final race when he crashed out, having climbed from a lowly starting spot into a lead that would have given him the crown. The fourth member of the squad is German Sven Muller, who was beaten in the ADAC Formel Masters title race by Pascal Wehrlein and Emil Bernstorff last year and resumes his battle with the pair in the Euro Series this time around.

MUCKE MOTORSPORT
Car: Dallara-Mercedes F312

#5. Felix Rosenqvist (S)
Age: 20
F3 Euro Series debut: Paul Ricard, 2011
2011: 5th in F3 Euro Series, Masters of F3 winner

#6. Pascal Wehrlein (D)
Age: 17
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: ADAC Formel Masters Champion

Peter Mucke's eponymous squad has been the dominant force in official pre-season testing, with Felix Rosenqvist topping three of the four days of running in Spain. Last year's Masters of F3 winner appears to be the man most likely to take the fight to Juncadella for the title, although there were a couple of occasions last year when he proved to be a little bit of a soft touch when it came to wheel-to-wheel racing. If he can introduce the kind of aggression that served 2011 champion Merhi so well he can be a formidable opponent. Series newcomer Pascal Wehrlein is a precocious German teenager who saw off strong opposition to win the entry-level ADAC Formel Masters crown last year with Mucke, and is a logical choice to move up with the squad.

JO ZELLER RACING
Car: Dallara-Mercedes F312/Dallara-Mercedes F308

#7. Sandro Zeller (CH)
Age: 20
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2010
2011: Austrian F3 champion

#8. Andrea Roda (I)
Age: 22
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: 12th in Italian F3

Category stalwart Jo Zeller knows a thing or two about F3, having won 12 titles in central Europe as a driver and team boss since the early 1980s - including, most significantly, the German crown in 2005 with Peter Elkmann. His team has won a Euro Series race too, Elkmann triumphing at Brands Hatch in a reversed-grid race the following year. His son Sandro is the reigning Austrian champion, but has an old-spec Dallara F308 rather than the latest F312, which may limit his potential. Andrea Roda is a bit more of a known quantity, and has been around junior single-seaters since late 2006. His most successful campaign brought him a lone podium in Italian Formula Renault in 2009, so don't expect miracles.

URD RENNSPORT
Car: Dallara-Mercedes F312

#9. Lucas Wolf (D)
Age: 17
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: 8th in ADAC Formel Masters

URD has a long history in motorsport, Ernst Ungar having founded the team in 1969 and run cars in European F2, World Sportscars and IMSA GTP among other high-level series. Now run by his son Harald (whose brother Gerhard runs HWA), the team came back to more modest settings in ADAC Formel Masters and German F3, and now steps back up to continental competition in the Euro Series. Teenager Wolf has spent the past two years with the team in the ADAC series and ended last year with his maiden victory at Hockenheim.

GU-RACING
Car: Dallara-Mercedes F312

#10. Philip Ellis (GB)
Age: 19
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: Swiss Formula Lista champion

Best known on these shores for having run Max Wissel to a number of impressive wins in Superleague Formula under the guise of FC Basel, GU-Racing (nothing to do with the producer of the fine chocolate desserts, unfortunately) steps up to the Euro Series having previously competed in German F3, FBMW and FRenault. Team boss Gunther Unterreitmeier has unearthed a new talent in Munich-born Anglo-German teenager Philip Ellis, who won last year's Swiss Formula Lista (for ex-Formula BMW machinery) title. But it's a big step up to F3, especially in a single-car team.

CARLIN
Car: Dallara-Volkswagen F312

#11. Will Buller (GB)
Age: 19
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: 4th in British F3

#12. Carlos Sainz Jr (E)
Age: 17
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2011
2011: Formula Renault NEC champion, 2nd in Formula Renault Eurocup

The dominant force in British F3 of the past decade, Carlin returns to the Euro Series after two years away and, with Signature having withdrawn during the winter, is the de facto number-one Volkswagen-powered squad. Carlos Sainz Jr, son of two-time world rally champion Carlos Sr, is already leading the British championship after a double win at Monza and will compete in every round that doesn't clash with his UK-based campaign. Northern Irishman Buller, meanwhile, has designs on the European F3 Championship title. After finishing as the best non-Carlin driver in British F3 last year, you have to figure that he has a chance. This is certainly Carlin's best Euro Series line-up to date.

MA-CON MOTORSPORT
Car: Dallara-Volkswagen F312

#16. Tom Blomqvist (GB)
Age: 18
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: 6th in German F3

#17. Emil Bernstorff (GB)
Age: 18
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2012
2011: 2nd in ADAC Formel Masters

This team ran in F3000 in 2004 with Tomas Enge and Tony Schmidt, and after some years in entry-level German single-seaters returns to a higher level with an all-Anglo-Scandinavian line-up brimming with potential. Both Tom Blomqvist - son of 1984 World Rally champion Stig - and Emil Bernstorff were McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC finalists last year. Blomqvist, who in 2010 became the youngest Formula Renault UK champion in history, would probably have done better than sixth in his race-winning German F3 campaign last year had he not broken his back at Lausitz, while Bernstorff steps up a level after taking the runner-up spot in ADAC Formel Masters in 2011. But both start at a major disadvantage, as their late signings mean zero testing has been done.

ANGOLA RACING TEAM
Car: Dallara-Mercedes F312

#23. Luis Sa Silva (AO)
Age: 21
F3 Euro Series debut: Hockenheim, 2010
2011: 2nd in Formula Pilota China

Attempting to follow in the footsteps of his countryman Ricardo Teixeira in getting a foothold in European single-seaters, Luis Sa Silva has a full-on Euro Series assault this year after taking the runner-up spot in China's answer to Formula Abarth last year. The Angola Racing Team is new to the series, but is being run with a heavy amount of technical assistance from Prema, which should help. Sa Silva will have to raise his level to be competitive in the Euro Series, but if he does he could be on his way to becoming his country's most successful driver.

AND THE REST
This weekend's Hockenheim season opener will feature three Dallara-Mercedes run by British squad Fortec Motorsport for Hannes van Asseldonk, Felix Serralles and Alex Lynn. It will help them learn the Hankook rubber before the entire British championship joins up with the Euro Series at the Norisring later this year.