The top 10 Euro F3 drivers of 2009

1. Jules Bianchi

ART Grand Prix
Dallara-Mercedes
Euro F3 starts: 20
Poles: 6
Wins: 9
Championship position: 1st

The title favourite was the class of the field by far. Reversed grids mean that Lewis Hamilton's 2005 record of 15 wins from 20 races can't be touched these days, but Bianchi's season was every bit as dominant and his lack of errors through the year show that there is a calm head to go with that blistering speed.

2. Valtteri Bottas

ART Grand Prix
Dallara-Mercedes
Euro F3 starts: 20
Poles: 2
Wins: 0
Championship position: 3rd

The Finn started the season as a bit of a thorn in the side of Bianchi, but by the end of the year he'd been caught up by Alexander Sims in the rookie stakes and he was disappointed to have failed to notch up a win despite his obvious speed.

3. Alexander Sims

Mucke Motorsport
Dallara-Mercedes
Euro F3 starts: 20
Poles: 1
Wins: 1
Championship position: 4th

Once the rookie errors were ironed out, mostly in qualifying, Sims looked more and more the real deal with every weekend that passed in the middle of the season. He lost his way a little bit towards the end and the fact that Bottas started so strongly ended up being the difference between the two standout rookies.

4. Christian Vietoris

Mucke Motorsport
Dallara-Mercedes
Euro F3 starts: 18
Poles: 0
Wins: 4
Championship position: 2nd

He was Bianchi's closest challenger, but without ever being that close. Considering his experience Vietoris didn't do enough on Saturdays to deserve a crack at the title and any title campaign based on Sunday success is always going to come up short.

5. Sam Bird

Mucke Motorsport
Dallara-Mercedes
Euro F3 starts: 18
Poles: 1
Wins: 0
Championship position: 8th

It's hard to believe that Bird didn't win a race this year because there were plenty of weekends where he had the speed. Sometimes errors crept in like at the start at Hockenheim, but Norisring was due to an error from his team-mate and nobody could be expected to hold off Bianchi at Zandvoort.

6. Roberto Merhi

Manor Motorsport
Dallara-Mercedes
Euro F3 starts: 20
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Championship position: 7th

The Manor Motorsport driver showed good speed from day one of the season, but failed to harness that into many measured performances as the year wore on. He'll need to improve his consistency over the winter, as the speed is clearly there already.

7. Mika Maki

Signature
Dallara-Volkswagen
Euro F3 starts: 20
Poles: 0
Wins: 1
Championship position: 6th

Much more was expected of Maki this season, but while he often drove well he had a knack of not getting the results that he should have. He got caught up in a lot of incidents, which were avoided by those that were out of harms way at the front.

8. Jean-Karl Vernay

Signature
Dallara-Volkswagen
Euro F3 starts: 20
Poles: 0
Wins: 2
Championship position: 5th

Vernay's third year in the Euro Series was solid rather than spectacular, and in the end two Sunday victories were not enough considering his experience. He was reliable on his day, but was often anonymous during the middle of the season.

9. Stefano Coletti

Prema Powerteam
Dallara-Mercedes
Euro F3 starts: 17
Poles: 0
Wins: 1
Championship position: 10th

The Prema driver was a surprise title contender after taking control of the season-opener, but in the end he slumped out of contention in a blaze of fury. His season was summed up by two moments - punching Bianchi post-race at Norisring and walking off the podium early at Oschersleben after having the win taken away.

10. Esteban Gutierrez

ART Grand Prix
Dallara-Mercedes
Euro F3 starts: 20
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Championship position: 9th

While ART's second rookie Adrien Tambay failed to score a point all year (yes, really), Gutierrez at least showed good speed when the car was to his liking. It wasn't a rookie campaign that was comparable with those of Bianchi and Hulkenberg, but it was still promising.