The top 10 Euro F3 drivers of 2015

Formula 3 had a lot to live up to this year after an epic 2014 season that produced Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen and Tom Blomqvist.

The consequent publicity glare resulted in an incredible 35-car field and, although the quality at the front remained high, the focus among the wider world unfortunately shifted onto the inevitable accidents.

In many ways it was a frustrating year, but one that featured many future leading lights of international motorsport. Here's how MARCUS SIMMONS rated the field:

1 Felix Rosenqvist
Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes
Starts: 33
Wins: 13
Championship: 1st

After four seasons with Mucke Motorsport, Rosenqvist was recruited by Prema to a) drive as fast as possible and b) help his team-mates. He fulfilled both to perfection. Funnily enough, he didn't much like the Italian team's car when he first tested it. He knew it was up to him to get to grips with it though, and by the time of the Silverstone opener his form was ominous, not just in qualifying, but on old-tyre race pace.

Shunts not of his making threatened to derail his season but he came through and was dominant in the late rounds. A class act on the track and off it, with the team members glowing in their praise of his cooperation, while his articulate views on rivals' bad driving standards during the series' dark early-summer days also impressed.

2 Antonio Giovinazzi
Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 33
Wins: 6
Championship: 2nd

The perception is that the popular southern Italian is hugely experienced. OK, this was his third season in F3, but he had just eight car-race meetings under his belt, predominantly in Asia, prior to that. Giovinazzi rewarded the support of his benefactors the Gelael family, plus VW and Carlin, with a hugely committed season.

He's added consistency and polish to the raw, rough-diamond talent evident in his early career, even if he's still more prone to the occasional setback-causing error than, say, Rosenqvist. Now on the brink of a fully deserved professional career.

3 Charles Leclerc
Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 33
Wins: 4
Championship: 4th

At the suggestion of his late friend and mentor Jules Bianchi, the Monegasque made the step to F3 after just one season in Formula Renault ALPS. He settled in well with Van Amersfoort Racing, and his committed yet precise, elegant and classy style - reflected well in his mature off-track demeanour - mean he would have been #1 in this ranking had it been published in July.

Dig down and there are very subtle temporary reasons behind his consequent slump, which both driver and team will almost certainly recover from (it didn't count for much, but indeed his driving in slicks in a damp free practice at the Hockenheim finale was beautiful). If he can do this, you'd say he's the most likely of this year's crop to get to F1.

4 Jake Dennis
Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes
Starts: 33
Wins: 6
Championship: 3rd

After an inconclusive rookie F3 season at Carlin, the Racing Steps-backed man had a few questions to answer at Prema. He absolutely rose to the challenge and was comfortably the team's best driver behind Rosenqvist, and even outshone his experienced team leader on the few occasions when the eventual champion got it wrong.

That's impressive - the six-foot-two Dennis gives away an estimated couple of tenths to Rosenqvist, even though he's as lean as a dieting lamppost, not only because he can't get within a couple of kilos of the minimum car-driver weight limit, but because the lighter drivers have a further benefit on positioning of ballast. Now ready for the next step, although a couple of heat-of-the-moment incidents at Pau and Zandvoort raised questions about his temperament.

5 George Russell
Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 33
Wins: 1
Championship: 6th

The 2014 BRDC Formula 4 champion has a quite exquisite judgement, feel and perception of those around him in racing situations that made him not only arguably the best racer in the field, but also usually able to avoid putting himself into vulnerable situations. Which is just as well, because his qualifying let him down too often.

He looked outstanding when he won in the cold at Silverstone, where his team Carlin always excels, but he had to wait until Norisring, where he really began ragging the car, to get back to the front of the grid. He was also ace at Nurburgring, but engine-change grid penalties scuppered his weekend.

6 Alexander Albon
Signature Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 31
Wins: 0
Championship: 7th

After three seasons in FRenault the Anglo-Thai finally stepped up to F3, and can count himself unlucky not to win a race. The Signature squad was back in F3 after three seasons away, so it was sometimes was a little behind when it came to adjusting to a new set of track conditions, but the fact that Albon ended 17 of the 22 qualifying sessions in the top 10 reflects well on driver and team.

There were errors that cost him either good race or qualifying results, but otherwise he was very impressive. In the right circumstances he could be a title contender wherever he races next year.

7 Maximilian Gunther
Mucke Motorsport, Prema Powerteam (both Dallara-Mercedes)
Starts: 30
Wins: 1
Championship: 8th

The 2014 Formel Masters runner-up showed outstanding fast-corner feel and verve right from the start with Mucke Motorsport, and after the team's traditional Silverstone-opener nightmare he qualified third for the next six races on the trot.

The fact that he only converted the sixth of those to a podium suggested he needed time to develop racecraft - and then he drove from 12th to first Norisring by cannily avoiding incidents. The relationship with Mucke soured (relations between the team's three quick drivers weren't great either), but he looked good again in his last-round cameo with Prema.

8 Lance Stroll
Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes
Starts: 32
Wins: 1
Championship: 5th

The Ferrari Driver Academy prospect learned more than he could ever have bargained for in his rookie F3 season with Prema. He seemed to be settling in quite nicely before a couple of highly controversial crashes that raised serious worries about his judgement and earned him a one-race ban, even if no one sane suggested he was crashing into others deliberately.

He did a nice job to not only bury his bad-boy reputation, but also to gain in competitiveness, especially on those tracks that reward smoothness and technique. You can be sure that he'll fly in 2016 with the Prema team behind him.

9 Markus Pommer
Motopark Dallara-Volkswagen
Starts: 33
Wins: 1
Championship: 10th

Like Signature, Motopark returned to the top level of F3 after three years away. The technical staff are the same guys (with DTM background) who ran the Russian Time GP2 squad in 2013 and Motopark's dominant German F3 team.

Pommer graduated with them as German F3 champ and put in an impressive season, fully deserving his single win at Zandvoort. He's pretty aggressive - in both driving style and racecraft - and this led to some incidents, but he was invaluable to the team, not only through his own performance but also in bringing the promising Sergio Sette Camara up to speed.

10 Mikkel Jensen
Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes
Starts: 32
Wins: 0
Championship: 9th

This Danish racer beat Gunther to the 2014 FMasters title and then joined him at Mucke. Jensen's strength was technique in the slow corners, but he gained confidence in the faster stuff too and also got his head around early braking issues to put in some impressive performances, coming close to beating Rosenqvist to a win at Monza.

It was tough at Mucke this year, with the team's quick drivers all inexperienced and evenly matched, so there was no one to use as a benchmark. But glimpses at the Hockenheim finale proved team and driver together would be a potent combination in 2016.

THE REST

Santino Ferrucci was frequently right with - and sometimes ahead of - Mucke stablemates Gunther and Jensen, and is at his best on low-downforce circuits where his spectacular style reaps dividends.

Fellow garrulous American Gustavo Menezes made the switch from VAR to Carlin this year, but his season was much the same as 2014 (average 101.036 per cent of the fastest lap of the weekend with VAR; 101.004 with Carlin), suggesting there's not a whole lot of difference between the top teams. His start reactions and first laps are awesome, suggesting he'd make a fine racer in rallycross, in which he has tested.

A much quieter American, Ryan Tveter, ran alongside Menezes at Carlin - very inexperienced (he had no karting career), he rarely escaped the midfield although shone at Zandvoort.

Also at Carlin, Red Bull Junior Callum Ilott entered car racing as a totally raw rookie and his commitment and car control were something to behold. The 16-year-old Brit managed to keep it all under control for a late-season podium at Nurburgring.

Two new Brazilians showed flashes of pace. The intelligent Sergio Sette Camara looks a good prospect and, with no pressure from his management, settled in nicely with Motopark - he'll continue with the team in 2016 and don't bet against a win.

By contrast, Pietro Fittipaldi seemed to carry the weight of a lot of expectation and this unfortunately spilled over into the Fortec organisation - he's quick but there were too many incidents. A shame as there's talent there.

Brandon Maisano is a guy who was good enough to beat Raffaele Marciello to the 2010 Formula Abarth title, and his underfunded career was rescued by Prema, starting off with Italian F4 last year. But this year was a big letdown and he left the team in August.

VAR's 'other two' rookies Arjun Maini and Alessio Lorandi were evenly matched. Both shone on the streets of Pau, which reward improvisation and flair, although they need work in precision and technique. Maini was the more solid racer, with Lorandi involved in too many incidents.

Similar to that duo, Dorian Boccolacci is another with promise who'd benefit from two or three seasons at this level. He looked good at times with Signature.

Russell's and Maini's old BRDC F4 rival Raoul Hyman led the West-Tec challenge for much of the year. Bearing in mind his last-minute deal the London-based South African law student did well to occasionally get in the top 10, despite frequent bouts of bad luck.

Of the remaining British regulars, Sam MacLeod was similarly unfortunate, allowing him to show only periodic speed with Motopark. British F3 runner-up Matt Rao settled in well at Fortec and is easy to work with, suggesting a solid future in LMP2, his target for 2016.