The all-time FR3.5 top 10

During Renault's 11 years of supporting Formula Renault 3.5 in its role as one of Formula 1's feeder series, 224 drivers started a race in the championship.

Of those, 69 won races and - surprise, surprise - 11 won the championship. So how do you come up with a list of the 10 best drivers? With great difficulty.

Here, Autosport's Glenn Freeman and Peter Mills, who covered all-but one of FR3.5's seasons between them, put together a list of the 10 standout performers during the championship's best days. What they went on to achieve after FR3.5 plays a part in the ranking, but it's not the over-riding decisive factor.

10 JEAN-ERIC VERGNE
Starts: 23 (2010-11)
Wins: 6
Poles: 4
Championship: 2nd in 2011

Jean-Eric Vergne received his FR3.5 call-up mid-2010 in typical Red Bull fashion. The British Formula 3 leader was drafted in at Tech 1 Racing at the behest of his energy drinks backer when patience with the likeable but misfiring Brendon Hartley expired.

He achieved four consecutive podiums at the tail end of the season, including a controversial win at Silverstone when on-the-road victor Esteban Guerrieri was disqualified for having a piece of tape left on his car after accident repairs.

Memorably, Vergne also reportedly received uncharitable hairdryer-style treatment from Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmet Marko for failing to assist fellow Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo's title assault more in the 2010 finale - not that Vergne could reasonably have done more. Marko cannot have been too upset, though, since Vergne was placed at Carlin for '11.

A compelling scrap was to unfold between Vergne and team-mate Robert Wickens for the drivers' title. In the Barcelona finale, a crash at the first right-left sequence on the opening lap left Wickens on the sidelines and Vergne struggling home with bent suspension to finish fifth.

Wickens was a deserving champion, and on balance did the better job, but Vergne gets the nod over him for our top 10 by the smallest of margins given his comparative inexperience in single-seater racing at the time.

9 OLIVER ROWLAND
Starts: 34 (2014-15)
Wins: 10
Poles: 10
Championship: Winner in 2015

Like GP2 champion Stoffel Vandoorne, Rowland can be judged a true product of the World Series by Renault package, proving to traditionalists that Formula 3 is not an essential stepping-stone.

After hounding current Toro Rosso Formula 1 racer Carlos Sainz Jr in 2014, only to fall out of title contention near the end of the campaign owing to mechanical gremlins, Rowland signed on for another year at Fortec and raised his game further.

Rowland delivered prime evidence of this after encountering first-corner misfortune in Monaco (when he picked up a puncture) and at the Nurburgring (when he was punted into a spin).

On each occasion, the setbacks provided the stage for some mind-boggling overtaking from last place. He salvaged sixth in Monaco - a tremendous feat on a circuit not known for offering opportunities to pass - while in Germany he rose from the back to third in five laps. F1 should take note.

8 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Starts: 26 (2013-14)
Wins: 7
Poles: 7
Championship: Winner in 2014

Some tips from Fernando Alonso helped Sainz raise plenty of eyebrows on what was meant to be a one-off FR3.5 appearance on the streets of Monaco in 2013, when he plonked himself on the third row alongside fellow Red Bull junior Antonio Felix da Costa.

Sixth place on his debut with the unfancied Zeta Corse outfit led to further outings with the team, and a switch to reigning champion team DAMS for 2014 to follow in Kevin Magnussen's footsteps.

DAMS repeated its championship-winning form with Magnussen on Sainz, sharpening him into a more rounded individual in and out of the car, and helping him pick himself up when it looked like he'd lost his shot at F1 mid-season to Max Verstappen.

He resisted the charge of a resurgent Roberto Merhi to complete a record-breaking season, and give Red Bull its first championship in the series.

7 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Starts: 34 (2012-13)
Wins: 6
Poles: 11
Championship: Winner in 2013

Fast but erratic was the best way to sum up Magnussen's first season in FR3.5, and had he not taken such a big step towards becoming the finished article for his second year he wouldn't have made it on to this list.

But DAMS has a great history of shining up rough diamonds, and its off-track work, coupled with some tough love after a falling out during the first weekend of the year, focused Magnussen and enabled him to deliver almost every weekend.

There was a noticeable difference in his maturity on track in year two: his racecraft was superb and he was prepared to give up a corner if he had to - something that was clearly missing in his rookie campaign.

6 ALVARO PARENTE
Starts: 32 (2006-07)
Wins: 5
Poles: 2
Championship: Winner in 2007

Three well-taken wins in his first season had proved Parente's worth, and Tech 1 Racing had taken notice after enduring a difficult 2006 campaign. Parente's signature was viewed as a shortcut to success. The gambit worked.

Subsequent dominance in 2007 was slightly masked by the introduction of reversed grids, but Parente's drivers' title was still a convincing one.

Yes, Sebastian Vettel was ahead in the points race when he received an F1 call-up, but the manner in which Parente roundly defeated the future four-time world champion in Monaco suggests Vettel would not have had an easy life had he remained in the category.

5 STOFFEL VANDOORNE
Starts: 17 (2013)
Wins: 4
Poles: 3
Championship: 2nd in 2013

Vandoorne made a decent fist of attempting to repeat the Robin Frijns trick of 2012 one year later, stepping up as FR Eurocup champion and even going one better than the Dutchman by winning on his debut.

But he encountered a more rounded foe in second-year McLaren junior Magnussen, who stepped up his game thanks to a switch to a DAMS team that made a big step from 2012.

Vandoorne, also on McLaren's books then (and now), gets the nod over the Dane in this list because his rookie year was stronger. In fact, it was so strong, McLaren had little choice but to move him on to GP2 for the following season.

4 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Starts: 31 (2009-11)
Wins: 5
Poles: 10
Championship: 2nd in 2010

Daniel Ricciardo was the qualifying king in his maiden season of FR3.5 in 2010. The Australian gelled with Tech 1, which had produced a potent low-downforce set-up, to record eight pole positions.

Ricciardo scored a brilliant breakthrough victory in Monaco, where his precision consistently came to the fore, and he achieved three further wins. A dominant victory by 26s in the penultimate race of the year left Ricciardo tied on points with Mikhail Aleshin heading into the title decider.

However, race two was wet, and the title was destined to slip away from Ricciardo. Three laps from home, and suffering oversteer, Ricciardo was cleanly overtaken by nemesis Aleshin to end the season on a slightly deflating note.

A 2011 switch to ISR failed to live up to its pre-season billing, although Ricciardo had already done enough to earn promotion to F1, and two FR3.5 rounds would be sacrificed to accommodate his commitments with F1 tail-ender HRT.

The dominance of Carlin duo Vergne and Wickens in 2011 contributed to Ricciardo's difficulty in finding the spotlight in FR3.5 consistently. However, the talent was never in doubt, and a second successive win in Monaco helped cement his move into F1.

3 ROBERT KUBICA
Starts: 17 (2005)
Wins: 4
Poles: 3
Championship: Winner in 2005

The F1-race-winner-turned-World-Rally-Championship-contender set himself on the path to superstardom by dominating the first year of FR3.5 as part of the revamped World Series by Renault package.

After moving into the lead of the points at the second race of the campaign he was never headed, building a points lead through consistency early on before wrapping up the title with three races to spare.

Such a dominant championship seemed unlikely when seven different drivers won the opening seven races, but Kubica ended that streak before going on to win four times, finishing on the podium in 11 of the 17 races. That led to a prize F1 test with Renault in early December, and he completed a reserve drive deal with BMW Sauber just weeks later.

2 ROBIN FRIJNS
Starts: 17 (2012)
Wins: 3
Poles: 4
Championship: Winner in 2012

A rookie stepping up from FR2.0 to an upgraded FR3.5 car for 2012 had no business showing the way to a field featuring junior drivers from six F1 teams.

While Frijns' career has lurched somewhat since winning the championship at the first attempt in FR3.5's strongest season, his phenomenal campaign makes him worthy of sitting above all but one in this list.

Seeing off a challenge led by GP2 converts Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird was unexpected, even by Frijns himself, who admitted he went into the year aiming to be in the top five in a grid littered with champions from lower categories.

But while Bianchi dropped points through bad luck and the occasional error, and Bird didn't always have the car to challenge, Frijns hit the ground running immediately and never looked fazed by the step up in machinery and competition.

A final-round collision with Bianchi ended the year on a sour note, but Frijns was still a thoroughly deserving champion.

1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Starts: 10 (2006-07)
Wins: 2
Poles: 2
Championship: 5th in 2007 (part-season)

Misano 2006: Sheltering from the heat of an Italian summer, a dozing figure lies horizontal in an unlit corner of his Carlin team's transporter.

The Red Bull-backed car has just gone quicker in qualifying than at any time previously in the season. Autosport has stopped by to meet the fresh-faced newcomer responsible for the upswing in pace, Formula 3 Euro Series frontrunner Sebastian Vettel.

As an insouciant Vettel stirs obligingly, Autosport has to suppress some incredulity - the newcomer has obviously exerted minimal effort in delivering instant pace in an unfamiliar car.

In his short tenure in FR3.5, Vettel made a lasting impact. Typically of that 2006 season, protests and technical controversies plagued the Misano weekend. In race one, Vettel finished third on the road behind unsung talent Ben Hanley and the blazingly quick but erratic Pastor Maldonado. However, illegal rear camber would lead to Maldonado's disqualification, while Hanley would be handed a harsh penalty for an innocuous defensive move on Andy Soucek.

When Vettel won Sunday's race two from pole, he therefore cemented an amazing double victory on his first weekend in the series (although come January, Hanley would have his race win reinstated on appeal).

"I don't know about this championship," sighed respected Italian journalist Massimo Costa on leaving Rimini. "I thought there were some big talents here, but if Vettel can come in and do that, maybe they're not so good after all..."

Given that Vettel has gone on to prove his exceptional ability, those distant FR3.5 performances can now be judged in context.

On his final FR3.5 outing of 2006 at Spa, the German came close to losing a finger in a crash at Raidillon - arguably the low point of his involvement in the category. The moment served to inspire Vettel's subsequent finger-brandishing in F1.

Vettel eradicated errors from his game when he moved into the series full-time the following year.

While the opposition was by no means left trailing in his dust, remarkable consistency was Vettel's hallmark. He had broken clear in the lead of the championship after the Hungaroring round when he received a promotion to F1 with Toro Rosso.

Tellingly, Carlin team team-mate Mikhail Aleshin was unable to repeat his early season form after Vettel's departure, a clear indication of how much the Wunderkind had lifted the team.