F3 European Championship

Venue: Silverstone
Track length: 5.891 kilometres
Lap record FIA F3: Alex Lynn 2013 (1:53,831 minutes)
Distance: 18 laps

This weekend, the FIA Formula 3 European Championship kicks off its 2014 season at Silverstone’s 5.891-kilometre GP circuit. With four days of pre-season testing at the Hungaroring and the Red Bull Ring contested, the young-guns are ready to meet the challenges represented by the planet’s most competitive young-talent series. The race weekend at Silverstone will be contested by a total of 27 drivers, with four of them being Britons: Jordan King (Carlin), Hector Hurst (Team West-Tec F3), Jake Dennis (Carlin) and Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin).

It goes without saying that the four Britons are particularly keen on shining in front of their home crowds. Carlin drivers King und Dennis as well as Blomqvist who races for Jagonya Ayam with Carlin may hope for securing good results as they all regularly made it to the top 10, on the four days of pre-season testing. Meanwhile, rookie Hector Hurst and his newcomer team West-Tec F3 want to also cause a first stir, in their home event.

In the tests, both the experienced drivers and the newcomers delivered in convincing style, with Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing) in particular demonstrating that he is ready for battling it out in the planet’s most competitive young-talent series by setting two fastest lap times. In 2013, the Dutchman, son of former Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen, still was karting – to advance to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship straight away. The other two fastest lap times of the official tests were set by the experienced drivers Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Félix Serrallés (Team West-Tec F3).

All the 27 young-guns want to follow the footsteps of Raffaele Marciello or Daniil Kvyat who succeeded in shining in the 2013 FIA Formula 3 European Championship season. Marciello, member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, won the 2013 title and is racing in the GP2 Series, this year. And Russia’s Daniil Kvyat, a Red Bull protégé, even made it right to a Formula 1 GP seat.

Jordan King (Carlin): “I was a rookie in 2013 and Silverstone was my only second FIA Formula 3 European Championship race weekend. Now I’m clearly more experienced and will give my very best to secure good results, in my home event. It’s my home race and so, all my sponsors and several friends will be on site to support me. Apart from this, it’s just a race like any other… Nearly, that is, as it’s just a 30-minute ride to the circuit, for me.”