2005 Formula Three Euroseries season

The 2005 Formula Three Euroseries season was the third championship year of Europe's premier Formula Three series. The championship consisted of ten rounds – each with two races – held at a variety of European circuits. Each weekend consisted of one 60-minute practice session and two 30-minute qualifying sessions (one at Monaco), followed by one c.110km race and one c.80km race. Each qualifying session awarded one bonus point for pole position and each race awarded points for the top eight finishers, with ten points per win.

Event Schedule

Circuits
Round	Circuit	Country	Date
1	Hockenheim		15-17 April
2	Pau		6-8 May
3	Spa-Francorchamps		13-15 May
4	Monaco		18-21 May
5	Oschersleben		24-26 June
6	Norisring		15-17 July
7	Nürburgring		5-7 August
8	Zandvoort		26-28 August
9	Lausitzring		16-18 September
10	Hockenheim		21-23 October

Summary

The 2005 calendar included events at the historic circuits of Pau (France), Spa-Fracorchamps (Belgium), Zandvoort (Holland) and Monaco. Monaco has a long tradition of Formula 3 events, but this was the first since 1997. The debut of a new street circuit in the French town of Avignon was to take place in September, but the plans fell through and its date was given to the Lausitzring.

Thirteen countries were represented in the drivers' entry list, which included drivers from Argentine racecar drivers, the American racecar drivers and the Czech racecar drivers for the first time. There were teams from France, Germany, Britain, Austria, Italy, Holland, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic.

After a promising debut season with Manor Motorsport that ended with a win in the non-championship Bahrain F3 Superprix, and a contract with ASM for 2005, Lewis Hamilton was regarded as the championship favourite. He exceeded expectations by winning 15 races from 20 starts, securing 13 pole positions, posting ten fastest race laps, and scoring nearly twice as many points as his nearest rival, team-mate Adrian Sutil. Lucas Di Grassi made a full-time return to the series (he entered two rounds in 2003) and finished in 3rd place overall, with one win. The highest-placed rookie was the then-reigning Formula BMW Germany champion Sebastian Vettel, who was classified 5th overall with six podium finishes. He was beaten to 4th place by Franck Perera's more consistent points finishes.

In the Teams’ Championship, ASM Formule 3 retained the title that it had secured in 2004, with Signature in a distant second place. Third place was taken by Prema Powerteam, which had won the Euroseries' first teams' title in 2003. Manor Motorsport was classified 4th overall, as it continued to improve its form against rivals with more experience in Europe. At this time, the Spiess-Opel engine was still numerically dominant, but won on only two occasions. HWA-Mercedes had begun to gain the upper hand in 2004 (with 13 wins from 20 races), and increased its development effort to win 18 races in 2005.

2005 Entry list

Key: ^R = Series rookie.

#	Driver	Nationality	Team	Chassis	Engine
1	Lewis Hamilton		ASM Formule 3	Dallara F305	HWA-Mercedes
2	Adrian Sutil		ASM Formule 3	Dallara F305	HWA-Mercedes
3	Loïc Duval		Signature-Plus	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
4	James RossiterR		Signature-Plus	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
5	Kohei Hirate		Team Rosberg	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
6	Giedo van der Garde		Team Rosberg	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
7	Lucas Di Grassi		Manor Motorsport	Dallara F305	HWA-Mercedes
8	Paul di RestaR		Manor Motorsport	Dallara F305	HWA-Mercedes
9	Sebastian VettelR		Mücke Motorsport	Dallara F305	HWA-Mercedes
10	Atila AbreuR		Mücke Motorsport	Dallara F305	HWA-Mercedes
11	Gregory Franchi		Prema Powerteam	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
12	Marco Bonanomi		Prema Powerteam	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
14	Fabio Carbone		Signature	SLC R1	Spiess-Opel
15	Guillaume MoreauR		Signature	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
16	Alejandro Núñez		HBR Motorsport	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
17	Maximilian Götz		HBR Motorsport	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
18	Esteban GuerrieriR		Team Midland Euroseries	Dallara F305	TOM's Toyota
19	Richard AntinucciR		Team Midland Euroseries	Dallara F305	TOM's Toyota
20	Thomas HolzerR		AM-Holzer Rennsport	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
22	Hannes Neuhauser		HBR Motorsport	Dallara F305	HWA-Mercedes
23	Franck Perera		Prema Powerteam	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
24	Ross ZwolsmanR		RZ Racing	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
25	Filip SalaquardaR		Team ISR	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel
26	Paolo MontinR		Ombra Racing	Dallara F305	Mugen-Honda
27	Julia KuhnR		Kuhn Motorsport	Dallara F305	Spiess-Opel

Additional participations

Maximilian Götz left HBR Motorsport after four rounds, to be replaced by Danny Watts, making his Euroseries debut. Watts was able to stay for only one round, and the HBR line-up was subsequently reduced to two cars. Götz returned at the final round as a substitute for Adrian Sutil at ASM. Sutil's absence was due to commitments in the A1 Grand Prix series. Five drivers shared Team Midland's #19 car. Richard Antinucci competed in the first four rounds, before Nico Verdonck of Belgium replaced him at Oschersleben and the Norisring. He in turn was replaced by three British drivers, all Euroseries rookies: Stephen Jelley at the Nurburgring, Rob Austin at the Lausitzring and Zandvoort, and Ben Clucas in the final round of the season at Hockenheim. A number of registered drivers failed to complete the season, including Paulo Montin, who made only two starts with Ombra Racing; and Julia Kuhn, who made two starts in round 1 and attempted (but failed) to qualify for the first race of round 10. RZ Racing left the series after round 9 at Oschersleben.

2005 Championship Results

Key: Results in bold indicate Pole Position    

1st place

2nd place

3rd place

Points finish

No score

Did not start

2005 Drivers' Championship
	Driver	Round 1		Round 2		Round 3		Round 4		Round 5		Round 6		Round 7		Round 8		Round 9		Round 10		Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	1st	3rd	1st	1st	-	1st	1st	1st	3rd	1st	1st	1st	-	1st	-	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	172
2	Adrian Sutil	2nd	-	-	2nd	1st	2nd	2nd	-	2nd	3rd	-	2nd	1st	3rd	-	-	4th	2nd			94
3	Lucas Di Grassi	-	-	5th	7th	-	3rd	7th	5th	1st	2nd	5th	6th	2nd	-	-	-	8th	3rd	2nd	-	68
4	Franck Perera	-	8th	-	6th	6th	6th	5th	3rd	6th	-	4th	3rd	5th	6th	3rd	6th	5th	5th	4th	5th	67
5	Sebastian Vettel	-	5th	7th	-	-	-	-	-	5th	5th	2nd	4th	-	2nd	2nd	2nd	3rd	-	-	3rd	63
6	Loïc Duval	6th	2nd	2nd	3rd	-	-	3rd	2nd	-	8th	-	5th	6th	-	-	-	-	-	-	4th	52
7	James Rossiter	4th	1st	3rd	4th	2nd	8th	4th	4th	-	-	-	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	5th	-	51
8	Guillaume Moreau	-	-	4th	8th	3rd	-	-	-	7th	-	8th	-	-	8th	1st	4th	6th	4th	-	2nd	47
9	Giedo van der Garde	-	4th	6th	-	-	-	-	-	-	6th	-	-	8th	5th	-	3rd	2nd	6th	-	-	34
10	Paul Di Resta	-	-	-	-	-	5th	8th	6th	4th	4th	3rd	8th	-	-	-	5th	-	-	-	-	32
11	Marco Bonanomi	3rd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6th	-	-	4th	8th	-	-	-	6th	6th	21
12	Kohei Hirate	-	-	-	-	5th	4th	-	-	-	-	-	-	3rd	7th	-	-	-	8th	-	-	18
13	Fabio Carbone	-	-	-	5th	4th	-	6th	-	-	-	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	15
14	Maximilian Götz	5th	-	-	-	8th	-	-	7th											3rd	-	13
15	Atila Abreu	8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	-	-	-	7th	-	5th	8th	7th	-	8th	-	12
16	Esteban Guerrieri	-	6th	-	-	7th	-	-	-	-	7th	-	-	-	-	6th	-	-	-	7th	-	12
17	Greg Franchi	-	-	-	-	-	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4th	7th	-	7th	-	-	11
18	Hannes Neuhauser	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4th	-	7th	-	-	-	-	7th	9
19	Richard Antinucci	-	7th	8th	-	-	-	-	-													3
20	Ross Zwolsman	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-													2
21	Alejandro Núñez	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1

Teams' Championship
	Team		Points
1		ASM Formule 3	261
2		Signature-Plus	103
3		Prema Powerteam	98
4		Manor Motorsport	95
5		ASL-Mücke Motorsport	75
6		Signature	62
7		Team Rosberg	51
8		HBR Motorsport	17
9		Team Midland Euroseries	15
10		Team Zwolsman	2

See also

• Formula Three
• Formula racing

Sources

• Forix.autosport.com
• Speedsport Magazine
• Formel3guide.com (German language)
• F1Prospects.com

References