2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Season Preview

2012 looks set to be a vintage campaign for single-seater category Formula Renault 3.5. PaddockScout.com's Peter Allen takes a look at the runners and riders gunning for the prize F1 test and a shot at full-time graduation to grand prix racing.

The 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season begins this weekend at Motorland Aragon in Spain with a brand new car and a grid full of promising young racers.

In fact, such has been the interest surrounding the championship that all 26 seats were filled prior to the first of three pre-season tests. Those tests gave the teams and drivers the chance to get to grips with the new Dallara chassis and its Zytek engine, a combination that has proved to be three seconds a lap faster than the previous incarnation. The new car also features a Drag Reduction System, giving prospective future Formula 1 pilots some early experience of the device.



It wasn’t just the drivers that were keen to be part of it all, with 18 teams applying for the 13 spots on the grid. Successful single-seater outfits Arden and DAMS were the newcomers selected.

Arden’s entry into the championship is led by Alexander Rossi, who finished third in last year’s standings. The American prospect returns for a second campaign, courtesy of a tie-up between Arden and the Caterham F1 team, for whom Rossi is a reserve driver. While his car carries the green and yellow of Caterham, the sister car will also be decked out in a livery resembling that of an F1 car, with Red Bull Junior Lewis Williamson making a full-time step up to the series with the team he raced for in GP3 in 2011. The Scot made a couple of appearances in FR3.5 last year as a stand-in for the otherwise engaged Daniel Ricciardo, and he’ll hope to continue the success that Red Bull have enjoyed recently with Ricciardo and Vergne finishing runner-up in the past two seasons. Arden have seemingly struggled in pre-season testing though, so it remains to be seen whether either of their drivers can demonstrate their full potential.

Another returning race-winner from last year is Kevin Korjus, the young Estonian who impressed greatly by claiming three victories in the first half of his rookie season. Things tailed off for him later on, but the Gravity-backed man returns for a title assault and sticks with the Tech 1 Racing team. His teammate is none other than Jules Bianchi, the Ferrari protégé and Force India reserve who switches to FR3.5 after two seasons in GP2 where he failed to live up expectations – even though he twice finished third in the standings.

Bianchi isn’t the only convert from GP2 who also holds an F1 reserve role, with Mercedes-contracted Sam Bird also making the move. He’s joined at the Czech ISR team by American Jake Rosenzweig, who embarks on his third season.

Despite all these drivers with experience of both fast single-seaters and F1, it was reigning Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion Robin Frijns who regularly set the pace in testing. The Dutchman arrives in the series with Fortec Motorsports with back-to-back European titles in Formula BMW and Formula Renault 2.0. His teammate is Carlos Huertas, the Colombian stepping up after three years in British F3 where he came third overall last year.



Carlin have won the last two drivers’ titles, and dominated proceedings last year with Robert Wickens and Vergne. This year they take on two rookies, the first of whom is Kevin Magnussen, runner-up in British F3 last year and a McLaren development driver. His teammate is Will Stevens, who was fourth in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 in 2011 and was once on the books at Honda and then Brawn GP.

There’s another pair of rookies at Lotus, renamed from Gravity-Charouz to reflect its links to the F1 team bearing the same name. New Zealand’s Richie Stanaway arrives as one of motorsport’s hottest prospects after back-to-back titles in Formel Masters and F3 in Germany, and is partnered by Dane Marco Sorensen who finished runner-up to Stanaway in F3 last year. Both have looked very quick over winter testing.

P1 Motorsport meanwhile take the strategy of retaining both their drivers from last season. Austrian Walter Grubmuller begins his third season in the series with the team owned by his father, while Russia’s Daniil Move starts his sixth year in the category. While neither have the exciting potential of many of their rivals, both should be able to use their experience to good effect and help their team adapt to the new car.

Move is just one of four Russians taking part this year, with two featuring at the all-Russian Team RFR squad which has taken over from KMP. 2010 champion Mikhail Aleshin returns to partner Anton Nebylitsky. The fourth Russian is Nikolay Martsenko, another German F3 graduate, who lines up at BVM Target alongside Giovanni Venturini, twice a race-winner in Auto GP last year.

Swiss ace Nico Muller steps up after finishing third and then fourth in GP3 for the past two years, and joins Draco Racing alongside second-year Andre Negrao of Brazil. There’s a Swiss-Brazilian partnership at Pons Racing too, with Zoel Amberg and Yann Cunha moving on up from GP3 and F3 respectively.

Another stepping up from GP3 is Nick Yelloly, who impressed greatly when he raced with Pons at the end of last year, finishing second in the season finale in Barcelona. He’s now at Comtec, together with yet another GP3 graduate Vittorio Ghirelli. Finally, DAMS’ new entry consists of former British F3 racer Lucas Foresti and Arthur (the younger brother of Charles) Pic, who moves from Tech 1.

2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series entry list

• 1 Kevin Magnussen, Carlin
• 2 Will Stevens, Carlin
• 3 Carlos Huertas, Fortec Motorsports
• 4 Robin Frijns, Fortec Motorsport
• 5 Sam Bird, ISR
• 6 Jake Rosenzweig, ISR
• 7 Kevin Korjus, Tech 1 Racing
• 8 Jules Bianchi, Tech 1 Racing
• 9 Walter Grubmuller, P1 Motorsport
• 10 Daniil Move, P1 Motorsport
• 11 Richie Stanaway, Lotus
• 12 Marco Sorensen, Lotus
• 15 Giovanni Venturini, BVM Target
• 16 Nicolay Martsenko, BVM Target
• 17 Mikhail Aleshin, Team RFR
• 18 Anton Nebylitskiy, Team RFR
• 19 Yann Cunha, Pons Racing
• 20 Zoel Amberg, Pons Racing
• 21 Nico Muller, International Draco Racing
• 22 Andre Negrao, International Draco Racing
• 23 Vittorio Ghirelli, Comtec Racing
• 24 Nick Yelloly, Comtec Racing
• 25 Alexander Rossi, Arden Caterham
• 26 Lewis Williamson, Arden Caterham
• 27 Lucas Foresti, DAMS
• 28 Arthur Pic, DAMS

Watch Formula Renault 3.5 highlights on Motors TV throughout 2012


Peter Allen


Peter Allen runs PaddockScout.com, which focusses on emerging single-seater talent, as well as contributing to other motorsport sites. You can follow him on Twitter via @PeteAllen_.