The 2014 FIA F3 European Championship got off to the best possible start with three different winners in the first three races. Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam by Carlin) was the first to see the chequered flag and then Esteban Ocon and Antonio Fuoco took the honours in the next two heats. Frenchman Ocon will arrive in Hockenheim leading the championship.

“I scored my first win in a single-seater at Hockenheim,” says Ocon. “Silverstone was a dream weekend with a victory and two top-three finishes. My aim is not just to win the rookie classification this year, it’s to win the championship. So I’ll have to have more weekends like this one starting with Hockenheim, I hope!”

Esteban Ocon is first followed by his team-mate Antonio Fuoco, a Ferrari Driver Academy protégé, so the two Prema Powerteam rookies leading the overall classification have gone head-to-head right from the start! On a circuit which all the drivers and teams know well they will have to watch out for the reaction of their more experienced rivals.

The first of them is Tom Blomqvist who has got the monkey off his back with his first win in the FIA F3 European Championship, and he now has to consolidate his position as a possible title contender. The British driver doesn’t lack determination and he knows that with two meetings in two weekends (Hockenheim followed by Pau) things can change very quickly.

Felix Rosenqvist (kftzeile 24 Mücke Motorsport), runner-up last season, messed up his English weekend completely scoring only eight points. The Swede has already won at Hockehheim, his team’s back yard, so he is tackling this round in an optimistic frame of mind. “Obviously we weren’t where we expected to be at Silverstone and we lacked pace compared to the front-runners. We’ve got a lot of work to do to fight our way back to the front and that starts here – now!”

Nicholas Latifi (Prema Powerteam), Jordan King (Carlin), Lucas Auer (kftzeile 24 Mücke Motorsport), and Dennis Van de Laar (Prema Powerteam) are also experienced drivers who should be watched.

There are three races on the Hockenheim programme in keeping with the new schedule adopted by the FIA F3 European Championship. The two free practice sessions of 40 minutes each will take place on Friday in the early afternoon. The first qualifying session, which decides the grid positions for race 1, will follow the same day at 18h10. The first race on Saturday will start at 12h10 after which comes the second qualifying session at 15h40. The drivers’ fastest time will decide his/her grid place for race 2, and their second quickest time will establish the positions for race 3. Sunday will be devoted to racing with race 2 at 11h00 and race 3 at 15h25. All the races can be seen live on www.fiaf3europe.com .