The 2008 Formula 3 International Series was the 58th British Formula 3 International Series season. It began on 24 March 2008 at Oulton Park's Easter Monday meeting and ended on 12 October at Donington Park after 22 rounds in four countries. Jay Bridger sealed the National Class championship at the Bucharest meeting, with a third place in round nineteen. The overall championship went down to the final meeting as Oliver Turvey, Jaime Alguersuari, Brendon Hartley and Sergio Pérez all had a chance of winning the title, however it was Alguersuari that won the title, thanks to a double win at Donington.

The scoring system was 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 points awarded to the first ten finishers, with one extra point added to the driver who set the fastest lap of the race. If a Class B driver or a guest driver finished among the top finishers, he would not score points for the main championship, and the points would be awarded to the next driver in the standings.

Three events (six rounds) were held outside the United Kingdom: Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and Bucharest.

Drivers and teams Team Chassis Engine No Driver Rounds Championship Class Hitech Racing Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 1 Max Chilton All 2 Walter Grubmüller All Carlin Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 3 Brendon Hartley All 4 Jaime Alguersuari All 17 Oliver Turvey All 18 Sam Abay All Nexa Racing Dallara F308 Mugen-Honda 5 Viktor Jensen 2–7 Räikkönen Robertson Racing Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 6 Henry Arundel All 24 John Martin All 25 Alistair Jackson 1–2 Clemente de Faria, Jr. 9 26 Atte Mustonen All Fortec Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 7 Sebastian Hohenthal 1–8 Dean Smith 11 8 Marcus Ericsson All 14 Philip Major All T-Sport Dallara F308 Mugen-Honda 9 Sergio Pérez All Ultimate Motorsport Mygale M-08F3 Mercedes 11 Esteban Guerrieri 1–3, 10 Alistair Jackson 4–9 12 Ricardo Teixeira 1–10 13 Michael Devaney 1–4 16 5–10 Eurotek Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 15 Oliver Oakes 2, 8 JTR with Marshall Westland Mygale M-08F3 Mercedes HWA 28 Nick Tandy 1–9, 11 National Class Carlin Motorsport Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 42 Henry Surtees 11 43 Adriano Buzaid 11 54 Kristján Einar 1–10 56 Andrew Meyrick 1–6 Martin O'Connell 7 Fluid Motorsport Dallara F307 Mugen-Honda 50 Jay Bridger All 51 Stefan Wilson All C F Racing Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 52 Hywel Lloyd All T-Sport Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 53 Steven Guerrero All 57 Salman Al Khalifa 1–10 Callum MacLeod 11 Nexa Racing Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 55 Craig Reiff 1–4, 8–9 Team Loctite Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 58 Niall Quinn 1–2, 4 59 Jordan Williams 5–7 Litespeed F3 SLC R1 Mugen-Honda 60 Callum MacLeod 5 61 Jonathan Legris 7, 9, 11 Invitation Entries Ombra Racing Dallara F308 Mugen-Honda 71 Matteo Chinosi 3 72 Federico Leo 3 HBR Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 73 Daniel Campos-Hull 8 74 Basil Shaaban 8 Cesario Formula Dallara F308 Mugen-Honda 84 Clemente de Faria, Jr. 11 Eurotek Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA 85 Oliver Oakes 9–11

Driver changes Following the departure of Marko Asmer, who joined BMW Sauber as the team's test driver, Hitech Racing brought in 16-year-old British driver Max Chilton as the Estonian's replacement. Austrian Walter Grubmüller remains with the team. Carlin Motorsport did not retain any of its drivers from the previous year, instead hiring Red Bull backed Brendon Hartley and Jaime Alguersuari. Brit Oliver Turvey, who has been an A1 Grand Prix rookie driver for A1 Team Great Britain, and Australian Sam Abay, also a race winner but at Formula BMW level, take the remaining seats in the Championship Class. Unlike the previous year, Carlin also entered two cars in the lower national class level, Kristján Einar and Andrew Meyrick will drive them. Räikkönen Robertson Racing retained Finn Atte Mustonen with Henry Arundel, Alistair Jackson and John Martin taking the remaining three seats. Both Mansell brothers, Greg and Leo, left the team at the end of 2007. They were replaced by Marcus Ericsson, who won the final British Formula BMW Championship the previous year with Fortec, and fellow Formula BMW champion Philip Major. Sebastian Hohenthal retains his spot at the team. T-Sport retain 2007 National Class winner Sergio Pérez who has been promoted to Championship class. Steven Guerrero and Salman Al-Khalifa, the latter having experience in the championship, take up T-Sport's vacant national class seats. Ultimate Motorsport, the only team to use the Mygale chassis, retain experienced Esteban Guerrieri and Michael Devaney, both have a total of eight seasons of Formula Three between them. Angolan Ricardo Teixeira joins the team from Performance Racing.

Calendar Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team National Class Winner 1 Oulton Park 24 March Jaime Alguersuari John Martin Oliver Turvey Carlin Motorsport Andrew Meyrick 2 Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Carlin Motorsport Andrew Meyrick 3 Croft 27 April Marcus Ericsson Max Chilton Sergio Pérez T-Sport Andrew Meyrick 4 Brendon Hartley Sergio Pérez Brendon Hartley Carlin Motorsport Andrew Meyrick 5 Monza 17 May Matteo Chinosi Esteban Guerrieri Sergio Pérez T-Sport Hywel Lloyd 6 18 May Max Chilton Esteban Guerrieri Sergio Pérez T-Sport Jay Bridger 7 Rockingham 26 May Max Chilton Jaime Alguersuari Atte Mustonen Räikkönen Robertson Racing Andrew Meyrick 8 Jaime Alguersuari Oliver Turvey Sebastian Hohenthal Fortec Motorsport Andrew Meyrick 9 Snetterton 8 June Michael Devaney Marcus Ericsson Michael Devaney Ultimate Motorsport Jay Bridger 10 Brendon Hartley Jaime Alguersuari Michael Devaney Ultimate Motorsport Stefan Wilson 11 Thruxton 29 June Jaime Alguersuari Marcus Ericsson Brendon Hartley Carlin Motorsport Andrew Meyrick 12 Brendon Hartley Oliver Turvey Brendon Hartley Carlin Motorsport Steven Guerrero 13 Brands Hatch 13 July Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Carlin Motorsport Jay Bridger 14 Marcus Ericsson Marcus Ericsson Sergio Pérez T-Sport Steven Guerrero 15 Spa-Francorchamps1 August Oliver Turvey Brendon Hartley Oliver Turvey Carlin Motorsport Stefan Wilson 162 August Oliver Turvey Brendon Hartley Brendon Hartley Carlin Motorsport Jay Bridger 17 Silverstone 16 August Oliver Turvey Oliver Turvey Oliver Turvey Carlin Motorsport Stefan Wilson 18 Brendon Hartley Oliver Turvey Oliver Turvey Carlin Motorsport Hywel Lloyd 19 Bucharest23 August Brendon Hartley Marcus Ericsson Brendon Hartley Carlin Motorsport Salman Al Khalifa 2024 August Oliver Turvey Brendon Hartley Jaime Alguersuari Carlin Motorsport Stefan Wilson 21 Donington Park 12 October Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Carlin Motorsport Henry Surtees 22 Oliver Oakes Brendon Hartley Jaime Alguersuari Carlin Motorsport Jay Bridger

Standings Pos Driver OUL CRO MNZ ROC SNE THR BRH SPA SIL BUC DON Pts 1 Jaime Alguersuari Ret 1 6 5 12 6 3 2 2 3 Ret 3 1 4 3 4 5 6 3 1 1 1 251 2 Oliver Turvey 1 12 8 3 3 13 6 9 4 5 3 2 2 3 1 Ret 1 1 2 2 3 Ret 234 3 Brendon Hartley Ret 4 Ret 1 2 Ret 10 8 3 Ret 1 1 8 Ret 2 1 2 9 1 3 2 Ret 208 4 Sergio Pérez 7 13 1 2 1 1 5 13 Ret 4 7 4 4 1 6 2 4 4 Ret Ret Ret 3 195 5 Marcus Ericsson 6 2 5 Ret 7 7 2 10 6 8 2 Ret 5 Ret 7 5 3 2 11 12 8 7 141 6 Atte Mustonen 3 7 4 4 Ret 3 1 4 8 6 6 Ret 3 2 10 Ret 10 5 7 Ret 7 18 138 7 Sebastian Hohenthal 8 3 2 7 Ret Ret 7 1 5 2 5 6 Ret 6 Ret 8 105 8 Michael Devaney 4 8 16 Ret Ret 10 12 5 1 1 9 5 10 9 8 Ret 11 8 10 5 91 9 Nick Tandy NC Ret Ret 6 Ret 5 14 6 7 22 8 Ret 7 5 23 3 9 3 6 2 86 10 Max Chilton 2 14 22 10 Ret 4 4 3 16 7 14 12 Ret 10 17 10 7 10 6 16 21 11 72 11 Sam Abay 10 11 10 Ret 6 11 8 11 10 21 4 9 12 7 4 21 8 Ret 5 8 5 5 71 12 Esteban Guerrieri 5 6 3 Ret 16 2 4 4 63 13 John Martin 11 Ret 9 21 5 9 11 14 12 11 17 7 9 18 5 Ret 6 7 8 Ret 12 12 45 14 Walter Grubmüller Ret 5 14 11 4 Ret 9 12 9 9 11 11 6 8 9 Ret 13 11 9 6 Ret 20 44 15 Henry Arundel 9 10 11 Ret Ret DNS 13 Ret Ret Ret 10 8 20 11 12 7 12 15 Ret 15 11 10 21 16 Dean Smith 4 4 20 17 Alistair Jackson 13 9 7 9 Ret Ret 13 12 Ret 16 Ret Ret 11 19 14 Ret 9 18 Philip Major 16 22 Ret 20 9 Ret 20 Ret 19 14 16 10 11 13 20 9 16 12 Ret Ret 20 17 8 19 Oliver Oakes 12 Ret 13 11 22 14 14 7 13 6 1 20 Viktor Jensen 17 15 13 Ret 21 18 20 Ret 22 17 19 16 1 21 Ricardo Teixeira 14 17 Ret Ret DSQ 17 15 15 Ret 19 Ret Ret 13 Ret Ret 18 Ret 13 Ret Ret 0 22 Clemente de Faria, Jr. 20 18 16 19 0 Guest drivers ineligible for points Daniel Campos-Hull Ret 6 0 Matteo Chinosi 8 8 0 Federico Leo 14 Ret 0 Basil Shaaban Ret 15 0 National Class 1 Jay Bridger 15 19 15 14 Ret 12 19 16 11 13 13 14 14 15 16 12 17 17 15 11 10 8 322 2 Steven Guerrero 20 25 18 16 Ret 16 Ret 17 15 16 15 13 16 12 18 13 19 20 Ret 14 17 13 211 3 Hywel Lloyd 17 20 Ret 13 10 14 22 19 NC 15 19 Ret 22 20 19 16 18 16 13 10 18 16 207 4 Stefan Wilson 21 23 19 18 11 Ret 18 21 17 10 21 Ret 18 17 14 17 15 Ret Ret 9 15 15 194 5 Andrew Meyrick 12 15 13 8 Ret Ret 16 7 14 Ret 12 15 174 6 Salman Al Khalifa Ret 16 24 12 Ret Ret 17 Ret 18 18 23 Ret 17 14 15 14 21 19 12 13 169 7 Kristján Einar 19 21 20 17 Ret 15 Ret 20 21 17 18 18 24 22 21 Ret 24 23 Ret Ret 101 8 Craig Reiff 22 24 23 19 15 Ret 24 Ret 22 20 23 22 51 9 Jonathan Legris 16 19 Ret 21 20 21 38 10 Niall Quinn 18 18 21 Ret 23 22 38 11 Henry Surtees 9 9 35 12 Jordan Williams Ret 20 20 19 23 21 25 13 Adriano Buzaid 14 14 22 14 Callum MacLeod 22 Ret 19 Ret 9 15 Martin O'Connell 21 Ret 6 Pos Driver OUL CRO MNZ ROC SNE THR BRH SPA SIL BUC DON Pts

References

External links

The official website of the British Formula 3 Championship