2015 Formula Renault 3.5 Series

The 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season was a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in Formula Renault 3.5 formula race cars that conformed to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2015 season was the eleventh and final season Formula Renault 3.5 Series organised by Renault Sport, after it was announced that the organisation would withdraw its backing of the championship at the end of the season.^[1]

2015 Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Drivers' Champion: Oliver Rowland
Teams' Champion: Fortec Motorsports

Previous

2014

Next

2016

Support series:
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Renault Sport Trophy

The season began at Motorland Aragón on 25 April and finished on 18 October at Circuito de Jerez. The series formed part of the World Series by Renault meetings at seven double header events, with an additional double header event at the Red Bull Ring and a single race at Monaco, in support of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Teams and drivers

Team No. Driver name Status Rounds DAMS[2] 1 Nyck de Vries[3] R All 2 Dean Stoneman[4] R All Fortec Motorsports[2] 3 Jazeman Jaafar[5] All 4 Oliver Rowland[6] All Arden Motorsport[2] 5 Nicholas Latifi[7] All 6 Egor Orudzhev[8] R All Lotus[2] 9 Matthieu Vaxivière[9] All 10 Meindert van Buuren[10] 1–4 Marlon Stöckinger[11] 5, 7–9 Nick Yelloly[12] 6 Strakka Racing[2] 11 Tio Ellinas[13] R All 12 Gustav Malja[14] R All AVF[2] 15 Alfonso Celis Jr.[15] R All 16 Beitske Visser[16] All Tech 1 Racing[2] 17 Roy Nissany[17] R All 18 Aurélien Panis[18] R All International Draco Racing[2] 19 Pietro Fantin[19] 1–7 André Negrão[20] 8 20 Bruno Bonifacio[21] R 1–7 André Negrão[20] 9 Comtec Racing[2] 21 Louis Delétraz[22] R 5 Jagonya Ayam with Carlin[2] 25 Sean Gelael[23] R All 26 Tom Dillmann[23] All Pons Racing[2] 39 Philo Paz Armand[24] R 1–4, 6 Meindert van Buuren[11] 5 Yu Kanamaru[25] R 7–9 40 Roberto Merhi[26] 1, 3–5 Alex Fontana[27] R 2 Will Bratt[28] R 6 René Binder[29] 7 Nikita Zlobin[30] R 8–9

Icon Meaning R Series rookie for 2015

Driver changes

Changed teams

• After competing for Tech 1 Racing at the Nürburgring during the 2014 season, Alfonso Celis Jr. switched to AVF for a full 2015 campaign.^[15]
• Jazeman Jaafar switched from ISR Racing to Fortec Motorsports.^[5]
• Nicholas Latifi, who competed in three rounds in 2014 for Tech 1 Racing, joined Arden Motorsport for a full-time campaign in 2015.^[7]
• Roberto Merhi switched from Zeta Corse to Pons Racing.^[26] He had also signed a short-term contract to race in Formula One for the Manor F1 Team.^[31][32]
• Meindert van Buuren switched from Pons Racing to Lotus.^[10]

Entering/Re–Entering FR3.5

• Formula Renault 2.0 Alps driver Philo Paz Armand made his Formula Renault 3.5 début with Pons Racing.^[24]
• Bruno Bonifacio, who graduated from Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, joined the series with International Draco Racing.^[21]
• Tom Dillmann, who raced in the GP2 Series and Porsche Carrera Cup France in 2014, moved to the series with Carlin, alongside newcomer Sean Gelael, who graduated from the FIA European Formula 3 Championship.^[23]
• Tio Ellinas moved from the GP2 Series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, joining Strakka Racing.^[13]
• Gustav Malja, who raced for Josef Kaufmann Racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, graduated to the series, joining Strakka Racing.^[14]
• Roy Nissany graduated to the series from the European Formula Three Championship, competing with Tech 1 Racing.^[17]
• Egor Orudzhev, who raced for Tech 1 Racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, joined Arden Motorsport.^[8]
• Aurélien Panis, who raced for the ART Junior Team in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, joined fellow French team Tech 1 Racing.^[18]
• Facu Regalia, who raced a part-season in the GP2 Series with Hilmer Motorsport, originally signed to race for Zeta Corse,^[33] but left the team prior to the start of the season to join Comtec Racing.^[34] However, prior to the first round he switched to Auto GP with FMS Racing.^[35]
• Dean Stoneman, the GP3 Series runner-up, returned to the series with DAMS.^[4]
• Nyck de Vries, the 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Alps champion, made his series début with DAMS.^[3]

Leaving FR3.5

• Zoël Amberg and Oliver Webb, who contested three rounds of the championship in 2014, moved to the FIA World Endurance Championship, racing in the LMP2 category for Team SARD Morand.^[36][37] Amberg will also race for Lazarus in the GP2 Series.^[38]
• William Buller, who raced for Arden Motorsport in 2014, joined Kondō Racing in Japanese Super Formula.^[39]
• Pierre Gasly, the runner-up of the 2014 season, joined the GP2 Series with DAMS.^[40] Gasly also took part in the final three rounds of the 2014 GP2 season with Caterham Racing.^[41]
• Luca Ghiotto, who raced for International Draco Racing in 2014, moved to the GP3 Series with Trident Racing, the team with which he contested two rounds of the 2014 season.^[42] He will be joined at the team by Óscar Tunjo, who raced for Pons Racing in 2014.^[43]
• Norman Nato, who drove for DAMS in 2014, entered the GP2 Series with Arden International.^[44]
• Carlos Sainz, Jr. the 2014 champion, graduated to Formula One, racing for Toro Rosso alongside fellow rookie Max Verstappen.^[45]
• Sergey Sirotkin, who finished fifth for Fortec Motorsports in 2014, joined the GP2 Series with Rapax.^[46]
• Marco Sørensen, who raced for Tech 1 Racing in 2014, entered the GP2 Series with Carlin,^[47] and the FIA World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin Racing.^[48]
• Will Stevens, who finished sixth for Strakka Racing in 2014, graduated to Formula One, racing for the Manor F1 Team.^[49] Stevens made his Formula One debut with Caterham in the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.^[50]
• Marlon Stöckinger, who finished ninth for Lotus in 2014, joined Status Grand Prix in the GP2 Series.^[51]
• Cameron Twynham, who contested three rounds of the championship for Comtec Racing in 2014, joined the Porsche Supercup with MOMO-Megatron.^[52]

Mid-season changes

• GP3 Series driver Alex Fontana replaced Roberto Merhi at Pons Racing for the Monaco round due to Merhi's Formula One commitments with the Manor F1 Team on the same weekend.^[27] Former Euroseries 3000 champion Will Bratt deputised for Merhi at the Silverstone round due to his participation in the Italian Grand Prix.^[28] Bratt was replaced by GP2 Series driver René Binder at the Nürburgring round, after Merhi disbanded his contract with Pons.^[29] At the Le Mans round, Binder was replaced by Nikita Zlobin.^[30]
• After missing the first four rounds of the season, Comtec Racing returned to the championship at the Red Bull Ring with a single car for Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 leader Louis Delétraz.^[22]
• Marlon Stöckinger replaced Meindert van Buuren at Lotus for the Red Bull Ring round after the team cancelled their contract with him. Van Buuren in turn replaced Philo Paz Armand at Pons Racing, who missed the event due to visa issues.^[11]
• GP2 Series driver Nick Yelloly replaced Stöckinger at the Silverstone round due to his GP2 Series commitments with Status Grand Prix at Monza.^[12]
• Euroformula Open driver Yu Kanamaru replaced Philo Paz Armand at Pons Racing for the Nürburgring round due to continued visa issues for Armand.^[25]
• Pietro Fantin will be replaced at Le Mans by series' returnee André Negrão, who had three consecutive seasons with Draco Racing in 2011–2013.^[20]

Team changes

• After five seasons in FR3.5, ISR Racing withdrew from the championship to focus on Sports car racing.^[53]
• British team Carlin returned to the championship after withdrawing from the 2014 season.^[2]
• Zeta Corse withdrew from the championship before the opening round after failing to secure fully funded drivers for the season.^[54]

Race calendar and results

The calendar for the 2015 season was announced on 20 October 2014, on the final day of the 2014 season.^[55] Seven rounds formed meetings of the 2015 World Series by Renault season, with additional rounds to be held at the Red Bull Ring and at the Monaco Grand Prix. The championship returns to the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Le Mans. Monza, Moscow Raceway and Paul Ricard, which all held races in 2014, have been removed from the schedule.

On 11 February 2015, it was announced that the Silverstone round would be moved back a week due to the circuit reacquiring the rights to host the British round of the 2015 MotoGP season.^[56]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Rookie Winner
1	R1	Ciudad del Motor de Aragón, Alcañiz	25 April	Matthieu Vaxivière	Meindert van Buuren	Oliver Rowland	Fortec Motorsports	Dean Stoneman
	R2		26 April	Nyck de Vries	Alfonso Celis Jr.	Matthieu Vaxivière	Lotus	Nyck de Vries
2		Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	24 May	Jazeman Jaafar	Oliver Rowland	Jazeman Jaafar	Fortec Motorsports	Dean Stoneman
3	R1	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa	30 May	Matthieu Vaxivière	Jazeman Jaafar	Matthieu Vaxivière	Lotus	Dean Stoneman
	R2		31 May	Oliver Rowland	Nicholas Latifi	Oliver Rowland	Fortec Motorsports	Nyck de Vries
4	R1	Hungaroring, Mogyoród	13 June	Oliver Rowland	Matthieu Vaxivière	Egor Orudzhev	Arden Motorsport	Egor Orudzhev
	R2		14 June	Matthieu Vaxivière	Matthieu Vaxivière	Oliver Rowland	Fortec Motorsports	Gustav Malja
5	R1	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	12 July	Oliver Rowland	Oliver Rowland	Oliver Rowland	Fortec Motorsports	Dean Stoneman
	R2			Matthieu Vaxivière	Oliver Rowland	Matthieu Vaxivière	Lotus	Roy Nissany
6	R1	Silverstone Circuit	5 September	Tio Ellinas	Pietro Fantin	Tio Ellinas	Strakka Racing	Nyck de Vries
	R2		6 September	Matthieu Vaxivière	Matthieu Vaxivière	Oliver Rowland	Fortec Motorsports	Dean Stoneman
7	R1	Nürburgring, Nürburg	12 September	Oliver Rowland	Oliver Rowland	Oliver Rowland	Fortec Motorsports	Nyck de Vries
	R2		13 September	Oliver Rowland	Tom Dillmann	Tio Ellinas	Strakka Racing	Gustav Malja
8	R1	Le Mans Bugatti, Le Mans	26 September	Oliver Rowland	Matthieu Vaxivière	Oliver Rowland	Fortec Motorsports	Egor Orudzhev
	R2		27 September	Tio Ellinas	Matthieu Vaxivière	Egor Orudzhev	Arden Motorsport	Egor Orudzhev
9	R1	Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera	17 October	Tom Dillmann	Alfonso Celis Jr.	Oliver Rowland	Fortec Motorsports	Egor Orudzhev
	R2		18 October	Oliver Rowland	Nyck de Vries	Nyck de Vries	DAMS	Nyck de Vries

Championship standings

Points system

Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Drivers' Championship

Pos Driver ALC MON SPA HUN RBR SIL NÜR LMS JER Points 1 Oliver Rowland 1 3 6 5 1 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 10 1 8 1 2 307 2 Matthieu Vaxivière 4 1 Ret 1 3 4 2 6 1 3 2 4 11 10 2 3 3 234 3 Nyck de Vries 7 2 11 9 2 11 9 3 5 4 Ret 2 3 7 10 4 1 160 4 Tio Ellinas Ret 4 Ret 7 5 17 6 9 13 1 11 6 1 9 3 5 4 135 5 Egor Orudzhev Ret 18 4 10 9 1 11 11 Ret 7 6 9 5 2 1 2 7 133 6 Dean Stoneman 3 12 2 3 4 6 12 2 Ret Ret 4 Ret 6 4 4 13 Ret 130 7 Tom Dillmann 9 5 3 6 16 5 5 5 8 5 Ret 5 14 3 5 Ret 6 122 8 Jazeman Jaafar 2 7 1 2 6 18 4 10 9 10 Ret 3 17 13 14 6 8 118 9 Gustav Malja 10 20 Ret 8 14 10 3 7 7 6 8 8 2 11 9 11 5 79 10 Pietro Fantin 6 11 5 Ret 8 Ret 8 13 4 11 3 7 9 61 11 Nicholas Latifi 8 14 Ret 4 13 Ret 17 4 Ret 8 5 Ret Ret Ret 7 7 10 55 12 Aurélien Panis 12 13 7 Ret 7 7 13 8 Ret Ret 9 14 Ret 5 6 Ret 13 42 13 Roy Nissany 14 16 12 14 Ret 8 14 Ret 3 9 14 Ret 18 8 12 9 Ret 27 14 Roberto Merhi Ret 9 Ret Ret 2 7 DSQ EX 26 15 Meindert van Buuren 5 6 Ret 11 10 16 10 Ret Ret 20 16 Alfonso Celis Jr. Ret 8 Ret 13 11 14 16 Ret 12 13† 12 10 4 Ret 16 15 Ret 17 17 Marlon Stöckinger Ret 6 11 7 15 11 17 14 14 18 Yu Kanamaru 12 13 6 Ret 10 11 9 19 Sean Gelael Ret 15 8 15 12 15 Ret Ret Ret Ret 10 15 16 16 17 16 9 7 20 Nick Yelloly 14 7 6 21 André Negrão 12 Ret 8 12 4 22 René Binder 13 8 4 23 Beitske Visser DNS 19 13† DNS Ret 9 15 12 10 Ret 13 16 15 14 13 12 Ret 3 24 Alex Fontana 9 2 25 Bruno Bonifacio 11 10 Ret 12 Ret 12 18 14 11 Ret Ret Ret 12 1 26 Philo Paz Armand 13 17 10 16 15 13 Ret Ret 16 1 27 Will Bratt 12 15 0 28 Nikita Zlobin 17 15 14 Ret 0 29 Louis Delétraz 15 Ret 0 Alexander Albon PO PO 0 Pos Driver ALC MON SPA HUN RBR SIL NÜR LMS JER Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † – Retired, but classified Rookie

Teams' Championship

Pos Team Car No. ALC MON SPA HUN RBR SIL NÜR LMS JER Points 1 Fortec Motorsports 3 2 7 1 2 6 18 4 10 9 10 Ret 3 17 13 14 6 8 425 4 1 3 6 5 1 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 10 1 8 1 2 2 Lotus 9 4 1 Ret 1 3 4 2 6 1 3 2 4 11 6 2 3 3 274 10 5 6 Ret 11 10 16 10 Ret 6 14 7 11 7 15 11 17 14 3 DAMS 1 7 2 11 9 2 11 9 3 5 4 Ret 2 3 7 10 4 1 246 2 3 12 2 3 4 6 12 2 Ret Ret 4 Ret 6 4 4 13 Ret 4 Strakka Racing 11 Ret 4 Ret 7 5 17 6 9 13 1 11 6 1 9 3 5 4 214 12 10 20 Ret 8 14 10 3 7 7 6 8 8 2 11 9 11 5 5 Arden Motorsport 5 8 14 Ret 4 13 Ret 17 4 Ret 8 5 Ret Ret Ret 7 7 10 188 6 Ret 18 4 10 9 1 11 11 Ret 7 6 9 5 2 1 2 7 6 Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 25 Ret 15 8 15 12 15 Ret Ret Ret Ret 10 15 16 16 17 16 9 129 26 9 5 3 6 16 5 5 5 8 5 Ret 5 14 3 5 Ret 6 7 Tech 1 Racing 17 14 16 12 14 Ret 8 14 Ret 3 9 14 Ret 18 8 12 9 Ret 69 18 12 13 7 Ret 7 7 13 8 Ret Ret 9 14 Ret 5 6 Ret 13 8 International Draco Racing 19 6 11 5 Ret 8 Ret 8 13 4 11 3 7 9 12 Ret 66 20 11 10 Ret 12 Ret 12 18 14 11 Ret Ret Ret 12 8 12 9 Pons Racing 39 13 17 10 16 15 13 Ret Ret Ret Ret 16 12 13 6 Ret 10 11 40 40 Ret 9 9 Ret Ret 2 7 DSQ EX 12 15 13 8 17 15 14 Ret 10 AVF 15 Ret 8 Ret 13 11 14 16 Ret 12 13† 12 10 4 Ret 16 15 Ret 20 16 DNS 19 13† DNS Ret 9 15 12 10 Ret 13 16 15 14 13 12 Ret 11 Comtec Racing 21 15 Ret 0 Pos Team Car No. ALC MON SPA HUN RBR SIL NÜR LMS JER Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † – Retired, but classified