The championship followed a single season of the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy and revived the FIA Formula 3 European Championship banner. The 2012 inaugural season integrated seven rounds from the defunct Formula 3 Euro Series, two rounds from British Formula Three, and a DTM-supporting round at Brands Hatch. From 2013 onwards the series ran its own independent calendar.
The FIA Formula 3 European Championship was a spec series. The Dallara F317, introduced for the 2017 season, became the definitive car of the series' final years, featuring an airboxless roll hoop with a left-side separated airbox on the upper sidepod, a carbon-fibre monocoque with honeycomb structure, biplane front wing, biplane rear wing, and a lower nose profile influenced by contemporary Formula One car design.
Engines were naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre DOHC inline-four units producing approximately 240 hp, rev-limited to 7,400 rpm, supplied by Mercedes-AMG and Volkswagen. A maximum of three teams were permitted per engine manufacturer. ThreeBond Nissan and Neil Brown Engineering also supplied engines between 2012 and 2016. The six-speed sequential gearbox used electro-hydraulic paddle-shift control. Hankook supplied control tyres throughout the series' life. Total car weight was 565 kg including the driver. Top speed was over 257 km/h, with 0–100 km/h acceleration in approximately three seconds.
Each Formula 3 European Championship race weekend consisted of two qualifying sessions and three races spread across a Friday-to-Sunday schedule. Race 1 took place Saturday morning, Race 2 Sunday morning, and Race 3 Sunday afternoon. Each race ran for 33 minutes plus one lap over a distance of approximately 100 kilometres.
The championship's roll of alumni is among the most decorated of any junior formula. Drivers who went through the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and subsequently graduated to Formula One include Felix Rosenqvist, Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, and George Russell. Norris finished third overall in the 2017 edition in his first season and went on to join McLaren in Formula One in 2019, becoming Formula One world champion in 2025. George Russell won the 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship and subsequently won the Formula 2 championship in 2018 before reaching Formula One with Williams.
The Prema Powerteam dominated the Teams' Championship across much of the series' existence, a dominance that continued into the successor FIA Formula 3 Championship.
In 2019, the FIA Formula 3 European Championship merged with the GP3 Series to create the unified FIA Formula 3 Championship. Plans to relaunch the European F3 name as the Formula European Masters, running in support of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, were announced but ultimately cancelled due to insufficient competitor entries. The DTM Trophy, a GT4-based series, was introduced instead as the DTM's support series.
The FIA Formula 3 European Championship occupied a distinctive position in the junior single-seater landscape, bridging the gap between national Formula 3 championships and the pan-European Formula 2 level. Its strict spec format and multi-race weekends produced close, high-quality racing that served as a reliable indicator of future talent. The consolidation of this championship and GP3 into the current FIA Formula 3 Championship reflects the FIA's broader goal of simplifying and clarifying the global driver development pathway — a goal the European Championship itself did much to advance.