The roots of a pan-European Formula Three contest stretch back to 1975, when a five-race series called the F3 European Cup was held at circuits including Monaco, the Nürburgring, Anderstorp, Monza, and Croix-en-Ternois. The inaugural title went to Australian Larry Perkins in a Ralt-Ford. In 1976 the Cup expanded into a full ten-round European F3 Championship, which ran until 1984 and produced champions of lasting historical significance: Riccardo Patrese (1976), Alain Prost (1979), and Michele Alboreto (1980) all went on to major Formula One careers.
The modern Euro Series was inaugurated in 2003 through a joint venture between France's Fédération Française du Sport Automobile and Germany's Deutscher Motor Sport Bund. The merger ended the standalone French Formula Three Championship, while a lower-tier series called the Recaro Formel 3 Cup emerged in Germany to absorb teams that chose not to join the new combined championship. Organisation and promotion of the Euro Series was handled by ITR, the same body responsible for running the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.
The championship comprised ten events across a variety of European circuits, with approximately half the rounds taking place in Germany. The remaining events rotated around venues in Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Spain. Most rounds were held as support events to the DTM, and notable circuits on the calendar over the years included Spa-Francorchamps, Brands Hatch, Circuit de Catalunya, Pau, Le Mans, Estoril, and Zandvoort — the latter hosting the prestigious Masters of Formula 3 from 2004 onward. In 2005 the series visited Monaco as a Grand Prix support event, the first Formula Three race there since 1997.
Each race weekend offered two races. A single qualifying session determined the Race 1 grid; the Race 2 grid was set by reversing the top eight Race 1 finishers, a format introduced in 2006 that produced a notably higher number of different race winners. Points were awarded to the top eight in Race 1 and the top six in Race 2, with a bonus point for fastest qualifying time. An unauthorised engine change during a race weekend incurred a ten-place grid penalty.
The technical framework used Dallara chassis — the dominant supplier across most global F3 championships — powered by production-based 2-litre four-cylinder engines. Engine suppliers at launch were Mercedes-Benz (built by HWA), Opel (by Spiess), and Toyota (by TOM's), with Renault and Mugen-Honda appearing in limited numbers. Over time, Mercedes-powered entries, run prominently by the French outfit ASM Formule 3, came to dominate both driver and team standings. By 2007, Volkswagen had also entered the series while Opel's presence had faded.
The inaugural 2003 drivers' title was taken by Australian Ryan Briscoe driving a Dallara-Opel for Prema Powerteam. It proved to be the last championship victory for an Opel-engined car, as ASM and Mercedes surged to the fore from 2004 onward. British driver Jamie Green claimed ASM's first Euro Series title in 2004 with seven race wins, before graduating to the DTM with Mercedes backing.
The 2005 season brought the championship's most celebrated story. Lewis Hamilton, then a McLaren-Mercedes protégé, dominated with a record 15 race wins from 20 starts, thirteen pole positions, and ten fastest laps. He went on to win GP2 in his rookie year and became the youngest Formula One world champion in 2008. Fellow competitor Sebastian Vettel finished as the top rookie in 2005.
Paul di Resta won the 2006 title with ASM, again using a Mercedes-Dallara, with Vettel as his closest rival. Romain Grosjean took the 2007 championship, with Sébastien Buemi as his closest challenger. Nico Hülkenberg won in 2008, and Jules Bianchi claimed the title in 2009. All four subsequently competed in Formula One.
Other drivers who raced in the Euro Series and progressed to F1 include Nico Rosberg, Kamui Kobayashi, Adrian Sutil, Robert Kubica, Timo Glock, and Kazuki Nakajima. Graduates not destined for F1 who nonetheless built strong careers from the series include Alexandre Prémat, Jamie Green, Bruno Spengler, and Alexandros Margaritis, several of whom moved into the DTM.
In 2012 the FIA announced the Formula Three Euro Series would be discontinued and absorbed into a new FIA Formula 3 European Championship for 2013. The Euro Series had operated for a decade as the continent's premier F3 arena, producing an extraordinary concentration of future Formula One talent. Its track record as a champion-maker — with Hamilton, di Resta, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, and Bianchi all taking the title before reaching the pinnacle of the sport — cemented its place as one of the most productive junior series in motorsport history. The Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort, which the series included as a round, continued independently as an invitational event beyond the championship's closure.