Not in that sense.
/e/OS is always based on a major Android version like Android 9 (Pie), Android 10 (Q), Android 11 (R) etc.
The same /e/OS version can be offered based on more than one major Android version, so the /e/OS version doesn’t automatically translate to the underlying major Android version.
As long as new versions of /e/OS like e.g. 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 etc. get offered based on the same major Android version, updates will be offered OTA (over-the-air = automatically via the included updater), and you don’t need to install them manually.
But support for Android 9 (Pie) was dropped on all /e/OS devices a while ago already with v1.0, so there are no new updates based on Android 9 (Pie).
Upgrades from one major Android version to the next are always tricky to do in-place, keeping all the user stuff. To offer them OTA via the included updater needs a lot of preparatory work for every single device (Fairphone 3/3+ in this case), if it can be done at all.
/e/OS developers are in the process of doing this for selected devices and for selected upgrading steps. Unfortunately, OTA upgrading the Fairphone 3/3+ from Android 9 (Pie) to Android 10 (Q) is not what they chose to do now, they instead announced to somewhen start working on an OTA upgrade for the Fairphone 3/3+ from Android 10 (Q) to Android 11 (R) without a timeline … https://community.e.foundation/tag/development-updates
So, upgrading the Fairphone 3/3+ from Android 9 (Pie) to Android 10 (Q) for now is a manual new install, unless something surprising comes up.
Studying different scenarii doesn’t mean it will amount to anything in the end, but it isn’t nothing either, if you still want to wait a bit.