All photos: GP2 Media Service
Half of the current F1 grid raced in GP2. With the season beginning in Malaysia this weekend, here’s your essential lowdown on all 26 drivers in the class of 2012…
Rising budgets, it becoming a multi-year programme for even the best of drivers, and the difficulty of combining it with F1 Friday practice has seen GP2 lose out on a number of talented drivers this year. You’ll only find a handful of the most exciting sub-F1 drivers on the grid this year. However, it’s still more than worth watching.
Firstly, the stats don’t lie. GP2 still produces far more F1 drivers than any other series, and that will continue to be the case. Drivers are racing in front of the F1 teams, something that makes impressing them somewhat easier. Furthermore, they’ve all had to gather serious backing to be on the grid in GP2 – support that they can call upon in the future in order to make the F1 grid. Drivers from rival series, however talented they are, may struggle to get the package together that they need.
Secondly, the fight for the title this year is potentially wide open – with a mix of super-talented drivers and those with plenty of experience at this level. Here we look at each of the drivers and their respective merits.
Barwa Addax Team
1. Johnny Cecotto Jr
Age: 22
Nationality: Venezuela
Talent: 2 out of 5 | Experience: 4 out of 5
F1 hopes: 3?out of 5 | Title chances: 3 out of 5
The son of former motorcycle world champion and F1 driver Johnny Sr, Cecotto is embarking on his third full campaign. But in 38 races he’s scored points in just one. Despite this poor record, backing from his nation has secured him a seat at Addax, a team who’s alumni include Petrov, Perez and Pic. And the fact he carries the number 1 of course signals the fact that they’re the reigning teams’ champions.
Now we would expect his record to improve with the move to Addax – his previous teams DPR, Trident and Ocean weren’t exactly world beaters. And he did seem to do a reasonable job in the F1 rookie test for Force India last November. But he’s not another Maldonado – even if the powers that be back home think he is. Despite the stick he gets, Maldonado is a talented driver. We’re really not sure that Cecotto is, and we hope he doesn’t get into F1 without proving his worth first.
As for his chances this year, an Addax driver would usually be expected to be at least a regular in the top ten, as well as fighting for podiums and wins. Cecotto hasn’t shown such pace in pre-season, but the tyre rules have made testing hard to read.
2. Josef Kral
Age: 21
Nationality: Czech Republic
Talent: 3 | Experience: 4
F1 hopes: 3 | Title chances: 3
I first came across Kral in 2007, when I watched him win a Formula BMW UK race at Thruxton when he was aged 16. This will be his third year in GP2, and although his first season was somewhat disrupted by an injury he sustained in a repeat of Mark Webber’s Valencia crash, he’s still chasing a first win in the category. He picked up a trio of podium finishes last year, but all were thanks to lofty postions on the race two reverse grid. In the main series he’s yet to finish a feature race higher than sixth.
In Super Nova and Arden though he’s never had a particularly frontrunning team. If he’s a talented driver then Addax will enable him to win multiple races this year. But he hasn’t shown such form in testing, although again that could simply be down to the team concentrating on long runs. In short, he’s still a bit of an unknown quantity.
You don’t secure an Addax seat without some hefty backing, and Kral is no exception as he enjoys the support of a number of companies from his home land. Something that could help him to add to the sole F1 experience he enjoyed in an HRT at the end of 2010.
DAMS
3. Davide Valsecchi
Age: 25
Nationality: Italy
Talent: 3 | Experience: 5
F1 hopes: 3 | Title chances: 5
Valsecchi is embarking on a staggering fifth year in the GP2 Series. Despite a race win in his first season back in 2008 and the GP2 Asia title in early 2010, he’s still yet to fight for a main series title. That should all change this year though, as he joins reigning drivers’ champions DAMS.
Last year he enjoyed a strong start to the season, winning in Monaco. In fact he was just four points shy of Romain Grosjean after the fourth race weekend. But after that he failed to score a single point and slumped to eighth overall. Had he managed to maintain that run and end up as runner-up to Grosjean he could quite easily have found himself in F1 by now.It could however easily be put down to the inexperience of his AirAsia team, but he won’t be able to use that excuse this season – and he has been very quick in pre-season testing.
He enjoys strong financial backing – well, he needs to in order to enter five seasons of GP2. A GP2 title would certainly catch the attention of the F1 teams, but despite his cash he could find getting an F1 seat tricky. Will the teams be interested in a driver who’s taken five years to win the GP2 title? Probably not.
4. Felipe Nasr
Age: 19
Nationality: Brazil
Talent: 5 | Experience: 1
F1 hopes: 4 | Title chances: 3
Nasr took a comfortable title victory in British F3 last year, to add to the Formula BMW Europe title he won in 2009. He is widely regarded as one of the most exciting talents around, but a lack of sponsorship looked set to derail his progress. As it is, he’s secured backing from huge Brazilian firms OGX and Banco do Brasil, which has enabled him to land a GP2 seat at top squad DAMS.
Despite his potential, his relative lack of experience is going to make his rookie GP2 season a tough one, and we don’t expect to see him above the midfield early on. As he gets the hang of it though he could take podiums and maybe wins come the end of the season. And in DAMS he has a team he can stick with into 2013 for a title assault.
Expect GP2 to be at least a two-year project for him then, but if his new-found sponsors stick with him he should make a very exciting prospect for the F1 teams indeed.
Click here to read our driver profile of Felipe
Racing Engineering
5. Fabio Leimer
Age: 22
Nationality: Switzerland
Talent: 3 | Experience: 4
F1 hopes: 4 | Title chances: 5
Leimer burst onto the scene when he utterly dominated the final season of the International Formula Master series, which previously produced Jerome D’Ambrosio. The following year, 2010, he stepped up to GP2, and although he won on his debut weekend at Barcelona he struggled for the remainder of the year. Last year he replaced outgoing champion Pastor Maldonado at Rapax, but could only manage 14th overall.
A switch to Racing Engineering after the season transformed him though, dominating the timesheets in post-season testing and then winning the non-championship round in Abu Dhabi. As a result, he starts this season amongst the pre-season favourites.
He tested with Sauber at the end of the last year and impressed, and enjoys the support of a loyal sponsor in Bautro. If he can fight for the title this year then he could have a shot at an F1 drive for 2013.
Click here to read our driver profile of Fabio
6. Nathanael Berthon
Age: 22
Nationality: France
Talent: 3 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 3 | Title chances: 2
Berthon makes the switch to GP2 after two years in Formula Renault 3.5. In his rookie year out of Formula Renault 2.0 he finished an impressive seventh overall with one win, but last year he slumped to 13th in the standings with just one sole podium.
Like most of his fellow rookies, expect him to be fighting in the midfield at best this year. That’s despite having three race weekends under his belt already thanks to the Asia Series and Abu Dhabi Final last year, all with Racing Engineering.
He’s another who would appear to be well-backed, as illustrated by the way he secured a last minute test with HRT at the Young Driver Test last year. He’s the only one on the grid to have done some regular racing already this year, in the Toyota Racing Series – where he finished seventh overall after a consistent if unspectacular campaign in New Zealand.
iSport International
7. Marcus Ericsson
Age: 21
Nationality: Sweden
Talent: 4 | Experience: 4
F1 hopes: 3 | Title chances: 5
Ericsson enjoyed a promising early career, winning titles in Formula BMW UK and Japanese F3. A quiet first year in GP2 with Super Nova did still yield one race win, something he was expected to build upon with a move to iSport for 2011. He had a pretty poor year though, only managing tenth in the standings with just a couple of third-places.
He has stuck with iSport for another season, hoping to make a considerable improvement and win the title. That continuity could pay dividends, particularly in the early part of the season as his rivals adapt to new teams. He set the pace on his only day of post-season testing, and fought back from a poor qualifying to record a pair of strong finishes in the Abu Dhabi Final.
His one taste of F1 so far came before he raced in GP2 at the end of 2009 with world champions Brawn, but with former Indy 500 winner Kenny Brack as his manager and sponsorshing from Olsbergs, a good season could see him knocking on the door.
8. Jolyon Palmer
Age: 21
Nationality: United Kingdom
Talent: 3 | Experience: 3
F1 hopes: 4 | Title chances: 4
Palmer had a difficult debut season in GP2 last year, failing to score any points. A switch from Arden to Addax for the Abu Dhabi races led him to a podium finish in the feature race, and ended the weekend with the four highest points haul. That bodes well for this season, even if he has landed with iSport instead of Addax.
He has his sights set on a top three finish in the championship, and although that might be a bit too ambitous he can certainly score podium finishes and fight for victories. He didn’t dominate the first half of the 2010 Formula 2 championship without having some talent.
Any future move to F1 will be eased by support from his father Jonathan’s companies and contacts, but he’ll need to acheive in GP2 first – and a title bid could certainly be possible for his third season next year.
Lotus GP
9. Esteban Gutierrez
Age: 20
Nationality: Mexico
Talent: 5 | Experience: 3
F1 hopes: 5 | Title chances: 5
Entering GP2 last year as the reigning GP3 champion, Gutierrez’s season was perhaps a little disappointing as he finished just 13th in the standings. He was still the top rookie though by some margin, and won in Valencia before finishing second in Hungary.
With some experience under his belt, this year he must try and win the title if he is to keep up the momentum he gained by winning the Formula BMW and GP3 titles in the space of three seasons. He’s now leading his team, and he’s looked quick in testing over the winter.
He continues in his role at Sauber, and if he’s in contention for the GP2 title he could grab a race seat at the Swiss team in 2013 – particularly if Sergio Perez moves on to Ferrari and Sauber need to keep hold of the Mexican cash.
Click here to read our driver profile of Esteban
10. James Calado
Age: 22
Nationality: United Kingdom
Talent: 5 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 3 | Title chances: 4
Calado rose to prominance last year with a sterling season in GP3, running the highly-rated Valtteri Bottas close to the title. That came after finishing second to Jean-Eric Vergne in British F3 the year before.
He then made a stunning GP2 debut in Abu Dhabi by winning the sprint race, even if he did start from pole position. He’s been well on the pace in testing too, suggesting he’ll have a more impressive rookie year than Gutierrez did. He’s unlikely to fight for the title, but he could be a regular on the podium and take further race wins.
He needs to impress though – the privately-funded Racing Steps Foundation only paid for one GP2 season for Oliver Turvey, and it’s unlikely they’ll change that for Calado.
Click here to read our driver profile of James
Caterham Racing
11. Rodolfo Gonzalez
Age: 25
Nationality: Venezuela
Talent: 1 | Experience: 4
F1 hopes: 2 | Title chances: 2
Another Venezuelan, another rather shocking GP2 record. Just two points finishes from 40 starts to be precise, both of which came at Spa in 2010. He was destroyed by his rookie teammates in both years, and this year he’ll be on his way to a hiding with an experienced and fast teammate.
He’s tested for the Hingham-based F1 team at two consecutive Young Driver Tests, and to be fair to him he did do a pretty impressive job last time around. Still, we hope that until he proves himself in GP2 that the F1 teams don’t pay any attention to him, regardless of how much money Hugo Chavez throws at them.
12. Giedo van der Garde
Age: 26
Nationality: Netherlands
Talent: 4 | Experience: 5
F1 hopes: 4 | Title chances: 4
After winning the Formula Renault 3.5 title in 2008, it’s hard to believe van der Garde is still plugging away at this level. At the end of last year having got to end of another disappointing GP2 campaign, he said he didn’t want to return to the series. And in fact we were pretty sure that his backing would secure him an F1 seat, something he was pretty confident about too.
Alas, it hasn’t happened and he’s had to settle for a Caterham reserve seat. To stay race-sharp, and to help out a young squad, he’s going to race for them in GP2. He’s already admitted that the team’s inexperience makes a title challenge unlikely. Despite that, he’ll hope to be there and there abouts as he looks to impress those in F1, including his current employers.
Scuderia Coloni
14. Stefano Coletti
Age: 22
Nationality: Monaco
Talent: 4 | Experience: 3
F1 hopes: 4 | Title chances: 4
Coletti shone last year in his first full GP2 campaign, or at least if would have been if he didn’t sustain other injury at his bogey circuit Spa. Despite driving for a lesser team in Trident, he scored three sprint race victories over the course of the year across the Asia and main series seasons.
The switch to Coloni, who took Luca Filippi to the runner-up spot last year, should hand him the tools with which to become a regular frontrunner this year. Whether he can fight for the title remains to be seen, but he certainly should be adding to his wins tally.
Naturally for a man (and I quote directly from his personal website here) “conceived on board Keke Rosberg’s yacht”, Coletti has the contacts and the backing to make it at the highest level, and last year he proved he had the talent too.
Click here to read our driver profile of Stefano
15. Fabio Onidi
Age: 24
Nationality: Italy
Talent: 2 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 2 | Title chances: 2
Onidi steps up to GP2 after four seasons racing in Auto GP and its predecessor Euroseries 3000. He’s shown himself to be more than competent behind the wheel of a high-powered single-seater, something that will no doubt help him make the transisition. This was backed up by some impressive laptimes in post-season testing at the end of last year.
But at 24 there’s little to suggest that he’s got the talent to become a frontrunner in GP2. After finishing second and then third overall in his first two years in Euroseries 3000, he held little resistance to the lesser experienced but more highly-rated drivers who competed there in the past two years.
His father owns a chain of hotels in Milan, and although we expect him to challenge in the midfield in his rookie year he’s running out of time to impress if he wants an F1 seat, regardless of any budget he can bring.
Trident Racing
15. Stephane Richelmi
Age: 22
Nationality: Monaco
Talent: 2 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 2 | Title chances: 2
Another Monegasque, this time the son of former world rally driver Jean-Pierre Richelmi. Stephane’s career was a pretty quiet one until he finished second in the Italian F3 Championship in 2010, an acheivement that earnt him an F1 test with Ferrari. Last year he raced in Formula Renault 3.5, scoring just one points finish.
Richelmi has been something of a surprise package in pre-season testing, consistently in the top half of the timesheets and often right at the sharp end. Whether that translates to pace in the season proper it remains to be seen.
Like Coletti, being from Monaco helps him to get the necessary contacts to make it. But unlike Coletti, he still needs to prove his talent. This is his opportunity.
16. Julian Leal
Age: 21
Nationality: Colombia
Talent: 2 | Experience: 3
F1 hopes: 2 | Title chances: 2
Leal had done little in his career to date to earn his chance in GP2, and last year he did little to prove himself as he failed to score any points.
With plenty of Colombian energy money behind him, he’s got himself a second chance. Like Richelmi he’s shown pace in testing, but this could easily be down to Trident doing headline-seeking low-fuel runs while the rest of the field were concentrating on long runs.
Either way, the real test will come when the competitive action starts. Despite his backing, its unlikely any F1 teams will be paying him any attention unless he turns it up a notch in 2012.
Venezuela GP Lazarus
18. Fabrizio Crestani
Age: 24
Nationality: Italy
Talent: 2 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 2 | Title chances: 2
Crestani shares a number of similarities with Onidi – age, nationality and he also comes to GP2 after four years in Auto GP. Again, he’s certainly got experience behind the wheel of such cars, and he’s acheived some respectable results. But he hasn’t shown anything particularly exciting either.
So we expect him to be scrapping with the likes of Onidi in the lower midfield, despite managing to set the pace on the first day of the final pre-season test.
He enjoys loyal backing from welding consumables producer Daiko, but he’s another who needs to start winning races at the highest level before the F1 teams become interested.
19. Giancarlo Serenelli
Age: 30
Nationality: Venezuela
Talent: 1 | Experience: 1
F1 hopes: 1 | Title chances: 1
At 30 years old, Serenelli really shouldn’t be on the grid of Formula One’s premier feeder series. But it could be argued that he is a rising talent. He’s claimed three titles in the last four years in the LATAM Challenge Series, which is based in Mexico and uses the Tatuus Formula Renault chassis.
It’s fair enough that he’s coming to test his skills in Europe, a move he began by signing up to Auto GP. But he really shouldn’t be making the huge step up to GP2 without proving himself in a relevant series first. The opportunity has arisen thanks to the new Venezuelan-backed Lazarus team, but he was well off the pace in the Barcelona test.
Hopefully if he doesn’t improve any time soon then the team will see sense and replace him. No F1 teams are going to be paying any attention regardless of the money Hugo Chavez puts behind him if he’s trundling around at the back.
Rapax
20. Ricardo Teixeira
Age: 27
Nationality: Angola
Talent: 1 | Experience: 3
F1 hopes: 2 | Title chances: 2
Teixeira previously raced in GP2 in 2009, where he managed a poor 14th place as a best result. He took a step backwards to Formula Two the following year and put in some impressive results to record top ten finishes, and then last year acted as a reserve driver for the Lotus (now Caterham) F1 team.
He’ll have certainly returned to GP2 as a better driver, but he’ll still almost certainly be amongst the backmarkers. It’s still going to take an unthinkably large fee from backers Sonangol for an F1 team to hand him a race seat.
21. Tom Dillmann
Age: 22
Nationality: France
Talent: 4 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 3 | Title chances: 3
After a whopping five years at F3/GP3 level, Dillmann finally makes the step up to GP2. The 2010 German F3 Cup champion wasn’t particularly impressive in GP3 last year, but that was probably not helped by being dropped by Carlin after the opening round in Turkey – where he had claimed pole position.
The standout moment of his career to date though came in Abu Dhabi in the non-championship race, where he claimed a podium finish in the second race. Budget problems, which have blighted him since losing Red Bull support in 2008, prevented him from securing a deal with iSport, but he managed to clinch a last minute deal with Rapax.
He was quick again in pre-season testing, and could even rival Calado for the honours of best rookie again. Whatever happens, he’s definitely one to watch.
Arden International
22. Simon Trummer
Age: 22
Nationality: Switzerland
Talent: 2 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 2 | Title chances: 2
Trummer was contesting his second GP3 season last year, and looked as though he was going to end the year without any points. He hit a remarkable run of form in the final three races though, with three top five finishes.
We wouldn’t expect him to be amongst the leading rookies this year, but he hasn’t looked too shabby in testing and it’s perfectly plausable that he managed to turn a corner at the end of last year and make significant strides in his development as a driver.
He seems to have some good backing behind him judging by the ease with which he graduated to GP2 with Arden despite some questionable results, and he could just become a contender in later seasons if he can keep his recent form up. But we’ll have to wait and see whether that happens or not.
23. Luiz Razia
Age: 22
Nationality: Brazil
Talent: 3 | Experience: 5
F1 hopes: 3 | Title chances: 4
Razia enters his fourth season in GP2, deperately needing to make an improvement. His only win to date came towards the end of his rookie year in 2009, and since then he’s scored just four podiums and one pole position in Hungary last year.
Arden’s recent form doesn’t suggest it’s going to be easy for him to add to that tally soon, but with his experience he really should be trying to match the likes of van der Garde.
His money got him F1 reserve roles at Virgin and Lotus without having to prove much in terms of results – hopefully nobody will give him an F1 race drive until he starts recording more victories at this level.
Click here to read our driver profile of Luiz
Ocean Racing Technology
24. Jon Lancaster
Age: 23
Nationality: United Kingdom
Talent: 3 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 2 | Title chances: 3
Lancaster’s had a tough few seasons recently thanks in part to budget problems, but he’s got the support together to move into GP2. He showed a lot of promise in his early career, finishing runner-up in the Formula Renault Eurocup in his first seaosn in cars and then winning in the F3 Euro Series. Last year he won one of four races he contested in Auto GP.
With just one pre-season test under his belt in the GP2 car he’ll have a tough start, and Ocean certainly aren’t a frontrunning team. But he’s still got the ability to score some respectable results.
If his backer remains with him he’ll be able to remain in GP2 for further seasons, which would allow him to become a frontrunner and start knocking on the doors of the F1 teams.
25. Nigel Melker
Age: 21
Nationality: Netherlands
Talent: 4 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 3 | Title chances: 3
Melker emerged as a top prospect last year, finishing third in the GP3 standings and fourth in the F3 Euro Series – ending up as top rookie in the latter.
He’ll struggle to hit the headlines with Ocean this year, but he’ll learn what he needs to in the category in readiness for further seasons. He’s got the ability to run firmly in the midfield early on, but he’ll hope that he can challenge further up as the season goes on.
He got his seat with Ocean confirmed very early on, suggesting he’s managed to get a strong backer behind him – something that will only help when it comes to knocking on the doors of the F1 teams.
Carlin
26. Max Chilton
Age: 23
Nationality: United Kingdom
Talent: 3 | Experience: 4
F1 hopes: 4 | Title chances: 4
Chilton has had a tough couple of seasons so far in GP2. The first with Ocean saw him rooted firmly at the back as he struggled to get to grips with the jump up from British F3. Last year he showed promise in places, but struggled to turn this into solid results with the new Carlin team, and as a result only managed to increase his points haul by one.
Things look much better heading into 2012 though, having qualified well for the Abu Dhabi races and shown some impressive pace in pre-season testing. He won’t be in contention for the title, but he should take podiums and finish in the top ten in the final standings.
Chilton’s father seems to have plenty of cash to spend on racing, both through his ownership of the Carlin team and the Arena WTCC team that his other son Tom races for. Carlin’s new links with Marussia can only help him get his foot in the door in F1.
27. Rio Haryanto
Age: 19
Nationality: Indonesia
Talent: 3 | Experience: 2
F1 hopes: 4 | Title chances: 2
Haryanto had two impressive seasons in GP3, winning three races and finishing fifth and seventh in the standings over the two years. He seems to be something of a master in wet conditions too.
Having raced for Marussia in GP3, his links with the team remain as he steps up to GP2. He’ll find the jump a tough one, although he did get some extra experience in Auto GP last year where he put in some good performances.
He’s enjoying large support from back home in Indonesia, something that will only increase the closer he gets to F1 over the next couple of seasons.
Click here to read our driver profile of Rio