Daniil Kvyat
GP3, Monza
The 19-year-old Russian had made a solid start to his maiden season in the GP3 Series and, following his breakthrough feature win at Spa, he showed up Monza trailing Facu Regalia and Tio Ellinas and just in front of Conor Daly in the standings. During the weekend the Red Bull Junior put in one of the most dominant performances in GP3 history and, after it was done, he had made himself a major title contender for the series finale at Abu Dhabi.
His weekend couldn?t have gotten off to a better start in qualifying, with the Russian putting in a dominant performance, as he posted a laptime just over half a second quicker than that of his nearest rival, MW Arden teammate Robert Visoiu.
In race one he was able to make the perfect getaway to clear the mayhem that would ensue at turn one which saw the retirement of his title rivals Ellinas and Daly. Kvyat subsequently put in a superb drive to finish over five seconds clear of second-placed Nick Yelloly, claiming the maximum 32 points available for pole position, fastest lap and race victory to bring himself within 11 points off the lead.
In race two he was able to make a superb start and once again avoided carnage into turn one. After the brief safety car period, the young Russian towed past championship leader Regalia and into third place, subsequently overtaking Lewis Williamson to finish the race in second. His stellar driver allowed him to further cut Regalia?s lead in the championship to just seven points with one round remaining.
Monza was a major step for the young Russian, who would eventually claim the title at Abu Dhabi with another dominant drive in race one. Not long after his superb title, he would be confirmed as a full-time Scuderia Torro Rosso Formula 1 driver for 2014 alongside Jean-Eric Vergne.
Stephen Goddard