PaddockScout Top 50 Drivers of 2014: 40-31

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Part two of PaddockScout’s rundown of the top junior single-seater competitors of this year sees us name drivers 40 to 31. They include a couple of rookie champions in entry level series, some more experienced race winners in Formula Renault 3.5 and a number of Formula 3 aces.

40. Will Stevens

Down 22

United Kingdom – age 23

Sixth in Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Much of Stevens’ 2014 didn’t go to plan, with his planned Formula Renault 3.5 title bid never really materialising, instead losing two championship positions compared to last year. But he ended the year by making his Formula 1 debut in Abu Dhabi for the resuscitated Caterham team, and performed well given his lack of preparation, getting his car to the end of the race.

Fourth in the 2013 FR3.5 standings and the nearest challenger to champion Kevin Magnussen during the final round at Barcelona, Stevens had to go for the title in his third campaign and began well by notching up his maiden victory in the season opener. For most of the season though, Stevens and the Strakka team really struggled for qualifying pace – even more so than last season – and that severely hampered his ability to get race results. He managed just two further podiums prior to a second victory of the campaign at the final round in Jerez, after nailing qualifying for one day only and getting the pole position.

The former karting star and teenage Honda F1 recruit is a quick and competent racer but is yet to demonstrate that he has the full package in the top single-seater ranks, and still only has five race wins to his name. Strong financial backing of course helped him into his Caterham opportunity and he will be well-placed if the team somehow continues into 2015, but may otherwise need to start looking into alternatives.

39. James Munro

New entry

New Zealand – age 17

Formula Masters China champion
Seventh in Toyota Racing Series

Formula Ford champion in his native New Zealand in 2013, Munro burst into the international consciousness this year. Firstly, by impressing in the Toyota Racing Series against hot prospects from overseas, then leading the Formula Masters China Series from start to finish to claim the title.

In the TRS he was team-mate to champion and second-year driver Andrew Tang at the Neale Motorsport squad, and became a surprise race winner on just his second weekend in the category after claiming pole at Timaru. He finished up seventh in the standings. He then moved onto China, where his successful title campaign was built on a strong start, with the KCMG driver racking up six straight victories in the first six races as he rapidly adapted to new circuits and his new car. There were some tougher times after that, with just two wins from the remaining 12 races and a couple of non-finishes, but he still did enough to beat the more experienced Matt Solomon and Dan Wells to the crown.

Munro will contest the TRS again in the new year, when he is bound to start as one of the title favourites. Beyond that, he’s eyeing a deserved step up into Formula 3 for his main focus of 2015, and is working on raising the necessary funds.

38. Anton De Pasquale

New entry

Australia – age 19

Formula Renault 1.6 NEC champion

Another Antipodean who followed up domestic Formula Ford success by claiming a relatively dominant title in his first year on the international scene. De Pasquale was the last champion of the official Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2013, and received the support from home to move to Europe and contest the Formula Renault 1.6 NEC.

Driving for the team of experienced Austrian Walter Lechner, De Pasquale led from the start after winning both races at Zandvoort from pole position. Next time out at Spa he had to settle for two second places, but after that he claimed at least one victory at every round, through Assen, Zolder and second visits to Spa and Zandvoort, winning two of the three races at the latter as he sealed the crown. Things might have been slightly easier for him had the two races he won at the Nurburgring World Series by Renault event counted towards the championship. He was the class of the field over the length of the season, even though Estonian Ralf Aron and Austria’s Florian Janits took wins away from him in the second half of the year.

Formula Renault 2.0 is the obvious target for 2015 for De Pasquale, who has tested for top team Josef Kaufmann Racing.

37. Jordan King

Down 15

United Kingdom – age 20

Seventh in FIA F3 European Championship

After claiming the British title and finishing sixth and top rookie in Europe last year, King was a consistent frontrunner again in the FIA series in 2014. He was a regular visitor to the podium throughout the year, but the Briton was unfortunately unable to make the step up to become a race winner in a category that was front-loaded with plenty of top talent.

King was a podium finisher in both of the opening two weekends at Silverstone and Hockenheim, only to then go through more 0f a lean spell in the following three rounds. He got his season back on track with a hat-trick of podiums through the Norisring and Moscow events, and a couple more P2 finishes came at Imola and Hockenheim. There were plenty of days when he was good enough to rival the best in the series, which deserves some credit, but he lacked what he needed to ever lead the field.

With a good budget, a step up to Formula Renault 3.5 or GP2 is next for King, who has gone well in testing in both series lately. He was particularly strong in his GP2 running in Abu Dhabi – not with the most attractive teams – and so that looks to be the likely destination. There’s little doubt he can be competitive there, the question will be how competitive.

36. Sergey Sirotkin

Down 4

Russia – age 19

Fifth in Formula Renault 3.5 Series

The prospect of Sirotkin getting a Sauber F1 drive in 2014 as part of a Russian rescue deal for the beleaguered team led to nothing more than a test driver role and plenty of negativity, but he got a chance to prove himself with a second season in FR3.5 and a plum Fortec seat, entering the campaign as a title favourite after a strong pre-season.

His championship bid was derailed pretty early on though by a string of four consecutive non-finishes, caused by car problems or on-track incidents out of his control. Fortunately, he shedded his bad luck just in time to claim a maiden victory from pole position on home soil in Moscow. After that, he was a regular top four finisher – with five in the last nine races – but his best results in that spell were only a couple of thirds, so he was never consistently one of the men to beat. His rookie team-mate Oliver Rowland had more highs, winning twice, and beat him to fourth spot in the final standings, even though that gap would have been smaller were it not for the unfortunate barren spell.

With the Sauber link now seemingly at an end, a move to GP2 looks like a definite possibility for 2015 after a decent test showing in Abu Dhabi. With the step there from FR3.5 proving to be relatively easy to handle, it would be a great opportunity for the 2011 Formula Abarth champion to learn to convert his undoubted ability into results.

35. Alex Palou

New entry

Spain – age 17

Third in Euroformula Open

He wasn’t the only teenager to jump out of karting and into Formula 3 machinery and finish third in his championship, but Palou even won his debut race. Euroformula Open might not be a hotbed of future F1 champions, but Palou’s performances against more experienced opposition certainly marks him out as one to watch in the future.

Picked up by Adrian Campos – who famously looked after Fernando Alonso early in his career – Palou rapidly adapted to his F3 car to beat the 2013 top scorer and title favourite Sandy Stuvik to victory in the first race of the season at the Nurburgring. He couldn’t maintain that superiority over the following races, but a second win of the campaign in Hungary meant he was still well in contention at the midway point, only nine points off the lead and just four behind Stuvik. The Thai then went on his winning streak, and a tough non-scoring weekend at Monza meant that despite ending his year in style with a third win at home at Barcelona, Palou fell short of the championship runner-up spot by a mere point.

Palou showed promise on his top-line F3 debut in Macau with Fortec – qualifying 14th – and then even more so in GP3 testing, claiming top-four spots with both Trident and ART in Abu Dhabi. If possible, it seems that a move there would be a great next step, particularly if it’s with one of the top teams.

34. Markus Pommer

New entry

Germany – age 23

German F3 champion
Third in Auto GP

A three-time winner in F2 in 2012, Pommer returned to single-seaters this year after a Porsche Supercup campaign. It initially seemed like he would be a part of the planned Russian Time expansion into GP3 thanks to his ties to Motopark, only for that link to fall apart.

That led to him falling back to German F3 with the same team to win the series he had previously taken part in from 2009-11. Following in the footsteps of the Oschersleben outfit’s previous champions Jimmy Eriksson and Marvin Kirchhofer, Pommer was unsurprisingly dominant. He won 14 times (11 more than anyone else) and claimed double victories from six of the eight weekends. On the side, he got an Auto GP seat with the Super Nova team that had taken the previous two titles, but he was unable to build on the early promise there of wins in Marrakech and Monza, and had to settle for P3 behind two drivers with more experience in the series.

A move to GP2 or FR3.5 would be the obvious next step for Pommer, but it remains to be seen whether that is possible from a budget standpoint and a move away from single-seaters may be more realistic. Opportunities may have been opened up in ADAC GT Masters or the ELMS by his performances on their respective support bills.

33. Emil Bernstorff

Up 7

United Kingdom – age 21

Fifth in GP3 Series

After two years in F3, Bernstorff made the switch to GP3 for 2014 and put in a solid campaign, running as a consistent frontrunner throughout the campaign and claiming a creditable fifth in the final standings in the always-close series. He was rarely able to get out of the shadow of team-mate Alex Lynn, but didn’t disgrace himself in such company either.

His big highlight was undoubtedly at the Red Bull Ring, when after following Lynn home in race one, he came through to win race two and steal some of the limelight from seventh on the grid. That would be his only visit to the top step of the season, but on the other hand, he was a top-four finisher in exactly half of the 18 races, which is not a bad record at all. He was always on the pace, and without three non-finishes, he would have challenged for a top three spot in the points. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t quite assert himself at the very front of the field regularly enough.

The driver who ran Mercedes wonderkid Pascal Wehrlein closest in ADAC Formel Masters three years ago, Bernstorff is certainly ready for the next step after three years at F3/GP3 level. He was able to do all three days of the GP2 test in Abu Dhabi which bodes well, but budget has always seemed a little tight in the past.

32. Felix Rosenqvist

Down 24

Sweden – age 23

Macau Grand Prix winner
Eighth in FIA F3 European Championship

After taking Raffaele Marciello down to the final round in 2013, Rosenqvist really shouldn’t have had to come back for a fifth year of F3 and a fourth in the European series, but was forced into it through little fault of his own. And for the most part, it was a total disaster, finishing eighth in the standings with just one win.

That victory did come in the biggest race of the championship – the final part of the Pau Grand Prix, where he outshone the stars of the season, Esteban Ocon, Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen. But the rest of his campaign was pretty awful – his only other podium finish came with a third in the subsequent race in Hungary. Otherwise, he was well eclipsed by team-mate Lucas Auer and some other less experienced drivers. But, courtesy of his experience and previous strong showings there, he still went to the Macau Grand Prix as one of the favourites, and he duly delivered, staying out of trouble when it mattered most to take a dominant win.

It was a deserved happy ending (hopefully) to a long F3 career full of highs and lows. His driving ability has been well-rated by those in the know, and he leaves F3 with victories in the big races in Macau, Pau and Zandvoort (x2) on his CV. His chances in higher levels of single-seaters look slim, but hopefully he will be granted the big opportunity somewhere that he should have had 12 months ago.

31. Matevos Isaakyan

New entry

Russia – age 16

Third in Formula Renault 2.0 Alps

Part of the expansive SMP Racing programme that also recruited Sirotkin at the start of the year, Isaakyan finished fifth in French F4 in 2013 and was then immediately fast upon moving up to Formula Renault 2.0, rapid in testing against the top Eurocup contenders. His main programme would be in Alps, but he had to skip the first round because he wasn’t yet 16.

He finished a fine second in his debut race in Pau, and at the next round in Spielberg he was dominant, winning both races from pole position, halting the unbeaten run of the vastly more experienced Nyck de Vries. Those would be his only wins, but he was regularly the closest driver to de Vries, and only a couple of non-finishes prevented him taking P2 in the final standings. He contested the opening three rounds of the Eurocup, with three top eight results. And all that was done with JD Motorsport – not one of the most fancied teams in FR2.0.

A full Eurocup campaign seems likely for 2015, and Isaakyan is likely to be hot property among the top teams, but staying with JD for continuity’s sake is not impossible either. Either way, he should be among the leading contenders after the way he performed in 2014.