5 GP2 Drivers Doing the Most to Stake a Claim for a 2016 Formula 1 Drive

A Formula One drive is the ultimate dream for thousands of young drivers around the world, and those who have made it to the GP2 series are within touching distance of their goal.

For many, that's as close as they ever get. Even the champion isn't guaranteed a drive at the pinnacle of single-seater racing; Jolyon Palmer, Fabio Leimer and Davide Valsecchi will attest to that.

But a select few do enough to make the step up to the big time. Some—the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Nico Hulkenberg—are promoted because they have the talent. Others make it because of the size of their sponsors' wallets.

The 2015 GP2 season is six races old, the same age as its F1 counterpart. Previously, Bleacher Report examined five drivers from the top series who might be at risk of losing their seat in 2016.

Here, B/R highlights five GP2 youngsters who have stood out so far. At least one should make it onto the F1 grid in 2016—will any of the others make the cut?

Mitch Evans has had a mixed start to the season. He finished sixth in the first feature race of the year before suffering a puncture in the sprint.

A first podium of the year came in the Spanish feature round, but he again scored no points in the second race—this time because his car failed before the start. Incredibly, the same thing happened before the Monaco sprint race, but on this occasion, he was set to start at the rear anyway after a crash in the feature.

Evans has been mostly quick and hasn't had the best of luck, but for a highly rated driver in his third season in GP2, he hasn't looked as special as fans might have hoped.

All the drivers listed here have met or exceeded expectations—thus far, Evans has not. But he probably will as the season goes on.

Alexander Rossi is competing in his second full GP2 season, though he first drove in the series in 2009. With a potential F1 drive acting as a very effective carrot, he has made a promising start.

Driving for Racing Engineering alongside Manor-linked rookie Jordan King, the American has scored points in every race so far. He went from eighth on the grid to third in the season-opening Bahrain feature race and achieved the same result from fifth in Spain.

At both meetings he was fourth in the sprint race.

Monaco could, and perhaps should, have been where his season really kicked off. Rossi started from pole and looked comfortable enough in the lead, but a very quick pit stop from rival Stoffel Vandoorne saw the Belgian take over first place.

Rossi pushed hard in an effort to overtake, but he had to settle for second. He was seventh in the sprint race the following day.

His F1 dreams appear to rest on the shoulders of Gene Haas, whose team enters F1 in 2016. Per F1 Fanatic, the NASCAR team boss has stated he'd be keen on a "young, American driver" alongside a more experienced, older hand.

If Haas decides this American driver is important, it's hard to see it being anyone but Rossi—especially if he keeps up his good early-season form.

Rio Haryanto is in his fourth season of GP2, and it wouldn't be unkind to say he didn't really stand out in the first three. A record of no wins, one pole, just two podiums and a best championship position of 14th suggests he might have been better off trying something else.

But he didn't do too badly in GP3 and was never driving for one of the top GP2 teams—and he has made a very good start to 2015.

Despite starting in 12th place in Bahrain, Haryanto matched his best ever GP2 finishing position by coming home in second. This placed him seventh on the sprint race grid and this time he went one better, holding off Stoffel Vandoorne for his first series win.

A double points finish for the Indonesian in Spain—again from a mediocre feature-race grid slot—showed Bahrain was no fluke.

But Monaco was a disappointment—Haryanto was 16th in the feature race and failed to finish the sprint after being hit by Norman Nato at the hairpin on the first lap.

He currently lies third in the standings.

It's tough to see Haryanto in F1 on merit alone. Truly exceptional drivers don't need four seasons of GP2 before they start raising eyebrows.

But he may have a secret weapon in the form of backing from Indonesia's state-owned oil company, Pertamina. Though it's not as large as Pastor Maldonado's backer, Venezuela's PDVSA, the Jakarta Post reports 2014 revenues were $70.6 billion.

If Indonesia fancies a bit of global exposure and its first ever F1 driver—and Haryanto can keep up the good work—he might do enough to secure a pay drive somewhere near the rear of the field.

Image: Creative Commons.

Alex Lynn left the Red Bull Junior Team at the end of 2014. Both Toro Rosso seats had just been filled for—if all goes according to plan—the next two seasons, and it seemed unlikely anyone else would get a sniff until 2017.

But as reigning GP3 champion and a former winner of the Macau Grand Prix, Lynn felt he would be ready before then. With a GP2 drive at the front-running DAMS team to look forward to in 2015, he signed up as a development driver for Williams before the season began.

The battle between Lynn and his team-mate at DAMS—Red Bull Junior Pierre Gasly—is expected to be one of the highlights of the GP2 year.

The Brit made a promising start to life in the series by setting the third-fastest time in his first ever GP2 qualifying session.

Lynn was quick in the opening part of the feature race but an error saw him damage his front wing, and he fell out on contention. With the grid for the sprint race decided by finishing positions in the feature, the whole weekend was a wipeout.

But he bounced back in the best possible way, qualifying second in Spain. Sixth in the feature race was followed by his first GP2 win in the sprint.

A communications mix-up in qualifying saw him suffer another pointless weekend in Monaco, but the speed is there and Lynn is beating highly rated Gasly 4-1 in the races so far.

If a seat opens up at Williams and money isn't an issue, Lynn has a shot if he continues to impress. But if not, it seems likely he'll at least get an expanded testing role—and may become the team's reserve.

Richie Stanaway has taken a somewhat circuitous route to GP2 and is making his debut in the series at the ripe old age of 23. The Kiwi would almost certainly have reached this level sooner had it not been for a serious injury sustained in 2012.

Driving for Lotus in the Formula Renault 3.5 series, Stanaway suffered a spinal injury in a crash at Spa and was forced to miss the rest of the season. But he came back and, after a year in sports cars and a season of GP3 in 2014, is now tackling the final hurdle before F1.

It can be tough for a rookie to adapt to the demands of GP2—doubly so when it's also the team's first season at this level. Stanaway didn't have a great opening weekend in Bahrain but finished 10th in the Spanish feature race, scoring his and Status Grand Prix's first GP2 points.

Then came Monaco.

Stanaway started the feature race in 14th after sustaining front-wing damage in qualifying. He rose to seventh, giving him a front-row start for the following day's sprint race.

A good start saw him take the lead from pole-sitter Raffaele Marciello, and his drive belied his inexperience in the series. Comfortable from the opening lap to the chequered flag, Stanaway was never threatened, and he crossed the line to win on only his sixth start.

His career is well and truly back on track after the 2012 crash. An F1 race seat in 2016 is out of the question unless he starts beating Stoffel Vandoorne or lands a $15 million-plus sponsor whale, but a reserve or testing position could become available.

Such a role alongside a second GP2 season would be a perfect fit.

Stoffel Vandoorne shouldn't be in GP2. His magnificent rookie year in the 2014 series proved he was more than ready to move up to F1; were the grid a less political, wealth-demanding place, he would be sat in, at the very least, a midfield car.

And had he opted to take up the offer he says he received, per GP Update, from Toro Rosso in 2013 to take the seat which eventually went to Daniil Kvyat, he'd almost certainly be alongside Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull.

But Vandoorne is signed up with McLaren, and the rest of the GP2 field is paying for the inadequacies of their young driver programme.

Vandoorne took pole in the first two races to set a new GP2 record of six in a row. He followed up these poles with victories in the first two feature races despite being compromised on both occasions by events outside his control.

At both weekends, he came second—from eighth on the grid—in the sprint races.

The pole run was ended in Monaco, but Vandoorne still won the feature race despite starting fourth. He was eighth in the overtaking-lite spring race the following day.

It's no exaggeration to call him the most exciting GP2 driver since Lewis Hamilton won the title in 2006. And Vandoorne doesn't just have speed—he has also demonstrated excellent tyre management along with the ability to carefully plan and control his races to get the best possible result.

He was ready for F1 before the season began. It'll be a travesty if he isn't in a race seat in 2016.

Qualifying and race data used throughout sourced from the GP2 website unless otherwise stated.