9) Stephane Richelmi
When Stephane Richelmi was on the top of his game he was a challenger, which his results in Monaco and Monza prove, but unfortunately for the Monegasque driver he had too many weekends where he was not at the races, and the DAMS driver ended the championship down in ninth place in the championship, over two hundred points shy of his team-mate and GP2 Series champion Jolyon Palmer.
He started the season well with a good fight through the field in the Bahrain Sprint race to score his first points of the year, and then took pole position for the Feature race in Spain ahead of Palmer, although he could not finish higher than tenth. He secured eighth place during the Feature race in Monaco, and then took an impressive and confident victory in the Sprint race, holding off the challenge of Trident Racing driver Sergio Canamasas for the duration.
The win should have kick-started his season, but Richelmi would only visit the podium once more in 2014, with a third place finish in the Sprint race at Monza. He finished outside the points on nine occasions during the year, as well as retiring twice due to collisions in both the Hockenheim Sprint race and the Hungaroring Feature race.
After three years in GP2 (and one in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series), the likelihood will be that Richelmi will switch series’ for 2015, and had his first opportunity to race in the Blancpain Sprint Series at the end of 2014 with the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT squad, and it would not be a surprise if the Monegasque driver ends his stay in single seater racing.
