8) Raffaele Marciello
It took a few races for 2013 FIA European Formula 3 Champion Raffaele Marciello to adapt to the GP2 Series, but once he did he proved to everyone why Ferrari rated him so highly to put him into their Driver Academy.
His first few race starts for Racing Engineering were, to be blunt, dreadful, and he fell down the order from promising qualifying positions to almost last in both Bahrain and Spain. His first points came in the fourth event of the year in Austria, where he performed brilliantly to secure two third places.
He was on form at Silverstone too, with a stunning pole position, although his Feature race ended early with a mechanical issue while in contention for the win. His Sprint race was over even earlier when he was the innocent victim of a first corner collision on the opening lap.
He ended pointless in Germany but was unlucky in Hungary to only take one point away from the weekend. He finished eighth during the Feature race only to be penalised post-race for overtaking Stoffel Vandoorne behind the safety car while entering the pit lane that saw him drop all the way down to nineteenth. He fought back on Sunday to take eighth, proving he had the pace to challenge for big points.
His best race was reserved for Spa-Francorchamps however, when he took a brilliant win in a race that he and Vandoorne dominated, with the Italian getting the better of the Belgian towards the end of the race after a great overtaking manoeuvre that started down the Kemmel Straight and ended with him passing into Rivage.
He would only finish on the podium once more in 2014 with a third place in the Feature race at Sochi, and ultimately finished eighth in the championship, but should he return to the series, probably again with Racing Engineering, the year of experience should make him one of the pre-season favourites for the championship.
