1) Alex Lynn
It came as a bit of a surprise when Alex Lynn was brought into the Red Bull Junior Team at the end of 2013, but his championship-winning season with Carlin showed Red Bull were justified in their decision.
Lynn was the class of the field for large proportions of the season, but especially during the opening few rounds of the year, when he took the first two pole positions of the year at the Circuit de Catalunya and the Red Bull Ring, and converted both into victories. He would only win once more during the year – the reverse grid race in Belgium, but his consistency took him to a dominant championship triumph.
Five podium finishes on top of his three race wins, with runners-up spots at Silverstone, Hockenheim, Monza and Abu Dhabi, and a third place in the second race at Hockenheim. Only twice during the year did he fail to score points, when circumstances seemed to conspire against him in Spain and Austria after his victories.
He was an outside bet for the Scuderia Toro Rosso drive for 2015, and had his first Formula 1 opportunity when given a chance to test with Lotus in Abu Dhabi. With his Red Bull backing, he should have the opportunity to move up the motor sport ladder next season, with both the GP2 Series and Formula Renault 3.5 Series possibly destinations.
With Red Bull’s history of sponsoring drivers in World Series by Renault and with fellow Red Bull-backed drivers Carlos Sainz Jr and Pierre Gasly moving on to Formula 1 and GP2 respectively, the Briton could be in line for a move to replace one or other in Formula Renault 3.5.
