7) Nick Yelloly
The fact Nick Yelloly finally took his maiden GP3 Series victory in the season finale in Abu Dhabi says it all about the Status Grand Prix driver’s season. Moving to the team from Carlin, he was hoping for a championship-challenging season in what was his third year in GP3, but ended up down in sixth place.
Yelloly was one of the most consistent drivers of 2014, finishing every race and only failing to score once, which was in race two at Hungary. As well as his victory, he took runners-up spots at both Silverstone and the Hungaroring (both to team-mate Richie Stanaway), while he was third in race one at Spa-Francorchamps.
He was always there or thereabouts in the points, but far too often was taking the minor points on offer for fifth to tenth rather than the bigger points for first to fourth that could have seen him mount a serious attempt on the 2014 title. His win in Abu Dhabi was inherited after initial race winner Patric Niederhauser was disqualified for a car infringement, but you cannot deny that Yelloly didn’t deserve the win.
Yelloly will want to move on from the GP3 Series now, but was not present in either the GP2 Series or Formula Renault 3.5 Series tests at the end of the season. He has previous race-winning experience in World Series by Renault, and it would be foolhardy for teams to ignore that fact, especially when he remains a consistent points scorer and on his day, race winner.
