Top 10 GP2 Driver of the Year 2012:5. Luca Filippi Birthplace: Savigliano, Italy
Birthdate: August 9, 1985
Team: Scuderia Coloni
2012 starts: 3
Poles: 1
Wins: 1
Podiums: 1
Fastest laps: 2
Championship points: 29
Championship position: 16th
Crash.net GP2 Driver of 2011 position: 4th
Luca Filippi is probably the hardest driver of this year's eligible field to vote on: he started only three races all season, and actually finished only one of them. How can you rate any driver on such scant evidence?
And that that one race he won - the victory in the Monza feature, his first race outing in any series in nearly a year - was simply too outrageously good not to reward. And although collision damage sustained at the start of the following day's sprint race stopped him from contending for the race win, his battling performance in the circumstances was still impressive. The fact that he claimed the fastest lap honours in both of his next two races speaks volumes.
And yet there's no getting around the rather embarrassing exit from the Singapore feature race when he failed to appreciate the severity of front wing damage to his car from an earlier incident that ended up with him taking a much harder hit into the wall on the final lap cost him the chance to appear in the final race of the year the following day.
A bit of a mixed bag for Filippi, then; but on the whole, a reminder of just how fabulous he can be when he does get the opportunity.
Top 10 GP2 Driver of the Year 2012 results so far:5. Luca Filippi6. Esteban Gutiérrez7. Giedo van der Garde8. Tom Dillmann9. Max Chilton10. Marcus Ericsson