Still time: vote for your 2013 GP2 Driver of the Year
Fabio Leimer won the first GP2 race of the 2013 season at Sepang, Malaysia in March and he duly went on to secure the championship seven and a half months later. But anyone thinking it was a simple matter of drawing a straight line between the start and the eventual outcome couldn't be more wrong.
Leimer far from had it all his own way, and indeed in the first half of the year is was someone else entirely who looked to be running away with the title. With seven podium finishes in the first 11 races of the year - including three wins along the way - it appeared that Rapax driver Stefano Colletti was unstoppable. And then suddenly, his forward momentum actually did stop dead. Just one more finish in the points (at the Nurburging) and after that, nothing for the rest of the year. Suddenly the game was afoot for the rest of the drivers.
Felipe Nasr had the early advantage in second place, but as the season progressed it was Leimer who became the most consistent force, finally pulling away from Sam Bird who proved to be his closest rival going into the final round of the year at Abu Dhabi. Bird's stall on the front row of the feature race grid sealed the title in Leimer's favour, but the Briton knuckled down and put in a gusty drive in the sprint race to secure Russian Time the team championship in its first year in the feeder series.
So will one of these drivers earn your plaudit for 2013? Does being champion automatically make Leimer the Crash.net GP2 Driver of the Year in your eyes? Or will you side with Sam Bird and give him a commiseration prize for losing out? How about James Calado who just pipped Nasr for third place with victory in the final race of the season? Or maybe you want to recognise one of the many first time winners we've had in 2013, including Jon Lancaster, Robin Frijns, Nathanael Berthon, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs or Alexander Rossi?
That's a lot or proven talent you have to decide from right there. In total, we've given yo the chance to rate the top 20 drivers from this year's GP2 championship which includes everyone who has started from pole position and all the drivers who have stood on the top step of the podium in 2013. All you have to do is go through and rate each driver out of ten, with 1 meaning you thought that they had a poor season and 10 indicating that you felt that had put in an excellent or outstanding showing this season.
How you make your decision is entirely up to you - you can leave a few words of explanation in the Have Your Say section if you like, especially if you're seeking to sway your fellow voters before they cast their own vote. Once all the votes are in, we'll be back to report on how all your favourites fared and who the winner is, so don't miss out and risk leaving your favourite driver hanging, or you'll only have yourself to blame if someone else gets crowned Crash.net GP2 Driver of the Year 2013!
Ready to start submitting your driver ratings? All you have to do is CLICK HERE...
