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Luiz Razia

Full name: Luiz Tadeu Razia Filho 
Date of birth: 4 April 1989 (age 22)
Nationality: Brazilian
Currently: 11th in GP2 standings

Luiz began competing in autocross in his native Brazil before switching to karts. His first steps in single-seaters came in Formula Renault and Formula 3 in 2005. He finished tenth in the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil standings, while in South American F3 he won two races on his way to sixth overall. He remained in F3 for another year in 2006, taking seven wins from 16 races on his way to the title.

He made his first appearance in Europe at the end of the year, contesting the final round of the International F3000 Master series (which would become International Formula Master the following season) at Estoril. He shone by winning all three races that were held at the Portuguese circuit.

Luiz's performances at Estoril led to him racing in the Euroseries 3000 championship in 2007. He contested the first half of the year for Fisichella Motor Sport, before switching to ELK Motorsport for the second half. Overall he scored four podiums and came third in the final standings. He remained in the series in 2008, winning twice and finishing fourth in the points.

Luiz moved into GP2 at the end of 2008, contesting the 2008-09 Asia series for Arden. He won the final race of the campaign in Bahrain after starting from pole position courtesy of the reverse grid system. He made a return to Fisichella Motor Sport for the 2009 main series, the team changing hands and becoming Coloni later that year. He scored his first points finish in the first race at Monza in September, before the second race after starting from pole.

Luiz switched to the Rapax team for 2010, and began the season strongly. He scored points in all of the first six races, including two second places in the sprint races at Barcelona and Istanbul. He then failed to score again until the final round in Abu Dhabi, picking up another sprint race second place. Meanwhile, his teammate Pastor Maldonado won the championship.

Luiz served as the test and reserve driver for the new Virgin Racing team in 2010, but switched to a third driver role at Team Lotus in 2011 after signing with the Norfolk squad's sister GP2 team AirAsia. He drove for the team in Friday practice at the Chinese Grand Prix.

In GP2 with AirAsia he scored another of his customary sprint race second places at Valencia, before scoring his maiden pole position in the series at the Hungaroring. He was unable to convert that into a win, but still finished on the podium in third.

Talent rating: Luiz showed well in F3 early in his career and was strong as well upon moving into F3000 in Europe. His time in GP2 hasn't gone so well, particularly at Rapax last year where he was well beaten by teammate Maldonado. He proved with his pole in Hungary though that he can be very quick on occasions. 7/10

Chances of getting to F1: Having bought his way into reserve roles at both Virgin and now Lotus, Luiz has certainly put his foot in the door and has also racked up some mileage. His GP2 performances aren't warranting a promotion just yet, but at 22 and with the backing he has, he's got a few years to put that right. 8/10

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Photo credits: GP2 and luizrazia.com

Stefano Coletti

Name: Stefano Coletti
Date of birth: 6 April 1989 (age 22)
Nationality: Monegasque
Currently: 10th in GP2 standings

After winning the European ICA Junior category in karting in 2004, Stefano moved into single-seaters in 2005 in Formula BMW ADAC in Germany. He finished a lowly 18th in the standings. He remained in the category for 2006 and improved vastly as he scored one win and three other podiums on his way to seventh in the final standings. He also finished third in the Formula BMW World Final event at Valencia at the end of the year. He took part in four races in Formula BMW USA, winning three of them.

In 2007 Stefano contested the Eurocup and Italian Formula Renault championships. In the Eurocup he scored one win and finished fourth in the standings. In the Italian series he took two wins, both at the Misano round, and finished tenth overall.

Stefano stepped up to Formula 3 in 2008, racing in the Euro Series. He began the season with Signature-Plus, was left the team after two rounds having been dropped by Red Bull's Junior Team programme. He returned to the series at the fourth round with Prema. He scored three top ten finishes with a best result of fourth, ending the year 20th overall.

Stefano remained in the Euro Series in 2009 with Prema, and won the opening race of the season at Hockenheim. He finished third in the first race at the Norising, the third meeting of the year, but was then excluded after hitting race-winner Jules Bianchi after the podium proceedings. He only scored one further podium that season and finished tenth in the standings. He did finished third at the F3 Masters event at Zandvoort.

Stefano made his GP2 debut at Valencia in August 2009, signing with the Durango team. After retiring from both races there, he then crashed heavily at Eau Rouge at the end of the first race at Spa. After writing off the car he was due to be the team's only driver at Monza, taking over teammate Nelson Panciatici's car. However he was still suffering from the injuries he sustained and the team was forced to withdraw. The team did not contest the final race of the year at Portimao, either.

In 2010 Stefano contested a full season of Formula Renault 3.5, scoring five podium finishes and coming fifth in the final standings. He also joined the new GP3 Series after the first round of the season. He finished ninth in the standings after two podium finishes.

Stefano returned to GP2 for 2011 with Trident Racing. In the four-race Asia Series at the start of the year he won once in Abu Dhabi, scoring the team's first GP2 win since Monaco in 2008, and finished fifth in the standings. He continued that form into the European campaign, winning the sprint race at the opening round in Turkey. He scored another victory in the sprint race in Hungary, coming through from 21st on the grid in chageable weather conditions.

Talent rating: Stefano has shown promise at stages throughout his career, but has been unable to convert any of this into consistent results. Consistency remains an issue in GP2, but he has still picked up three wins with a team usually found towards the back of the field. Only runaway series leader Romain Grosjean has won more races in 2011. 7/10

Chances of getting to F1: A move to a front-running team in GP2 could allow Stefano to be a title contender. If he can achieve that then, with a bit of financial backing, F1 could certainly be a possibility. He would become the first F1 driver from the principality since Olivier Beretta in 1994. 7/10

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Photo credits: GP2, BMW, stefanocoletti.com