Esteban Gutierrez

Source: www.castroldriverrankings.com

September 2010 has been quite a month for Esteban Gutierrez. Not only has the teenager become the inaugural champion of the GP3 Series, but he has also been named as Sauber´s Formula 1 test and reserve driver until the end of next year.

It´s all a far cry from this time a year ago. Then, the 2008 Formula BMW Europe champion was just about to finish a disappointing debut campaign in the F3 Euro Series.

That campaign resulted in him being soundly beaten by his ART Grand Prix team-mates Jules Bianchi and Valtteri Bottas, taking only two podium finishes and finishing down in ninth place in the points. It left his stock decimated and put him under pressure to deliver on his potential this year.

A move to GP3, still with ART, has proven his doubters wrong as Gutierrez established his superiority over his highly-rated team-mate Alexander Rossi early on.

Victory in the third race of the season at Istanbul set the tone for the rest of his year. With ART getting a handle on the Dallara GP3-Renault earlier than any other squad, and only Status Grand Prix and Jenzer Motorsport able to match the French squad later in the year, the title was more or less assured by July.

From 16 races the 19-year-old Mexican took five wins and six fastest laps. He also took three of the eight pole positions on offer from qualifying sessions during the season.

He led 57 of the year´s 223 laps - 13 more than his nearest rival - and spent 118 of them in the top three positions.

This success has had a huge bearing on his Castrol Rankings position. After starting the year 232nd, he has now worked his way up to 96th, making him the highest-ranked GP3 driver and helping him towards his F1 test seat.

Sauber has already confirmed that Gutierrez will drive for the Swiss team at the Abu Dhabi young driver test in November - just as he did impressively at Jerez last year.

With a GP2 drive with ART seemingly on the cards - although with Bianchi and Sam Bird both performing well, who makes room for him is anyone´s guess - the future looks bright for Gutierrez.

With one foot in the F1 door already and his countryman Sergio Perez virtually certain to seal second spot in the GP2 Series, Mexico´s wait for its first grand prix driver since Hector Rebaque in 1981 may soon be over.

The Castrol Rankings is based on drivers´ measurable performance over the last 12 months, including everything from their grid position to fastest laps. For further information on how the Castrol Rankings scores are calculated, click here.