The best American drivers on the road to F1, from GP2 to F2

Year: 2023
Highest championship ranking: 22nd in 2023
Races: 18
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Points: 0
Best race result: 10th

In 2023, Brad Benavides showed that graduating to F2 when you’re already struggling at the lower levels may not be a great idea.

Benavides was 21 when he moved to F2 with the unfancied PHM Racing by Charouz outfit, having previously failed to score any points in Formula Renault Eurocup and the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, while his 2022 F3 campaign yielded just three in a sprint race.

It was therefore unsurprising that Benavides never qualified higher than 18th over nine qualifying sessions, failing to trouble the points-scoring positions – he ran a grand total of four laps in the top 10.

Brad Benavides, PHM Racing by Charouz

The Florida native, who also holds Spanish and Guatemalan nationalities, didn’t see out the season. He switched to the Euroformula Open championship for 2024, taking the title with little competition – only three drivers competed in the full season. He’s now back in F3, still with little success, although he did snatch shock pole positions at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza, as well as fourth place after leading most of the season-ending Italian race.

9. Jake Rosenzweig

Years: 2012-2013
Highest championship ranking: 28th in 2013
Races: 26
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Points: 0
Best race result: 10th

Jake Rosenzweig

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Jake Rosenzweig had plenty of experience when he joined GP2 with the Barwa Addax outfit in late 2012. The 23-year-old American had spent the previous three years in Formula Renault 3.5, also a direct feeder to F1 at the time, but never made it to the podium.

GP2 was slightly more competitive, and Rosenzweig never even scored a single point. His highlight was qualifying eighth in Monza – he otherwise never made the top 15 – but he retired from the feature race after four laps, when he was running sixth. At the time, feature race results formed the sprint race grid with the top eight reversed, so that was his only shot at a decent result.

The 2013 GP2 season transpired to be his last campaign as a racing driver, despite his wish for another year in the series; he opted not to maintain a social media presence, preferring to live in the comfort of anonymity.

Jake Rosenzweig

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Years: 2024-2025
Highest championship ranking: 21st in 2025 (provisional)
Races: 25
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Points: 0
Best race result: 10th

Max Esterson, Jenzer Motorsport

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Unlike many of his peers, Max Esterson only started karting when he was 15, having previously shone on iRacing. He made his single-seater debut two years later, taking fifth in the F1600 Championship Series, before moving across the pond but staying in Formula Ford with Britain’s own series, in which he took third.

A two-year stint in GB3 yielded a few podium finishes, including one victory, but Esterson struggled in F3 with Jenzer Motorsport, scoring points on just two occasions in 2024.

Unsurprisingly, the step up to F2 with Trident has been tough too, despite Esterson taking part in the last two rounds of 2024 as preparation. The New York City native has qualified a highest of 14th this season, with his best race result 10th at the Red Bull Ring.

Max Esterson, Trident drives on track

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

Esterson did briefly run second in the Jeddah feature race and third at the Red Bull Ring, but that was down to delaying his pitstops to the very last minute. Other than that, he has never actually troubled the points-scoring positions.

Esterson split with Trident by mutual consent after the Monza round.

7. Conor Daly

Years: 2013-2014
Highest championship ranking: 26th in 2013 and 2014
Races: 20
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Points: 4
Best race result: 7th

Conor Daly

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Son of Irish Formula 1 driver Derek, Conor Daly moved to GP2 full-time in 2014 after spending the previous two campaigns as a GP3 frontrunner with the renowned ART Grand Prix squad – he took third place in the standings in 2013.

Daly had a first foray into GP2 with Hilmer Motorsport at the first round that same year, taking seventh in the Sepang sprint race, then moved to the series full-time in 2014 with the unfancied Lazarus outfit. Again, his only points finish was a seventh position in the Hungaroring sprint. He never qualified higher than 15th, and was generally outperformed by team-mate Nathanael Berthon.

Conor Daly, Venezuela GP Lazarus

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Since then, Daly has regularly raced in IndyCar, where he has however failed to win a race in 126 attempts, despite coming close on a few occasions.

Years: 2017-2018
Highest championship ranking: 19th in 2018
Races: 23
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Points: 11
Best race result: 6th

Santino Ferrucci, Trident

Photo by: FIA Formula 2

Santino Ferrucci has been a consistent midfield runner in nearly every series he has competed in. European F3, GP3, IndyCar… and F2, where he scored a handful of points over two short-lived campaigns with Trident.

What Ferrucci will be remembered for, as far as F1’s feeder series is concerned, may not his performance on track but his shenanigans off the track.

His F2 career ended after a Silverstone round where he unsuccessfully requested a pro-Donald Trump livery for – political statements are prohibited on the cars.

Ferrucci collided with team-mate Arjun Maini in the feature race, then pushed the Indian off the track in the sprint. He was summoned by the stewards but failed to attend the hearing and was disqualified from that contest.

Santino Ferrucci, Trident

Photo by: FIA Formula 2

The driver from Connecticut also hit Maini’s car on purpose in the cool-down lap, with his own Trident team taking a stand against his “unsportsmanlike and above all uncivilised behaviour” both on track and in the paddock.

Ferrucci was banned from the following two rounds and got a €60,000 fine – plus another €6,000 for using his phone in his racing car. Yes, all of the above pertains to the very same race weekend.

A few months later, an Italian court ordered Ferrucci pay €502,000 to the Trident team over unfulfilled payments.

Years: 2019, 2022-2024
Highest championship ranking: 26th in 2013 and 2014
Races: 68
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 3
Points: 80
Best race result: 2nd

Juan Manuel Correa, Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images

Juan Manuel Correa’s F2 story is sadly intertwined with Anthoine Hubert’s.

Correa graduated to F2 in 2019 with Charouz, after a GP3 campaign where he finished half the races in the points but none on the podium, though his Jenzer squad arguably was one of the more modest ones.

Reverse-grid sprint races treated Correa well with a couple of second places from the same position on the grid, but Correa was involved in Hubert’s fatal accident at Spa-Francorchamps. The American-Ecuadorian was seriously injured and nearly lost his legs.

Yet, one year and a half later, he was back in F3, taking one podium finish over two seasons with ART. Then he moved back up to F2 with Van Amersfoort Racing in 2023 and DAMS in 2024. He was third in the Barcelona feature race last year, to everyone’s delight.

Juan Manuel Correa, Dams

Photo by: Dutch Photo Agency

In 2025, Correa competed in select IMSA and Indy NXT races.

Years: 2023-2025
Highest championship ranking: 4th in 2025 (provisional)
Races: 74
Poles: 2
Wins: 5
Podiums: 18
Points: 319

Race winner Jak Crawford, DAMS Lucas Oil

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Joining the Red Bull Junior Team in early 2020 after taking the runner-up spot in Mexico’s F4 championship, then seventh place in USF2000, Jak Crawford impressed as he rose through the ranks, though he won no titles: second in ADAC F4, sixth in Italian F4, third in Euroformula Open, seventh in his sophomore FIA F3 season.

The Texan’s first F2 campaign, with Hitech in 2023, yielded just 13th in the standings, but there were obvious glimpses of speed with five podiums – most of them in sprint races – including one win, and a pole position at Zandvoort.

Switching his allegiance from Red Bull to Aston Martin, a more experienced Crawford moved to DAMS for the next two seasons and became a consistent frontrunner – though maybe not consistent enough in 2023, when numerous points and podium finishes were tarnished by four feature-race retirements.

Crawford suffered a technical issue in Bahrain, was tagged into the wall in Monaco, collided with Rafael Villagomez at Lusail and endured a braking problem in Abu Dhabi. However, he felt there was room for improvement in terms of set-up, with his average qualifying position a lowly 11th (Melbourne outlier excluded).

The DAMS driver’s progress has been evident in 2025 with his qualifying average up to 8th, which has most often put him in a position to capitalise either in the feature race or in the sprint. There have been ups and downs still, but he has already scored more points than last year thanks to three wins, with the highlight his commanding victory in a wet Silverstone feature race.

Jak Crawford, DAMS Lucas Oil

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Crawford currently lies fourth in the standings, but this wasn’t enough to convince the new Cadillac F1 team to give him a chance.

Years: 2021-2022
Highest championship ranking: 4th in 2022
Races: 31
Poles: 2
Wins: 2
Podiums: 4
Points: 148

Logan Sargeant, Carlin

Photo by: FIA Formula 2

Fort Lauderdale native Logan Sargeant also pursued an European career from the get-go, finishing third in British F4 in 2017 – behind Oscar Piastri – and fourth in the 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup; he was the second-best rookie behind Christian Lundgaard, scoring nearly twice as many points as Piastri.

Sargeant had an underwhelming maiden FIA F3 campaign in 2019, scoring just five points with Carlin, but switched to Prema for 2020 and was involved in that season’s remarkable three-way championship fight; however he retired from the title decider in a first-lap collision, missing out by four points against Piastri, with Theo Pourchaire taking the runner-up spot by one point.

Sargeant’s future looked bleak as he didn’t have the necessary budget to graduate to F2. He spent another year in F3 with the modest Charouz outfit, but Williams took the Floridian under its wing and he had a first taste of F2 at Jeddah before taking on a full campaign in 2022, again with Carlin.

This was a success. Sargeant admittedly didn’t challenge the experienced Felipe Drugovich for the title – nobody did except Pourchaire – but beat Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa to the ‘top rookie’ honours, impressing with two pole positions and two feature race wins.

This included a peculiar triumph at Red Bull Ring, where Sargeant didn’t race a single lap within the top three but was declared the victor following many post-race penalties. His record could have been even better without a poor getaway from pole at Paul Ricard, followed by a technical issue at his pitstop.

Logan Sargeant, Carlin

Photo by: FIA Formula 2

Sargeant particularly impressed with his one-lap speed; his average qualifying position was sixth – and even fifth when taking out a poor Jeddah outing. Only Drugovich and Jack Doohan, both of them more experienced in F2, qualified better.

Williams gave Sargeant a chance in F1 in 2023, but let him go after a season and a half due to his lack of performance and his numerous crashes. The now-24-year-old took a year-long break from racing after the bruising experience took its toll, as he wanted to live a ‘normal’ life again.

Years: 2013-2015
Highest championship ranking: 2nd in 2015
Races: 53
Poles: 2
Wins: 4
Podiums: 11
Points: 285.5

Race winner Alexander Rossi

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Alexander Rossi was the most promising American talent on the road to F1 in the 2010s.

The Californian learned the ropes at the Skip Barber Racing School, then won the 2008 Formula BMW Americas championship – earning a maiden F1 test with the German brand – before moving across to Europe.

Rossi took a promising fourth place in the inaugural GP3 season, which was quite a remarkable result given his average qualifying result was 16th. This landed him a spot at Team Lotus (then set to become Caterham) as an F1 junior driver.

Rossi went on to finish third – and best rookie – in Formula Renault 3.5, then a feeder series to F1, but a switch to the new Arden Caterham outfit for 2012 failed to bear fruit, with just 11th place in the standings.

Caterham wanted Rossi to focus on being an F1 test driver in 2013, following Valtteri Bottas’ example after the Finn graduated to a Williams race seat that year.

However, due to Heikki Kovalainen’s return to the F1 team as a test driver and Ma Qinghua’s sudden exit, Rossi was drafted into the Chinese racer’s GP2 seat at short notice. He did well to finish ninth and best rookie again after missing the start of the season, taking a podium finish on debut, as well as a maiden pole and victory in Abu Dhabi.

Alexander Rossi

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Amid turmoil at Caterham, Rossi only took part in the first half of the 2014 GP2 season, deciding to leave the team when owner Tony Fernandes sold it. Results were more than underwhelming, with highs of eighth in qualifying and fifth in races.

Rossi swiftly found shelter at Marussia, where it was announced on Thursday ahead of the Belgian GP that he was going to race amid contractual issues for Max Chilton; Chilton eventually got his seat back after FP1. Rossi got another call-up from Marussia for the Abu Dhabi round, but that time, the team didn’t make it.

The Nevada City native was close to an IndyCar deal for 2015 but was handed an F1 lifeline by the Racing Engineering GP2 team. 2014 runner-up Stoffel Vandoorne was completely untouchable that year, but Rossi scored points in 17 out of 21 races, only missing out in Hungary through a poor weekend and the second Bahrain round, where a feature-race collision ruined his chances.

One-lap pace still wasn’t Rossi’s forte. He qualified only four times in the top five, out of 11 rounds, but his racecraft made up for it – he won the Monza and Sochi feature races from eighth and third on the grid respectively.

Yet, his most impressive feat probably was his Monaco pole position by six tenths on a wet track, with victory eluding him due to a slow pitstop. When it came to beating Vandoorne in GP2, nothing less than perfection was acceptable.

Alexander Rossi, Racing Engineering

Photo by: GP2 Series Media Service

Rossi went on to take part in five F1 grands prix with Manor (formerly Marussia), then became an IndyCar stalwart, taking a shock Indy 500 win as a rookie and finishing second in the 2018 championship.

1. Scott Speed

Year: 2005
Highest championship ranking: 3rd in 2005
Races: 23
Poles: 1
Wins: 0
Podiums: 5
Points: 67.5 (former points system)
Best race result: 2nd

Scott Speed

Photo by: GP2 Series Media Service

Back on the inaugural GP2 grid, Scott Speed was one of the more scrutinised drivers, with the Red Bull junior graduating to F1’s new feeder series after winning the German and European Formula Renault 2000 championships.

However, that was an enormous jump to make – especially compared to, in no particular order, 2004 British F3 champion Nelson Piquet Jr and runner-up Adam Carroll; 2004 World Series by Nissan victor Heikki Kovalainen; Alexandre Premat, Nicolas Lapierre and Nico Rosberg, all three in the top four of the F3 Euro Series in 2004; plus 2004 F1 drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Giorgio Pantano.

As it turned out, the season was overwhelmingly dominated by Rosberg and Kovalainen, but Speed was ‘best of the rest’ – by half a point over Premat.

Speed never won any races – he usually came up slightly short in feature races, most of the time between second and fifth, while never being in the key positions to prevail in the reverse-grid sprints.

The iSport driver took a remarkable pole position by nearly half a second at Barcelona, but lost out at the start and never recovered. His best chance of victory came in the Istanbul sprint, where he took the lead from fourth on the grid but switched to slicks too late on a drying track.

Scott Speed

Photo by: GP2 Series Media Service

Speed earned a call-up to F1 for Toro Rosso’s 2006 ‘debut’, but failed to score any points over 28 grands prix, getting sacked halfway through the 2007 campaign after reportedly falling out with team principal Franz Tost. His replacement? Sebastian Vettel.

The Californian has now retired from racing, after mostly competing in various NASCAR and rallycross series following his F1 exit.

They briefly made it to F2… together

A rather strange coincidence was two US-based drivers making a one-off foray into F2 at the 2019 Red Bull Ring round.

Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Tveter, who had finished eighth and ninth in the previous two GP3 seasons with Trident, graduated to F2 for what turned out to be his last outing as a racing driver, standing in for Ralph Boschung at the Italian outfit. He qualified 19th, 1.3s off the pace, and took 15th and 16th in the races.

Patricio O’Ward, MP Motorsport

Photo by: FIA Formula 2

A higher-profile youngster coming in that weekend was Pato O’Ward, who had just joined the Red Bull Junior Team and got a chance to race for MP Motorsport after Mahaveer Raghunathan accumulated enough penalty points for a ban. The 20-year-old Mexican qualified 17th, just one tenth faster than Tveter, and raced to 19th and 14th. “I got a proper ass-whipping today to be honest,” he told Motorsport.com after the feature race. “I don’t know what to say. I’ve never felt slower in my life.”

O’Ward subsequently replaced another Red Bull junior, Dan Ticktum, in Super Formula, but went on to forge close links with McLaren and become a frontrunner in the IndyCar championship – though the title has so far eluded him.