Evgeny Restov

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Evgeny Restov
Nationality Flag of Russia.svg.png Russian
Born 15th July 1988
London, England
Current Team Sauber-Ferrari
Car Number
Former Teams BMW-Sauber, USF1
Races 72
Championships 0
Victories 2
Podiums 9
Points 285
Pole Positions 2
Fastest Laps 3
First Race 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix, Race 1
First Victory 2012 Turkish Grand Prix, Race 2
Last Victory 2012 Uruguayan Grand Prix, Race 2
Last Race Still active
Best Finish 1st



Early career

Like all F1 drivers, Restov began karting at a young age. Despite the intense pressure that went with his famous surname, Restov won the Russian national title in 1998, his 4th season of competing, at just 10 years of age. As his childhood progressed, Restov won more and more junior karting titles, most notably in 2002 winning the Monaco Junior Cup, and in 2003 coming 4th overall in the Karting World Championships. For 2004 he progressed to Formula Renault GB, and in his first season proved himself to be a solid driver, finishing 7th in the championship. 2005 saw him mount a serious title challenge, but a run of misfortune mid-season cost him the title. In 2006 he made the jump up to F3 Euroseries, where in a competitive field he surprised many by finishing 2nd in the championship in his debut season, winning the prestigious Bahrain SuperPrix in the same yaer. He moved up to World Series by Renault for 2007, where he won the title at a canter, thus opening the door to GP2. In 2008 he was a consistent front-runner, finishing 3rd overall, and in 2009 he annihilated the opposition, taking the title at a canter.


Graduation to F1

For 2010, Restov secured a testing berth with BMW-Sauber, which nearly turned into a race-seat, as Christian Klien was threatened with the sack on multiple occasions, but managed to retain his seat. Nevertheless, Restov had managed to get his foot into the door of F1, and was being talked about as a huge talent for the future.


USF1

Restov was offered a race seat by strugglers USF1 for 2011, in a move motivated my money more than anything. Restov acquitted himself well, going 3rd fastest in his first run in the car in pre-season, setting a time over 2 seconds faster than team-mate Giedo van der Garde. He made his F1 debut in Bahrain, where he qualified 22nd, 2 places ahead of van der Garde, and finished a solid 15th, 3 places and 11 seconds ahead of his team-mate. This set the tone for Restov's half season partnership with van der Garde, and the Dutchman was dismissed halfway through the season due to being comprehensively beaten by Restov- in the 10 races they were together, Restov was never out-qualified or out-raced by him. The season was a struggle for Restov, as the underfunded team lacked pace and direction. Despite this, Restov still managed to pick up some decent results- his 3rd in Detroit was impressive, if down to attrition, but his superb drive to 9th in Suzuka hinted at his potential. Midway through the season, Jan van der Maeyede was brought in to replace van der Garde, and was immediately on the pace; Restov later admitted that his drop-off in pace relative to van der Maeyede was down to a mixture of upgrades not working for his driving style, and discontentment at the team's relative lack of progress. He also raised the ire of team management after taking his own team-mate out of the race at Monaco, resulting in a suspended two race ban, which expired before it could be enforced. He did manage to arrest his mid-season slump by picking up a further point at Donington, managing to keep Jenson Button's Red Bull behind in the closing laps, and he was within half a second of nabbing points in Lausitz. Towards the end of the season, it was rumoured that he would move to Renault to replace the underperforming Alexandre-Laurent Voeckler, but nothing came of the rumours. Restov finished his debut season 25th overall, with 18 points, and USF1 finished 12th out of 13 constructors, with 23 points.