Evgeny Restov

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.