Giedo van der Garde of the Netherlands and Caterham poses for a photograph during day three of Formula One winter testing at the Circuit de Catalunya on March 2, 2013 in Montmelo, Spain. (Photo: Getty Images)

#20 Giedo van der Garde (Caterham F1 Team)
Giedo van der Garde arrives in F1 at 27, which these days is regarded as fairly late. A one-time protege of Renault and later McLaren, he has been on the fringes of F1 for several years. He first tested tested for Super Aguri and Spyker as long ago as 2007. He also drove for Force India and Renault in 2008, while last year he did six Friday FP1 sessions with Caterham. The 27-year-old has spent the past four seasons in GP2, and has scored five wins, including two for Caterham Racing last year, indicating that he has some talent, but life won’t be easy at the back of the grid.

#21 Jules Bianchi (Marussia F1 Team)
Jules Bianchi was a last minute nomination for the Marussia seat after his hopes of landing a drive with Force India were dashed. The great nephew of 60s F1 driver Lucien Bianchi, Jules is managed by Nicolas Todt, who also looks after Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado. Picked up as a Ferrari protege, he showed some real promise in the junior ranks, although latterly there were signs that his career was in danger of stalling. He was Force India’s Friday driver last year and tested for the team in February before losing the race drive to Adrian Sutil. In effect he has nothing to lose at Marussia, and has the chance to seize the initiative from his team mate. He will certainly gain some valuable experience, albeit at the back end of the grid.

Max Chilton of Great Britain and Marussia poses for a photograph during day three of Formula One winter testing at the Circuit de Catalunya on March 2, 2013 in Montmelo, Spain. (Photo: Getty Images)

#22 Max Chilton (Marussia F1 Team)
One of several drivers on the 2013 saddled with the ‘pay driver’ tag, Max Chilton was just 15 when he made his British F3 debut back in 2007. He did not make a big impression either in F3 or in his first two seasons of GP2, but last year he made a major step forward in the latter category, winning the feature races in Hungary and Singapore and finishing fourth in the championship. He also gained valuable F1 experience by running some Friday FP1 sessions for Marussia before being confirmed for a 2013 race seat. The personable young Briton faces a very steep learning curve, and it remains to be seen what his real potential is.

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED