GP2 Series
The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore,[1] while Ecclestone also has the rights to the name GP1.[2] The series was organized by Bruno Michel. In 2010, the GP3 Series class was launched, as a feeder class for the GP2 series.[3] In 2017, the series was rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
See also: Formula Two, FIA Formula Two Championship (2009–2012), and FIA Formula 2 ChampionshipCategory
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Designed to make racing affordable for the teams and to make it a better training ground for life in Formula One, GP2 made it mandatory for all of the teams to use the same chassis, engine and tyre supplier so that true driver ability is reflected. All but three races had taken place as support races at Formula One race weekends to boost the series' profile, to give drivers experience of the Grand Prix environment, and to take advantage of the infrastructure (marshals, medical facilities etc.) in place for a Formula One event. GP2 mainly raced on European circuits, but appearanced on other international race tracks such as the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia and the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore.
Many drivers have used GP2 as a stepping stone into Formula One. The 2005 Champion Nico Rosberg was hired by the Williams team for the 2006 F1 campaign, 2006 GP2 winner Lewis Hamilton made the transition to F1 the following year with McLaren and the 2007 Champion Timo Glock to Toyota for the 2008 F1 season. 2009 GP2 champion Nico Hülkenberg moved up to a Williams F1 race drive in the 2010 Formula 1 season. In addition, Heikki Kovalainen (2005), Nelson Piquet Jr. (2006) and Lucas di Grassi (2007)—all runners up—became Renault test drivers the following year. All three earned F1 seats, but have since been replaced.
Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov were also granted an F1 seat in 2010. For 2011 Pastor Maldonado was granted a seat at Williams. Sergio Pérez was given the drive alongside Kamui Kobayashi, another former GP2 driver and GP2 Asia Series winner, at Sauber. Jérôme d'Ambrosio got his Virgin Racing drive for the 2011 season. However, some drivers have reached Formula One without competing in GP2, including Sebastian Vettel, Paul di Resta, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Éric Vergne, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Max Verstappen.
During 2011, it was announced that in 2012 the GP2 and GP2 Asia Series would combine to make a single, longer GP2 series.[4]
GP2 Series and role[edit]
Progression to Formula One[edit]
Current Formula One drivers that have graduated from the GP2 series include Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly (who triumphed in the 2016 staging amongst various others). Lewis Hamilton stepping straight into the McLaren team and Nico Rosberg, Nico Hülkenberg, Pastor Maldonado and Kazuki Nakajima going straight to Williams have particularly highlighted how F1 teams take GP2 seriously, and Hamilton's Formula One World Championship title in only his second year in F1 is probably the strongest example of the series creating highly competitive racers.
By the end of the 2016 season, nine of the twelve (GP2) champions so far had been able to secure a seat in Formula 1, a correlation of 75%.
At the end of the 2019 Formula One season, 35 out of 174 drivers have raced in Formula One (20.1%).
Notes:
History of previous seasons[edit]
2005[edit]
The 2005 Season was the first of the series, succeeding the now defunct Formula 3000 championship. Arden International won the last F3000 titles, thus starting as one of the favourites.
The 2005 season began on April 23, 2005, on the weekend of the San Marino Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. In the pre-season test to decide the inaugural season's car numbers, the iSport International and HiTech/Piquet Racing teams showed a competitive edge. The latter team was largely funded by the former Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet in order to aid his son's route to the premier Formula sport.
The championship lasted 23 rounds, two races occurring a weekend with the exception of a single race in Monaco. It was won by German Nico Rosberg, who was subsequently hired by the WilliamsF1 Team, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing second.
It was also notable for being the only season that GP2 used grooved tyres like F1 cars rather than slicks.
2006[edit]
The 2006 season was the second of the series. After championship holder Nico Rosberg's move to the Williams F1 team, and runner-up Heikki Kovalainen's move to be reserve driver at Renault F1, Nelson Piquet Jr. in the Piquet Sports car was installed as the early title favourite, though the ART Grand Prix cars of Alexandre Prémat and Lewis Hamilton also had fairly short odds, given ART were reigning champions.
For the first time, the season began on a calendar separate to the 2006 Formula One calendar, starting out at the Circuit de Valencia, in Valencia, Spain on April 8, 2006, with Piquet Jr. the first victor.
Piquet raced into an early lead before Lewis Hamilton came back into the fray. A dominant run by the Briton took him into the championship lead before the balance came back into Piquet Jr.'s favour.
After an exciting championship battle lasting 20 races, Hamilton claimed the title in the penultimate race, at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, in Monza, Italy, and celebrated with a second place in the 21st and final round.
2007[edit]
The 2007 GP2 Series began on 13 April at the Bahrain International Circuit, and completed on 30 September at the Circuit de Valencia (which was the only race that wasn't on the F1 calendar). Eventual champion Timo Glock was a driving force throughout the series but came under stiff competition from Lucas di Grassi in the closing stages- however, with a convincing win at the last race in Valencia, Glock sealed the championship. The season was the last with the first-generation chassis, the GP2/05.
2008[edit]
The 2008 GP2 Series featured the same teams as in previous seasons.[20] This was also the first time that the calendar supported all of the F1 races in Europe with a late deal to run at the Valencia Street Circuit.[21] It was the first season to feature a new car design from Dallara, the GP2/08, the only non-F1 car to pass the 2007 FIA crash test in full.[22] In the United Kingdom, the 2008 GP2 Series was exclusively aired on ITV4[23] from April 2008. It was won by Giorgio Pantano for Racing Engineering, with Bruno Senna finishing distant runner-up.
2009[edit]
The 2009 season began and ended on the Iberian peninsula, with the first race weekend at Circuit de Catalunya (9–10 May) and ending in the stand-alone headline event (i.e. not supporting a corresponding Formula One event) at Portugal's Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (19–20 September). The title was won by German rookie Nico Hülkenberg at the penultimate round of the championship at Monza, the second time the championship had been won before the last race.
2010[edit]
The 2010 season contained ten rounds, all of which were supporting F1 World Championship. The series started in May at Catalunya and concluded at Abu Dhabi in November.
Pastor Maldonado won the title in his fourth season in the series. He won a record-breaking six successive feature races mid-season. Sergio Pérez was his closest rival, but the title was sealed already in the penultimate round at Monza. It was the last season for the Dallara GP2/08 chassis and Bridgestone as the series' official tyre supplier.
2011[edit]
The 2011 season contained nine rounds and a final tenth round with no points, all of which were supporting F1 World Championship. The series started in May at Istanbul and concluded at Abu Dhabi in November.
The championship was won by reigning GP2 Asia champion Romain Grosjean at the penultimate round of the series. Following a three-year cycle, the previous GP2 chassis was replaced by a brand new car, the GP2/11, built by Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara. The series will change tyre supplier from Bridgestone to Pirelli for 2011–13. The 2011 season saw the addition of two new teams to the grid, Carlin and Team AirAsia. Meanwhile, DPR was not selected to continue in the series.
2012[edit]
The 2012 season contained twelve rounds, eleven of which supported the F1 World Championship and one stand alone round in Bahrain. The series started on March 24 in Malaysia and concluded in Singapore on September 23. Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) won the title by 25 points from Arden's Luiz Razia, with Lotus GP's Esteban Gutiérrez third.
For the 2012 season, Team Lazarus replaced Super Nova Racing using the name "Venezuela GP Lazarus". Lotus ART was renamed "Lotus Grand Prix", reflecting their increased relationship with title sponsor 'Lotus Cars'.
2013[edit]
The 2013 season contained eleven rounds, all of which supported the F1 World Championship. The series started on March 23 in Malaysia and concluded in Abu Dhabi on November 3.
Fabio Leimer won the title driving for Racing Engineering, with a total of 201 points and 3 wins. Sam Bird, driving for Russian Time, finished runner-up. The season was originally proposed to be the final season for the GP2/11 chassis introduced in 2011, but the series organisers decided to use this chassis for a further three seasons to keep costs down.
2014[edit]
The 2014 GP2 Series contained eleven rounds, all of which supported the F1 World Championship. The series started on April 5 in Bahrain and concluded in Abu Dhabi on November 23.
Jolyon Palmer won the title in Sochi driving for DAMS. Stoffel Vandoorne, driving for ART Grand Prix, finished runner-up in Abu Dhabi.
2015[edit]
The 2015 season contained eleven rounds, supporting the F1 World Championship and the final round of the World Endurance Championship at the 6 Hours of Bahrain. It started in Bahrain on 18 April and finished in Abu Dhabi on 29 November.
While still continuing to use the Dallara GP2/11 chassis introduced in 2011, this season saw the series introduce the Drag Reduction System (DRS) used in Formula One. The series used the same detection and activation points at each circuit as Formula One, and followed the same rules for activation, requiring drivers to be within one second of the car in front at the detection point for DRS to become available.
Stoffel Vandoorne won the title in Sochi driving for ART Grand Prix. Alexander Rossi, driving for Racing Engineering, finished runner-up.
2016[edit]
The 2016 season contained eleven rounds, supporting the F1 World Championship. It started in Spain on May 14 and finished in Abu Dhabi on November 27. It was also again proposed to be the final season for the Dallara GP2/11 chassis package that débuted in 2011 and the Mecachrome 4.0 litre (244 cu in) V8 naturally-aspirated engine package that débuted in the series' first season in 2005 before a brand new chassis and engine package was introduced for the 2017 season, but due to another cost-cutting, the series organisers decided to use the current chassis and engine package for a further season.
Pierre Gasly won the title driving for Prema Racing (who won the team's championship in their debut season). Antonio Giovinazzi, also driving for Prema, finished runner up.
Television rights[edit]
The television rights are held by Formula One Management, which also manages the rights to Formula One.
Sky Sports F1 broadcast every race live in the UK and Ireland, while Setanta Sports also broadcast in Ireland.
The races were also broadcast in the United States on Comcast's NBC Sports Network, while in Brazil it is broadcast by cable TV channel SportTV. In Venezuela MeridianoTV broadcast, and in the rest of Latin America, the races from 2012 were shown on delay in South Cone and live in North Cone on Fox Sports +.
Other European countries:
In Spain, races were broadcast by MarcaTV, Antena 3 and TV3. In Germany, PayTV Channel Sky broadcast all races live, and in Finland Pay-TV-channel MTV3 MAX broadcast all races and qualifying live. RAI broadcast only the races.
In the UK, races were being shown on Setanta Sports until the channel ceased broadcasting in June 2009.[24] Setanta took up coverage of the series from ITV, who had shown GP2 in all four seasons to date (highlights only for 2005–2007, live coverage for 2008). However, by the German GP, Setanta GB had gone into administration so UK viewers could have been left without a GP2 broadcaster, but British Eurosport subsequently picked up the UK rights to GP2 for the next two and a half years.[25] Setanta Ireland continues to operate for the Irish market and retains GP2 rights for that country. In February 2012, it was announced that Sky Sports F1 had secured the broadcasting rights to the GP2 series and will broadcast every race live in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[26] Formula One pundit Will Buxton provided commentary for the UK broadcast until he departed at the end of the 2014 season and was succeeded by Alex Jacques.