GP2 Series

The GP2 Series, GP2 for short, is a form of open wheel motor racing. GP2 was started in 2005 after the Formula 3000 was stopped. The format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore,[1] while Ecclestone also has the rights to the name GP1.[2] In 2010 the GP3 Series class was launched, as a feeder class for the GP2 series.[3]

For other uses, see the GP2 Racing Series, Formula Two, and Formula Two.
GP2 Series
CategorySingle seaters
Country or regionInternational
First season2005
Drivers26
Teams13
ConstructorsDallara
Engine suppliersRenault
Tyre suppliersPirelli
Drivers' champion Jolyon Palmer (2014)
Teams' champion Russian Time (2013)
Official websitegp2series.com
GP2's logo.

GP2 was designed to be an affordable racing series and a training series for Formula One. GP2 requires all of the teams to use the same chassis, engine and tyre supplier. Almost all races have taken place as support races on Formula One race weekends. Many drivers have used GP2 as a stepping stone into Formula One.

GP2 Series cars

The GP2 Series car is used by all of the teams, and features a Dallara chassis powered by a V8 Renault engine and Bridgestone tyres.

The 4 L Renault V8 engine features design and software upgrades designed to improve performance and fuel consumption. The engine produces about 620 bhp (432.5 kW). GP2 Series engines are rev-limited to 10,000 rpm.

Bridgestone supplying three slick tyre compounds for racing on dry (soft, medium and hard). They also provide a wet weather tyre. The choice of tyre to be raced is made by the Bridgestone and the GP2 Series organizers prior to each event.

Brembo supplies the brakes.

Race weekend

On Friday, drivers have a 30-minute practice session and a 30-minute qualifying session. The qualifying session decides the grid order for Saturday's race which has a length of 180 kilometers.

During Saturday's race, each driver has to make a pit stop in which at least two tyres have to be changed.

On Sunday there is a sprint race of 120 km. The grid is decided by the Saturday result with top 8 being reversed, so the driver who finished 8th on Saturday will start from pole position and the winner will start from 8th place.

Point system

2005-2011

  • Pole for Saturday races: 2 points
Point system for race 1
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th 
10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
Point system for race 2
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th 
6 5 4 3 2 1
  • Fastest lap: 1 point in each race. Driver recording fastest lap has to drive 90% of race laps. The driver must now also start the race from his allocated grid position and as of 2008 must finish in the top ten of the race to be eligible for the fastest lap point.

With this points system, the most number of points anyone can score in one round is 20 by claiming pole position, winning both races with the fastest lap in each race. This has only been achieved twice in GP2 Racing's short history. By Brazilian Nelson Piquet, Jr. in the 9th round of the 2006 season in Hungary and by German Nico Hülkenberg in the 5th round of the 2009 season in Germany.

2012-present

Point system for race 1
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

The top eight finishers in a sprint race receive points as follows:

Point system for race 2
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th 
15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
  • Fastest Lap and Pole position are the same in the previous system

Champions
SeasonChampionSecondThirdTeam Champion
2005 Nico Rosberg (ART Grand Prix) Heikki Kovalainen Scott Speed ART Grand Prix
2006 Lewis Hamilton (ART Grand Prix) Nelson Piquet, Jr. Alexandre Prémat ART Grand Prix
2007 Timo Glock (iSport International) Lucas di Grassi Giorgio Pantano iSport International
2008 Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering) Bruno Senna Lucas di Grassi Barwa International Campos Team
2009 Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix) Vitaly Petrov Lucas di Grassi ART Grand Prix
2010 Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) Sergio Pérez Jules Bianchi Rapax
2011 Romain Grosjean (DAMS) Luca Filippi Jules Bianchi Barwa Addax Team
2012 Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) Luiz Razia Esteban Gutiérrez DAMS
2013 Fabio Leimer (Racing Engineering) Sam Bird James Calado Russian Time
2014 Jolyon Palmer (DAMS)

Drivers graduated to F1
2005 Nico Rosberg Heikki Kovalainen ‡ Scott Speed
2006 Lewis Hamilton Nelson Piquet, Jr. ‡
2007 Timo Glock Kazuki Nakajima †
2008 Bruno Senna ‡ Sébastien Buemi
2009 Nico Hülkenberg Vitaly Petrov Lucas di Grassi Romain Grosjean † Kamui Kobayashi † Karun Chandhok
2009 Sergio Pérez[4]
2010 Pastor Maldonado Sergio Pérez Jérôme d'Ambrosio
2011 Jules Bianchi ‡ Charles Pic
2012 Max Chilton Esteban Gutierrez Giedo van der Garde
2013 Marcus Ericsson

Drivers are listed by their last year in GP2 Series. Usually they started in F1 at the start of the following season.
‡ = graduated to F1 later
† = started in F1 mid-season

Note: Timo Glock had four Grand Prix starts in 2004, drove in GP2 Series in 2006-07 before moving to F1 in 2008.

References
  1. Spurgeon, Brad (2005-06-01). "Formula One experiments with its minor league". The International Herald Tribune. p. 22.
  2. grandprix.com August 11, 2005
  3. "autosport.com October 3, 2008". Archived from the original on 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2010-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. "Sauber land Sergio Perez for 2011 Formula 1 season". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 2010-10-04. Retrieved 2010-10-04.

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