The 2011 GP3 Series season was the second season of the GP3 Series, a feeder series for the GP2 Series. The season began at Istanbul Park on 7 May and concluded at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 11 September after eight rounds made up of two races each and all in support of European Formula 1 Grands Prix. The 2010 champion Esteban Gutiérrez graduated to the GP2 Series so did not defend his title.
After the early rounds, the likes of Mitch Evans, Nigel Melker, Andrea Caldarelli and Alexander Sims were fighting for the championship lead. However, Caldarelli had to retire from the series due to failing to raise a sufficient budget for the whole season. Sims then held the lead after consistent podium finishes in both Valencia and Silverstone. This was not to last though, as the Finn Valtteri Bottas started to find his speed at Nürburgring, taking the top spot after winning the first race at Hungaroring while Sims was disqualified due rear floor height check. Bottas led the championship with 7 points from Sims. Total of 6 drivers were within 13 points from Bottas at that time.
Bottas was able to secure the title in the first race of Monza. In that race he took the chequered flag and his closest rival and team-mate James Calado was left to second place. As 7 points is the maximum from Sunday's race and Bottas had more victories than Calado, the 7-point gap between them was enough for Bottas to clinch the title with one race still to go.
Teams and drivers
All of the teams used the Dallara GP3/10 chassis with and a Renault four-cylinder 2.0 litre (122 cu in) turbocharged engines order and with tyres supplied by Pirelli. Team Driver Rounds Lotus ART 1 Pedro Nunes 1–6 Richie Stanaway 7–8 2 Valtteri Bottas All 3 James Calado All Status Grand Prix 4 Alexander Sims All 5 António Félix da Costa All 6 Ivan Lukashevich All Jenzer Motorsport 7 Nico Müller All 8 Maxim Zimin All 9 Vittorio Ghirelli 1–6 Alex Fontana 7 Christophe Hurni 8 Marussia Manor Racing 10 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs All 11 Rio Haryanto All 12 Matias Laine All Carlin 14 Conor Daly All 15 Tom Dillmann 1 Daniel Morad 2–4 Callum MacLeod 5–8 16 Leonardo Cordeiro All Tech 1 Racing 17 Aaro Vainio All 18 Andrea Caldarelli 1–2 Thomas Hylkema 3–8 19 Tamás Pál Kiss All Atech CRS GP 20 Marlon Stöckinger All 21 Nick Yelloly All 22 Zoël Amberg All Addax Team 23 Dominic Storey 1–2 Tom Dillmann 3–8 24 Gabriel Chaves All 25 Dean Smith 1–7 Vittorio Ghirelli 8 MW Arden 26 Mitch Evans All 27 Simon Trummer All 28 Lewis Williamson All RSC Mücke Motorsport 29 Luciano Bacheta 1–6 Daniel Mancinelli 7–8 30 Michael Christensen All 31 Nigel Melker All
Driver changes Changed teams Michael Christensen moved from MW Arden to RSC Mücke Motorsport. Team-mate Leonardo Cordeiro also changed teams, moving to Carlin. After racing with Carlin in two meetings in 2010, António Félix da Costa moved into the series full-time with Status Grand Prix after claiming top rookie honours in the Formula 3 Euro Series. Another Carlin driver, Dean Smith, moved to the Addax Team. Vittorio Ghirelli switched from Atech CRS GP to Jenzer Motorsport. After missing the opening round, Daniel Morad joined Carlin from Status Grand Prix. Simon Trummer, who finished 25th in 2010 with Jenzer Motorsport, moved to MW Arden.
Entering/Re-Entering GP3 Series Formula Renault MEC champion Zoël Amberg joined the series with Atech CRS GP. Luciano Bacheta, the Formula Renault Eurocup runner-up, joined the series with RSC Mücke Motorsport. Valtteri Bottas joined the championship, having finished third in the Formula 3 Euro Series. He will continue with the Lotus ART team that he drove for in the Euro Series. James Calado joined the championship, having finished runner-up to Jean-Éric Vergne in British Formula 3 with Carlin. He will join Bottas at Lotus ART. Andrea Caldarelli, who finished third in Italian Formula Three, moved into the championship with Tech 1 Racing. Aaro Vainio joined him, having driven for the French squad in the Formula Renault Eurocup, finishing fourth in the standings. Gabriel Chaves stepped up from Italian Formula Three to GP3 with the Addax Team. He was joined by Dominic Storey, who moved over from a one-off drive in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. Star Mazda champion Conor Daly joined the series for Carlin. He was joined by German Formula Three champion Tom Dillmann for the first round of the series in Istanbul Park. Having competed in Australian Formula Three and the Toyota Racing Series since the start of 2010, Mitch Evans joined MW Arden. Matias Laine made his debut in the series with Manor Racing, having competed in the Formula 3 Euro Series for Motopark Academy in 2010. Formula Renault UK race-winners Tamás Pál Kiss, Marlon Stöckinger, Lewis Williamson and Nick Yelloly all joined the series. Pál Kiss drove for Tech 1 Racing, Williamson drove for MW Arden while Stöckinger and Yelloly drove for Atech CRS GP. Alexander Sims made his debut in the series with Status Grand Prix, having finished fourth in the Formula 3 Euro Series for ART Grand Prix. Maxim Zimin joined the series with Jenzer Motorsport, having competed with the team in Formula Abarth.
Leaving GP3 Series Mirko Bortolotti, who finished eleventh for Barwa Addax, and Tobias Hegewald, who finished 22nd with RSC Mücke Motorsport, both returned to Formula Two for 2011. They were joined by Miki Monrás, who was tenth for MW Arden. Stefano Coletti and Pål Varhaug joined the GP2 Series with Trident Racing and DAMS respectively. 2010 champion Esteban Gutiérrez also joined GP2 with Lotus ART as well as being reserve driver for Formula One team Sauber. James Jakes, after initially signing to race in GP2 with Scuderia Coloni, raced in the IndyCar Series with Dale Coyne Racing. Josef Newgarden returned to his native United States to compete in Indy Lights for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Alexander Rossi and Robert Wickens moved into the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. Rossi, who finished fourth in 2010 with ART Grand Prix, drove for Fortec Motorsport while championship runner-up Wickens drove for Carlin.
2011 Schedule The 2011 calendar was announced on 18 January 2011. The series consisted of eight rounds. A prospective ninth round in Monaco was dropped on 2 February 2011 due to a lack of paddock space. It supported every other European Formula One event. Round Location Circuit Date Supporting 1 R1 Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul Racing Circuit 7 May R2 8 May 2 R1 Catalunya, Spain Circuit de Catalunya 21 May R2 22 May 3 R1 Valencia. Spain Valencia Street Circuit 25 June R2 26 June 4 R1 Silverstone, UK Silverstone Circuit 9 July R2 10 July 5 R1 Nürburg, Germany Nürburgring 23 July R2 24 July 6 R1 Budapest, Hungary Hungaroring 30 July R2 31 July 7 R1 Spa, Belgium Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 27 August R2 28 August 8 R1 Monza, Italy Autodromo Nazionale Monza 10 September R2 11 SeptemberSources:
The following rounds were included on the provisional calendars published by the FIA but were cancelled: Round Location Circuit Date Supporting R1 Monte Carlo, Monaco Circuit de Monaco 27 May Monaco Grand Prix R2 28 MaySource:
Results Round Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Report 1 R1 Istanbul Park Tom Dillmann Andrea Caldarelli Nigel Melker RSC Mücke Motorsport Report R2 Alexander Sims Alexander Sims Status Grand Prix 2 R1 Circuit de Catalunya Mitch Evans Valtteri Bottas Mitch Evans MW Arden Report R2 Andrea Caldarelli Tamás Pál Kiss Tech 1 Racing 3 R1 Valencia Street Circuit Lewis Williamson Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Marussia Manor Racing Report R2 James Calado James Calado Lotus ART 4 R1 Silverstone Circuit Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Alexander Sims Nico Müller Jenzer Motorsport Report R2 Lewis Williamson MW Arden 5 R1 Nürburgring Mitch Evans Lewis Williamson Rio Haryanto Marussia Manor Racing Report R2 Nigel Melker Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART 6 R1 Hungaroring Valtteri Bottas Michael Christensen Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART Report R2 Nigel Melker Rio Haryanto Marussia Manor Racing 7 R1 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps James Calado Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART Report R2 James Calado Richie Stanaway Lotus ART 8 R1 Autodromo Nazionale Monza Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rio Haryanto Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART Report R2 António Félix da Costa Status Grand PrixSource:
Championship standings
Drivers' Championship Pos Driver IST CAT VAL SIL NÜR HUN SPA MNZ Points 1 Valtteri Bottas 4 8 10 7 7 3 15 12 3 1 1 2 1 19 1 17 62 2 James Calado 17 13 2 21 8 1 6 5 4 6 25 3 2 2 2 14 55 3 Nigel Melker 1 3 6 2 Ret 19 Ret 8 10 3 8 4 3 Ret 9 Ret 38 4 Nico Müller 11 15 5 Ret Ret 14 1 11 15 7 4 5 7 3 4 3 36 5 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 24 16 11 23 1 8 4 15 5 Ret 3 10 4 Ret Ret 6 36 6 Alexander Sims 8 1 Ret Ret 6 2 2 3 12 2 DSQ 9 Ret Ret 21† Ret 34 7 Rio Haryanto 26 10 20 11 19 22† 10 4 1 10 9 1 12 9 3 2 31 8 Lewis Williamson Ret 20 14 9 2 6 7 1 2 14 6 Ret 9 DNS 18 10 31 9 Mitch Evans 6 7 1 5 3 4 9 Ret 19 22 Ret 24† 11 Ret 8 Ret 29 10 Andrea Caldarelli 2 5 4 4 20 11 Michael Christensen 7 2 18 12 Ret Ret Ret 13 26† 12 2 13 15 4 12 11 19 12 Dean Smith 9 6 7 3 5 11 8 2 24 Ret 24 19 20 20 18 13 António Félix da Costa 5 4 12 17 Ret 20† 19 9 28 Ret 11 6 Ret 11 7 1 16 14 Tom Dillmann 3 9 20 Ret Ret 25† 22 5 7 22 6 Ret Ret 9 15 15 Aaro Vainio 15 Ret 3 20 Ret Ret 11 18 7 13 5 7 13 Ret 22† 8 12 16 Tamás Pál Kiss 16 18 8 1 16 13 Ret 20 8 4 10 20 17 14 Ret 12 11 17 Conor Daly 21 25 21 22 12 7 13 7 6 8 13 11 5 7 6 Ret 10 18 Simon Trummer 19 21 27 25† Ret Ret 12 10 9 16 16 12 19 5 5 4 9 19 Gabriel Chaves 10 12 13 6 4 5 Ret 14 27† 17 23 Ret 16 16 17 7 8 20 Richie Stanaway 8 1 10 19 7 21 Nick Yelloly 13 11 25 18 9 12 3 6 16 9 21 Ret Ret 13 Ret Ret 7 22 Luciano Bacheta Ret 19 22 16 18 10 5 19 25 25 17 Ret 4 23 Callum MacLeod 29 21 26 18 Ret Ret 11 5 3 24 Alex Fontana 14 6 1 25 Vittorio Ghirelli 25 Ret 9 8 13 9 14 22 13 11 22 Ret Ret 18 0 26 Ivan Lukashevich 14 24 17 13 Ret Ret 18 24 11 18 28 23 10 8 Ret Ret 0 27 Maxim Zimin 23 17 Ret 19 Ret 21† DSQ EX 20 15 19 8 Ret 15 Ret 16 0 28 Zoël Amberg 12 14 16 10 11 18 Ret 16 21 20 15 16 Ret 12 Ret Ret 0 29 Marlon Stöckinger Ret 23 26 Ret 14 16 16 Ret Ret DNS 12 17 Ret 10 19 13 0 30 Leonardo Cordeiro Ret 22 23 15 10 17 17 23 17 19 20 15 21 18 13 Ret 0 31 Matias Laine 18 Ret 19 24 17 Ret Ret Ret 14 23 14 21 18 Ret 20 Ret 0 32 Pedro Nunes 22 26† 15 26† Ret 15 Ret 17 23 Ret 18 14 0 33 Daniel Morad 24 14 15 Ret DNS DNS 0 34 Thomas Hylkema Ret Ret 20 21 18 24† 27 Ret 22 21 14 Ret 0 35 Daniel Mancinelli Ret 17 15 15 0 36 Christophe Hurni 16 20 0 37 Dominic Storey 20 Ret Ret 27† 0 Pos Driver IST CAT VAL SIL NÜR HUN SPA MNZ PointsSources:
Teams' Championship