The 2014 Monaco GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races held as part of the GP2 Series on 23 and 24 May 2014 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was the third round of the 2014 GP2 Series and was run in support of the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix. The first event, a 40-lap feature race, was won by DAMS driver Jolyon Palmer who started from pole position. Mitch Evans finished second for Russian Time and Carlin's Felipe Nasr took third. Palmer's teammate Stéphane Richelmi won the shorter 30-lap sprint race from second the following day, ahead of Trident driver Sergio Canamasas and Rio Haryanto of Caterham Racing.
Palmer won the pole position for the feature race by setting the fastest lap in qualifying but Evans made a brisk getaway to take the lead. Evans lost grip in his super soft compound tyres and Palmer overtook him for the lead at the start of lap 11. Palmer kept the lead for most of the remaining 29 laps to win the race with the first three finishers separated by six-tenths of a second. Richelmi started from pole position in the sprint race and held off Haryanto to lead into Sainte Devote. Richelmi withstood race-long pressure from Canamasas to achieve his maiden GP2 Series victory on his 54th attempt.
The results increased Palmer's advantage atop the Drivers' Championship to 46 points ober Nasr who gained second as a result of finishing second in the feature race. Johnny Cecotto Jr. passed Julián Leal, who scored no points in both races and fell to fourth. Arthur Pic was fifth with 40 points. DAMS now led the Teams' Championship with 135 points and Carlin were demoted to second with 30 less points. Trident and Campos Racing were third and fourth with eight rounds left in the season.
Background
The 2014 Monaco GP2 Series round was the third of eleven scheduled events in 2014. It was held on 23 and 24 May 2014 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco and supported the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought two types of tyre to the race: two dry compounds (red banded super-soft "options" and yellow-banded soft "primes"). There were 13 teams entering two drivers each for the round for a total of 26 competitors and all of them piloted the Dallara GP2/11 vehicle.
Before the round, DAMS driver Jolyon Palmer led the Drivers' Championship with 70 points, 22 ahead of Julián Leal in second, who was followed in turn, by a further six points behind third-placed Felipe Nasr. Johnny Cecotto Jr. was fourth on 29 points, and Arthur Pic was a further three points behind in fifth place. Carlin were leading the Teams' Championship with 90 points; their nearest rival DAMS stood seven points adrift in second place. ART Grand Prix were third with 33 points with Trident (29) and Campos Racing (26) in fourth and fifth.
Practice and qualifying
One 45 minute morning practice session was held on Thursday afternoon. During the session, held in mixed and cold weather as rain swept through the area, Palmer lapped fastest with a time of 1:20.707, three-tenths of a second faster than Cecotto (Trident) in second. The rest of the top ten were Stéphane Richelmi (DAMS), Stefano Coletti (Racing Engineering), Mitch Evans (Russian Time), Sergio Canamasas (Trident), Rio Haryanto (Caterham Racing), Nasr, Leal (both Carlin) and Alexander Rossi (Caterham Racing). Nathanaël Berthon (Lazarus) crashed into the Anthony Noghes corner wall as he began his first quick lap. Canamasas locked his brakes going downhill and went onto a run-off area. He continued by reversing onto the track. Nasr was on a fast timed lap and stopped the session temporarily when he braked later than expected, became airborne driving over the Novelle chicane kerbs, and struck the outside barrier. Marshals were needed to move his damaged car from the barriers. As cars bunched up in the session's closing minutes, the front wing of Evans's car lodged itself in the rear of André Negrão's (Arden International) car in the track's final corners.
Friday afternoon's qualifying session ran for 30 minutes. Qualifying was divided into two groups of 13 cars, with odd numbered cars in Group A and even numbered vehicles in Group B. The drivers' fastest lap times determined the starting order for the first race. The pole position winner took four points towards the Drivers' and Teams' Championships. The track had mostly dried after rain affected the second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix. Although a few minor damp patches were present, wet-weather tyres were not used by anybody but traffic was a factor due to the tight nature of the circuit. Palmer opted for a strategy to record his lap midway through qualifying for overall pole position with a benchmark lap of 1:20.774. Second place on the grid was originally Haryanto who set the best lap late in Group B and was nearly seven-tenths slower, but he was penalised with a three-place grid penalty for blocking other drivers during the session. Evans' team waited until he had clear space but was caught in traffic on his last lap on new tyres and took third. Richelmi followed his teammate Palmer's strategy and went faster on his last lap to go fourth. Two-time Monaco pole sitter Cecotto in fifth wore out his tyres and could not go faster.
Stoffel Vandoorne (ART Grand Prix) was another who improved and placed sixth. Daniel Abt (Hilmer Motorsport) was provisionally seventh and Racing Engineering teammates Coletti and Raffaele Marciello were eighth and ninth. Leal rounded out the top ten provisional qualifiers. Rossi in 11th was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten. Behind him, the rest of the provisional grid consisted of Canamasas, Simon Trummer (Rapax), Arthur Pic (Campos), Nasr, René Binder (Arden International), Kimiya Sato (Campos), Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Rapax), Tio Ellinas (MP Motorsport), Facu Regalia (Hilmer Motorsport), Conor Daly (Lazarus), Daniël de Jong (MP Motorsport), Negrão, Berthon, Takuya Izawa (ART Grand Prix) and Artem Markelov (Russian Time). After qualifying, Abt was deemed to have impeded Cecotto and Negrão at two separate points of the track and incurred a three-place grid penalty that dropped him from seventh to tenth. Similarly, Haryanto, Regalia and Nasr were penalised for the same thing and Markelov was mandated to begin from the pit lane to take a grid penalty he received for causing a collision in the Catalunya sprint race.
Qualifying classification Group A Driver Team Time 17 Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1:20.774 1 21 Mitch Evans RT Russian Time 1:21.188 2 323 Johnny Cecotto Jr. Trident 1:21.361 4 4 11 Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:21.760 10 5 5 Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1:21.919 8 6 19 Alexander Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:22.146 11 7 15 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:22.296 13 8 3 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:22.381 18 9 27 Kimiya Sato Campos Racing 1:22.588 16 10 21 Tio Ellinas MP Motorsport 1:22.681 19 11 25 Conor Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:22.997 20 12 17 André Negrão Arden International 1;23.178 22 13 9 Takuya Izawa ART Grand Prix 1:23.259 25 Source:
Group B Driver Team Time 1 18 Rio Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing1:21.433 5 2 8 Stéphane Richelmi DAMS 1:21.444 3 3 10 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:21.508 6 4 6 Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1:21.649 7 5 4 Julián Leal Carlin 1:21.752 9 6 22 Sergio Canamasas Trident 1:21.926 12 7 26 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:22.207 14 8 16 René Binder Arden International 1:22,270 15 9 14 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:22.277 17 10 12 Facu Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 1:22.478 23 11 20 Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 1:22.488 21 12 24 Nathanaël Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:22.632 24 13 2 Artem Markelov RT Russian Time 1:23.349 26 Source: Notes: — Daniel Abt, Rio Haryanto, Facu Regalia and Felipe Nasr were demoted three-places on the grid for blocking other drivers during qualifying.
Races
The first race was held over or 60 minutes (which ever came first) and the regulations required drivers to make one pit stop. The first ten finishers scored points, with two given to the fastest lap holder. The grid for the second race was determined by the finishing order of the first but with the first eight drivers in reverse order of where they finished. It was run for or 45 minutes (which ever came first) and, in contrast to the first race, drivers were not required to make pit stops. The top eight finishers earned points towards their respective championships.
Feature race
The first race began in sunny weather with an air temperature of and a track temperature of at 11:15 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00) on 23 May. On the grid, Palmer made a slow start on his soft compound tyres due to wheelspin and lost the lead to Evans on the super soft compound into Sainte Devote turn because Evans's tyres provided him with extra grip. This was in contrast from the year before when a traffic jam brought the race to a halt. Palmer held off a challenge from his teammate Richelmi and the duo were followed by Cecotto, Vandoorne and Coletti. Nasr made the best start in the field, moving from 18th to 12th by the end of the first lap as Evans opened up a one-second advantage over Palmer at the same time. However, Evans was prevented from extending his lead further when the safety car was deployed at the beginning of lap two for Regalia who stopped on the inside at the exit of the Tabac corner with a drive train failure that began at the Novelle chicane. Evans maintained his lead at the lap four restart and Palmer retained second as the top six drivers began to pull away from Haryanto in seventh.
Further down the order, Nasr, Pic, Quaife-Hobbs, Canamasas and de Jong made their mandatory pit stops during laps seven and eight as they sought to move up the order through strategy. By this point, Evans lost grip due to worn tyres, allowing Palmer to gradually lower his lead. Palmer took the lead from Evans by turning right entering Sainte Devote corner at the start of the 11th lap. Palmer opened up a two-second lead over Evans before the lap was over. Evans' slow speed allowed Richelmi to close up and a small train of cars formed behind them as Cecotto was behind Richelmi. Abt retired at the Loews hairpin from contact with Rossi on lap 11. On the next lap, a multi-car crash at the Loews hairpin blocked the turn and stopped the race. Binder tapped his teammate Negrão into a spin and blocked the entrance to the corner; he was stranded in the middle of the circuit and created a traffic jam. Markelov could not avoid Negrão and hit his car. Every driver returned to the grid and were permitted to change tyres; the order was rearranged to continue the race. This was despite the engines in some cars such as Rossi's and Richelmi's starting to overheat on the downhill approach to Mirabeau corner while stationary in traffic; their on-board computers went into safe mode. Marshals push started the affected cars down the tunnel and into the Novelle chicane.