2015 GP2 Series

The 2015 GP2 Series season was the forty-ninth season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also eleventh season under the GP2 Series moniker, a championship for open-wheel racing cars run as a support series to the 2015 Formula One World Championship. Twenty-six drivers representing thirteen teams raced over eleven rounds, starting in Bahrain on 18 April and finishing in Abu Dhabi on 29 November.

Rule changes The series continued to use the Dallara GP2/11 chassis first introduced in 2011, but introduced the Drag Reduction System (DRS), akin to that 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. The upper-element rear wing angle has a same angle as Formula One upper-element rear wing. In an event of rainy conditions, Drag Reduction Systems are automatically deactivated until the rain stopped.

Teams and drivers Team Drivers Rounds DAMS 1 Pierre Gasly All 2 Alex Lynn All Carlin 3 Julián Leal 1–8 Dean Stoneman 9–11 4 Marco Sørensen 1–4 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 5 Sean Gelael Jann Mardenborough 8 ART Grand Prix 5 Stoffel Vandoorne All 6 Nobuharu Matsushita All Racing Engineering 7 Jordan King All 8 Alexander Rossi All Russian Time 9 Mitch Evans All 10 Artem Markelov All Trident 11 Raffaele Marciello All 12 René Binder 1–6 Gustav Malja 7 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 8–9 Daniël de Jong 10–11 Campos Racing 14 Arthur Pic All 15 Rio Haryanto All MP Motorsport 16 Sergio Canamasas 1–3 Oliver Rowland 5, 7 Nicholas Latifi 6, 9–11 Meindert van Buuren 8 17 Daniël de Jong 1–7 René Binder 8–11 Rapax 18 Sergey Sirotkin All 19 Robert Vișoiu 1–9 Gustav Malja 10–11 Arden International 20 André Negrão All 21 Norman Nato All Status Grand Prix 22 Marlon Stöckinger All 23 Richie Stanaway 1–9 Oliver Rowland 10–11 Hilmer Motorsport 24 Nick Yelloly 2–7 Simon Trummer 8 25 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 2–3 Simon Trummer 4 Jon Lancaster 5 Sergio Canamasas 6 Lazarus (1–3) Daiko Team Lazarus (4–11) 26 Nathanaël Berthon 1–7, 9–11 Patric Niederhauser 8 27 Zoël Amberg 1–4, 6 Sergio Canamasas 5, 7–11Sources:

Team changes GP3 Series team Status Grand Prix expanded its operations to enter the GP2 Series, replacing Caterham Racing after team principal Teddy Yip reached an agreement with Caterham's Tony Fernandes to purchase the team at the end of the 2014 season. Russian Time ended its association with iSport International, with the responsibility for the team's operations taken over by Virtuosi Racing.

Driver changes Changing teams René Binder moved from Arden International to Trident. Sergio Canamasas moved from Trident to MP Motorsport. Pierre Gasly, who raced for Caterham Racing, will switch to DAMS. Rio Haryanto switched from Caterham Racing to Campos Racing. Raffaele Marciello, who raced for Racing Engineering, will switch to Trident. Alexander Rossi, who raced for Caterham Racing and Campos Racing will move to Racing Engineering. Marco Sørensen, who raced for MP Motorsport, will switch to Carlin. Johnny Cecotto Jr., who raced for Trident, will switch to Hilmer Motorsport.

Entering GP2 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series driver Zoël Amberg will switch to the series, joining Lazarus. Jordan King, who previously competed in European Formula 3, will make his GP2 debut with Racing Engineering. GP3 Series champion Alex Lynn will graduate to the series with reigning champions DAMS. Nobuharu Matsushita, the 2014 All-Japan Formula Three champion, will make his GP2 debut with ART Grand Prix. Norman Nato, who previously competed in Formula Renault 3.5, will make his GP2 debut with Arden International. Sergey Sirotkin will move from the Formula Renault 3.5 series, to join the Rapax Team. Marlon Stöckinger, who raced for Status Grand Prix in the 2012 GP3 Series season, will return to the team after two seasons in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. Robert Vișoiu will graduate to the series with Rapax. Richie Stanaway, who previously competed in GP3, will graduate to the series with Status. Nick Yelloly, who previously competed in GP3, will graduate to the series with Hilmer.

Leaving GP2 2014 season champion Jolyon Palmer will not return to defend his title as, under the series regulations, a driver is not allowed to continue in the series once they have won the championship. He has taken up duties as reserve driver for Lotus F1. Stéphane Richelmi left DAMS and the series to join the Blancpain Endurance Series and Blancpain Sprint Series with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. Tom Dillmann, Tio Ellinas and Nicholas Latifi left the series to race with Carlin, Strakka Racing and Arden respectively in Formula Renault 3.5. Takuya Izawa left ART Grand Prix and the series to return to Super Formula and Super GT. Felipe Nasr left Carlin and the series to join the Sauber Formula One team. Stefano Coletti left GP2 to race in IndyCar with KV Racing Technology. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs left Rapax and the series to join the Blancpain Endurance Series with Von Ryan Racing. Daniel Abt left the series to race in Formula E with the Audi Sport Abt Formula E Team.

Mid-season changes Johnny Cecotto Jr. replaced Marco Sørensen at Carlin for the Silverstone round of the championship. Cecotto was replaced for the following round at the Hungaroring by Carlin regular Sean Gelael. Gelael due to his Formula Renault 3.5 Series obligations was replaced by the Carlin GP3 Series driver Jann Mardenborough at Monza.

Calendar In December 2014, the full 2015 calendar was revealed with eleven events.

Round Circuit/Location Country Date Supporting 1 Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir 18 April 19 April 2 Feature 9 May Sprint 10 May 3 Feature Circuit de Monaco, Monaco 22 May Sprint 23 May 4 Feature Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 20 June Sprint 21 June 5 Feature Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 4 July Sprint 5 July 6 Feature Hungaroring, Mogyoród 25 July Sprint 26 July 7 Feature 22 August Sprint 23 August 8 Feature Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza 5 September Sprint 6 September 9 Feature Sochi Autodrom, Sochi 10 October Sprint 11 October 10 Feature Bahrain International Circuit, Manama 20 November 6 Hours of Bahrain Sprint 21 November 11 Feature Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi 28 November Sprint Source:

Calendar changes The series was scheduled to run in support of the German Grand Prix, at a venue that, at the time of the calendar's publication, had not yet been decided. With the cancellation of the German Grand Prix, the planned GP2 meeting was rescheduled to Bahrain International Circuit in the 2015 6 Hours of Bahrain weekend.

Results

Summary

Round Circuit Pole position Winning driver Winning team Report 1 Bahrain International Circuit Stoffel Vandoorne Stoffel Vandoorne Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix Report Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 2 F Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Mitch Evans Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix Report S Stoffel Vandoorne Alex Lynn DAMS 3 F Circuit de Monaco Alexander Rossi Nick Yelloly Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix Report S Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 4 F Red Bull Ring Stoffel Vandoorne Alex Lynn Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix Report S Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 5 F Silverstone Circuit Sergey Sirotkin Sergey Sirotkin Sergey Sirotkin Rapax Report S Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 6 F Hungaroring Alex Lynn Robert Vișoiu Alex Lynn DAMS Report S ART Grand Prix 7 F Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Stoffel Vandoorne Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix Report S Stoffel Vandoorne Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 8 F Autodromo Nazionale Monza Pierre Gasly Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering Report S Alex Lynn Mitch Evans Russian Time 9 F Sochi Autodrom Alex Lynn Stoffel Vandoorne Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering Report S Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 10 F Bahrain International Circuit Pierre Gasly Stoffel Vandoorne Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix Report S Mitch Evans Russian Time 11 F Yas Marina Circuit Pierre Gasly Nathanaël Berthon Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix Report S Abandoned because of Lap 1 crash — insufficient number of laps completed.Source:

Championship standings Scoring system Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 8 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the feature race also received four points, and two points were given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points were awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race.

Feature race points Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   Pole     Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 4 2

Sprint race points Points were awarded to the top 8 classified finishers.

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th     Points 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 2

Drivers' championship Due to a first lap accident resulting in barriers needing to be repaired, the first race at Sochi was shortened to 15 laps instead of the 28 originally scheduled, and as a result half points were awarded.

The second race at Yas Marina was cancelled after a first lap accident, during which four cars made contact with the barriers on the outside of turn 3. The race was red-flagged, then abandoned as the barriers were not sufficiently repaired in time to restart the race. As less than 2 laps were completed, no result was reached and no points were awarded.

Driver BHR1 CAT MON RBR SIL HUN SPA MNZ SOC BHR2 YMC Points 1 Stoffel Vandoorne 1 2 1 2 1 8 1 2 3 9 5 2 1 4 2 3 3 4 1 2 1 C 341.5 2 Alexander Rossi 3 4 3 4 2 7 6 8 2 4 12 19 6 1 1 Ret 1 6 18 9 4 C 181.5 3 Sergey Sirotkin 12 14 16 10 5 3 2 4 1 8 3 3 9 6 Ret 5 4 21 5 4 13 C 139 4 Rio Haryanto 2 1 4 6 16 Ret 7 1 8 1 4 5 13 10 13 11 5 2 7 18 7 C 138 5 Mitch Evans 6 17 2 DNS Ret DNS 10 5 Ret 20 17 22 5 3 3 1 11 8 3 1 3 C 135 6 Alex Lynn 19 15 5 1 13 11 3 20 5 6 1 9 11 8 Ret 10 Ret 10 8 3 8 C 110 7 Raffaele Marciello Ret 20 6 17 8 2 15 10 6 2 7 4 14 12 15 7 6 3 4 5 2 C 110 8 Pierre Gasly Ret 22 7 3 14 10 13 6 4 3 2 8 19 Ret Ret 12 2 5 6 7 5 C 110 9 Nobuharu Matsushita 10 6 11 18 Ret 19 4 3 Ret 19 8 1 Ret 15 Ret 15 10 7 2 Ret 11 C 68.5 10 Richie Stanaway 15 11 10 19 7 1 23 15 Ret 13 21 13 18 13 4 4 7 1 60 11 Arthur Pic Ret 10 9 8 4 6 9 11 14 16 13 10 2 Ret 7 2 8 13 10 16 17 C 60 12 Jordan King 4 9 14 11 9 Ret 12 7 22† 10 6 12 8 2 8 Ret Ret 15 9 6 6 C 60 13 Artem Markelov 13 12 12 5 Ret 14 5 DSQ 21 14 22 18 3 5 5 14 Ret 12 15 8 Ret C 48 14 Julián Leal 8 5 Ret 16 6 5 14 22 9 12 16 15 4 11 12 9 38 15 Sergio Canamasas 14 Ret 13 15 3 4 15 24 Ret 16 12 9 11 6 Ret 17 12 17 12 C 27 16 Nathanaël Berthon 7 3 20 12 17 15 Ret 17 Ret 21 14 11 7 7 14 19 11 Ret 10 C 27 17 Robert Vișoiu 5 7 18 23 15 13 11 9 12 11 9 7 15 16 9 Ret 17 18 20 18 Norman Nato Ret 16 8 7 18 21 20 13 18 23 11 6 Ret 20 6 Ret 12 9 24 10 Ret C 20 19 Nick Yelloly Ret 14 10 9 8 Ret 7 5 Ret 17 Ret 17 19 20 André Negrão 9 8 23† 21 21 17 16 21 20 15 20 21 20 14 14 18 15 11 17 20 9 C 5 21 Oliver Rowland 10 7 NC Ret 22 Ret 15 C 3 22 René Binder 17 Ret 22 Ret 11 16 17 14 17 18 23 24 10 8 16 Ret 20 Ret 14 C 2 23 Daniël de Jong 18 13 15 9 12 12 21 12 11 26† 10 Ret Ret DNS 19 14 Ret C 1 24 Dean Stoneman 9 16 21 12 Ret C 1 25 Gustav Malja 10 18 16 13 16 C 1 26 Marlon Stöckinger 11 19 Ret 20 19 18 19 19 19 22 19 23 17 19 Ret 19 Ret Ret 13 19 18 C 0 27 Nicholas Latifi 15 14 18 14 14 11 Ret C 0 28 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 21 Ret 20 Ret 13 25 18 13 13 22† 0 29 Zoël Amberg 16 18 17 13 22 Ret DNS DNS DNS DNS 0 30 Sean Gelael 18 20 20 21 19 20 23 15 Ret C 0 31 Simon Trummer 22 18 16 16 0 32 Jon Lancaster 16 17 0 33 Marco Sørensen Ret 21 19 22 Ret 20 18 16 0 34 Patric Niederhauser 17 17 0 35 Jann Mardenborough 19 20 0 — Meindert van Buuren Ret DNS 0 Driver BHR1 CAT MON RBR SIL HUN SPA MNZ SOC BHR2 YMC PointsSources: Notes: † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.