The 2016 GP2 Series season was the fiftieth season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also twelfth and final season under the GP2 Series moniker, a motor racing feeder series that was run in support of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the final season run under the "GP2 Series" name, with the championship being rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship from . It was also originally scheduled to be the final season for the Dallara GP2/11 chassis that was introduced in 2011 and the Mecachrome 4.0 litre V8 normally-aspirated engine package that débuted in the maiden season of the series in 2005 before a brand new chassis and engine package was introduced for 2017, however due to another cost-cutting, the series announced it would keep the current chassis and engine package for one more season.
ART Grand Prix started the season as the defending teams' champions after securing the title–their fourth in the championship–at the series' second visit to the Bahrain International Circuit in 2015. Prema Racing won the Teams' championship, their first in the series and first attempt, while Pierre Gasly won the Drivers' championship.
Pierre Gasly took 4 race wins and the championship. The most races were won by Gasly’s teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, who took 5 victories, Sergey Sirotkin took victories at Mogyoród in the sprint race, and in Hockenheim - he took pole position and won the race. Alex Lynn got 3 sprint races wins, Racing Engineering drivers Jordan King and Norman Nato took 2 race wins each, and Luca Ghiotto, Artem Markelov, Mitch Evans and Nobuharu Matsushita each got 1 race win.
Teams and drivers Team Driver name Rounds ART Grand Prix 1 René Binder 4 2 Sergey Sirotkin All Racing Engineering 3 Norman Nato All 4 Jordan King All DAMS 5 Alex Lynn All 6 Nicholas Latifi All Pertamina Campos Racing 7 Mitch Evans All 8 Sean Gelael All Russian Time 9 Raffaele Marciello All 10 Artem Markelov All Rapax 11 Gustav Malja All 12 Arthur Pic 1–9 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 10–11 Trident 14 Philo Paz Armand All 15 Luca Ghiotto All Carlin18 Sergio Canamasas 1–6, 8–11 René Binder 719 Marvin Kirchhöfer 1–10 Louis Delétraz 11 Prema Racing 20 Antonio Giovinazzi All 21 Pierre Gasly All MP Motorsport 22 Oliver Rowland All 23 Daniël de Jong All Arden International 24 Nabil Jeffri All 25 Jimmy Eriksson 1–9 Emil Bernstorff 11Sources:
Team changes Lazarus left the series at the end of the 2015 season, with their place taken by Prema Racing. Hilmer Motorsport left the series at the end of the 2015 season. As no replacement team could be found, the grid was left at twenty-two cars. Status Grand Prix also left the series before the 2016 season due to not being able to find any well-budgeted drivers and also lack of sponsorship for their second season. With the demise of the team, there were no number #16 and #17 cars on the grid.
Driver changes Changing teams Sergio Canamasas, who raced for MP Motorsport, Hilmer Motorsport and Daiko Team Lazarus in 2015, switched to Carlin. Mitch Evans and Sean Gelael, who drove for Russian Time and Carlin respectively in 2015, moved to Campos Racing. Pierre Gasly, who spent the 2015 season with DAMS, moved to newcomers Prema Racing. Nicholas Latifi, who took part in three rounds of the 2015 season with MP Motorsport, switched to a full-time seat with DAMS. Gustav Malja, who raced for Trident and Rapax in 2015, switched Formula Renault 3.5 Series to race full-time with Rapax. Raffaele Marciello, who raced for Trident in 2015, moved to Russian Time. Norman Nato, who raced for Arden International in 2015, switched to Racing Engineering. Arthur Pic, who raced for Campos in 2014 and 2015, switched to Rapax. Oliver Rowland, who previously raced part-time for MP Motorsport and Status Grand Prix, is contesting the full season with MP Motorsport, with backing from Renault. Sergey Sirotkin, who finished third in 2015, moved from Rapax to defending champions ART Grand Prix.
Entering GP2 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 Series competitor Philo Paz Armand joined the series with Trident. GP3 Series race winner Jimmy Eriksson made his series début with Arden International. 2015 GP3 runner-up Luca Ghiotto graduated to the series with Trident. 2015 European Formula 3 runner-up Antonio Giovinazzi made his début in the series with Prema Racing. Nabil Jeffri joined the series with Arden International. Marvin Kirchhöfer, who placed third in the 2014 and 2015 GP3 Series joined the series with Carlin.
Leaving GP2 Nathanaël Berthon left Lazarus and the series to join the FIA World Endurance Championship with G-Drive Racing. Rene Binder left MP Motorsport to join Lotus in Formula V8 3.5 Series. Rio Haryanto left Campos Racing and the series to join Formula One team Manor Racing. André Negrão and Dean Stoneman left Arden and Carlin and the series to join the Indy Lights with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Andretti Autosport. Richie Stanaway and Marco Sørensen, who raced for Status Grand Prix and Carlin, left to join the FIA World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin Racing. 2015 season champion Stoffel Vandoorne left the series as the reigning champion is not permitted to continue competing in the series. He joined the Super Formula with Docomo Team Dandelion Racing.
Mid-season changes ART Grand Prix driver Nobuharu Matsushita was suspended for the fourth round of the season in Austria due to erratic driving at the previous event in Baku. He was replaced by René Binder. Binder later joined Carlin, replacing Sergio Canamasas.
Calendar On 4 March 2016, the full calendar was revealed with eleven rounds taking place.
Round Circuit/Location Country Date Supporting 1 14 May 15 May 2 Feature Circuit de Monaco, Monaco 27 May Sprint 28 May 3 Feature Baku City Circuit, Baku 18 June Sprint 19 June 4 Feature Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 2 July Sprint 3 July 5 Feature Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 9 July Sprint 10 July 6 Feature Hungaroring, Mogyoród 23 July Sprint 24 July 7 Feature Hockenheimring, Hockenheim 30 July Sprint 31 July 8 Feature 27 August Sprint 28 August 9 Feature Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza 3 September Sprint 4 September 10 Feature Sepang International Circuit, Sepang 1 October Sprint 2 October 11 Feature Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi 26 November Sprint Source:
Calendar changes The series returned to the Hockenheimring in support of the German Grand Prix, and the Sepang International Circuit. With the return to Germany, the second Bahrain round—which had filled in as a replacement event in 2015—was removed from the calendar. The rounds at the Bahrain International Circuit and the Sochi Autodrom were discontinued after the Bahrain and Russian Grands Prix were brought forward to the start of the Formula One season. The series made its début at the Baku City Circuit in support of the returning European Grand Prix.
Results and standings Season summary Round Circuit Pole position Fastest Lap Report 1 Pierre Gasly Norman Nato Norman Nato Racing Engineering Report Pierre Gasly Alex Lynn DAMS 2 F Circuit de Monaco Sergey Sirotkin Artem Markelov Russian Time Report S ART Grand Prix 3 F Baku City Circuit Nobuharu Matsushita Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing Report S Antonio Giovinazzi Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 4 F Red Bull Ring Sergey Sirotkin Mitch Evans Mitch Evans Report S Jordan King Racing Engineering 5 F Silverstone Circuit Norman Nato Mitch Evans Pierre Gasly Prema Racing Report S Luca Ghiotto Jordan King Racing Engineering 6 F Hungaroring Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly Prema Racing Report S Pierre Gasly Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 7 F Hockenheimring Sergey Sirotkin Sergey Sirotkin Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix Report S Alex Lynn DAMS 8 F Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Antonio Giovinazzi Pierre Gasly Prema Racing Report S Antonio Giovinazzi Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 9 F Autodromo Nazionale Monza Pierre Gasly Luca Ghiotto Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing Report S Artem Markelov Norman Nato Racing Engineering 10 F Sepang International Circuit Pierre Gasly Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing Report S Luca Ghiotto Trident 11 F Yas Marina Circuit Pierre Gasly Nobuharu Matsushita Pierre Gasly Prema Racing Report S Alex Lynn DAMSSource:
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 Driver CAT MON BAK RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC Points 1 Pierre Gasly 3 2 15 13 Ret 2 Ret 7 1 7 1 7 DSQ 6 1 4 4 2 11 3 1 9 219 2 Antonio Giovinazzi 18 Ret 11 18 1 1 Ret 5 2 4 2 17† 8 Ret 6 1 1 3 1 4 5 6 211 3 Sergey Sirotkin Ret 11 Ret Ret 2 3 12 6 18 21 3 1 1 2 9 16 14 Ret 2 Ret 4 3 159 4 Raffaele Marciello 8 5 6 3 3 11 3 4 9 6 4 8 3 7 4 5 2 14 6 2 10 13 159 5 Norman Nato 1 16 2 6 Ret Ret 7 12 7 22† 7 3 Ret 18 Ret 8 5 1 3 Ret 6 5 136 6 Alex Lynn 6 1 4 5 Ret 9 11 3 16 14 12 Ret 7 1 3 10 12 5 4 12 8 1 124 7 Jordan King 7 3 Ret 16 12† 4 8 1 8 1 8 2 15 11 2 12 7 4 5 14 13 10 122 8 Luca Ghiotto Ret 12 Ret 14 9 12 4 9 5 2 17 Ret 2 4 7 3 6 Ret 7 1 11 19 111 9 Oliver Rowland 10 6 3 7 4 15† 6 2 3 3 11 6 5 5 10 6 9 9 12 8 Ret 11 107 10 Artem Markelov 4 4 1 8 Ret 5 Ret 11 10 12 9 4 Ret 9 5 21† 10 10 DNS 13 3 7 97 11 11 8 8 1 6 RetEXEX 6 5 6 Ret 9 12 11 11 11 6 Ret 7 2 4 92 12 Mitch Evans 12 14 5 4 5 Ret 1 8 4 13 10 5 Ret 10 16 13 8 Ret 8 6 15 8 90 13 Gustav Malja 9 10 14 12 10 Ret 13 16 22 19 13 14 6 8 8 2 3 7 9 5 Ret 14 53 14 Arthur Pic 13 Ret 10 9 Ret 8 9 18 14 11 5 Ret 4 3 14 22† Ret 11 36 15 Sean Gelael 17 13 13 Ret 7 Ret 2 Ret 21 18 22 10 Ret Ret 18 15 DSQ 16 16 Ret Ret 21 24 16 Nicholas Latifi 2 7 Ret Ret Ret 13 10 Ret 11 10 16 12 14 17 13 9 16 15 14 10 9 12 23 17 Marvin Kirchhöfer 15 15 7 2 Ret 10 Ret 19 12 8 14 13 10 14 Ret 14 18 8 15 11 21 18 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 13 9 7 2 18 19 Sergio Canamasas 5 9 12 10 Ret 6 Ret 10 13 9 18 9 12 7 Ret 13 10 15 12 16 17 20 Jimmy Eriksson 16 19 Ret 15 11† Ret 5 13 15 17 21† Ret 12 13 15 20 15 18† 10 21 Daniël de Jong 14 17 9 11 8 14 14 20 19 16 15 11 Ret 16 17 17 17 19 17 Ret 14 Ret 6 22 Nabil Jeffri 19 18 Ret 17 Ret 7 Ret 17 17 15 20 16 11 Ret 19 18 13 12 18 Ret Ret 20 2 23 René Binder 16 15 13 15 0 24 Philo Paz Armand Ret Ret 16 Ret Ret Ret 15 14 20 20 19 15 16 Ret 20 19 19 17 19 Ret 16 18 0 25 Emil Bernstorff 17 15 0 26 Louis Delétraz Ret 17 0 Driver CAT MON BAK RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC PointsSources: Notes: † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.
Teams' championship