Designed to make racing affordable for teams and a better training ground for Formula One, GP2 required all teams to use the same chassis, engine, and tyre supplier so that results would reflect true driver ability. All but three races took place as support events at Formula One weekends, giving drivers experience of the Grand Prix environment and access to its infrastructure. GP2 raced mainly on European circuits but also appeared at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia and Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore.
By the end of the 2016 season, nine of the twelve GP2 champions had secured seats in Formula One — 75%.
On Friday, drivers had a 45-minute free practice session followed by a 30-minute qualifying session. Qualifying determined the grid for Saturday's feature race of 180 kilometres (112 miles), during which each driver was required to make a pit stop changing at least two tyres. Sunday's sprint race covered 120 kilometres (75 miles), with the grid set by reversing the top eight finishers from Saturday — the driver who finished 8th started from pole position. At the 2005 Nürburgring, the sprint race was extended from 80 to 120 kilometres, coinciding with Formula One dropping its second Sunday qualifying session.
From 2005 to 2011, pole position for Saturday's race earned two points and fastest lap earned one point, provided the driver completed 90% of race laps. From 2006 the driver had to start from their allocated grid position; from 2008 they also had to finish in the top ten. The maximum points available in a single round was 20 — achievable only by claiming pole position and winning both races with fastest lap in each. This was done twice: by Nelson Piquet Jr. at the 9th round of the 2006 season at the Hungaroring, and by Nico Hülkenberg at the 5th round of the 2009 season at the Nürburgring.
From 2012 the scoring system changed to one similar to Formula One for feature races. Pole position earned 4 points and fastest lap in each race 2 points, raising the maximum achievable in one round to 48.
All teams used a Dallara carbon-fibre monocoque chassis powered by a Mecachrome naturally-aspirated V8 engine. The car weighed 688 kg including the driver.
The 4.0-litre Mecachrome V8 produced 612 hp and 500 Nm of torque at 8,500 rpm, rev-limited to 10,000 rpm, and required a rebuild after 4,000 to 4,500 km. The crankshaft was alloy steel with five main bearing caps; pistons were forged aluminium alloy; connecting rods were machined alloy steel. The electronic engine management system was supplied by Magneti Marelli. Engines were leased from Mecachrome and shipped to teams on a serial-number basis determined by the FIA to ensure equality. Mecachrome was the sole engine supplier from 2005 through 2016, its exclusive status established in that inaugural season.
The 2006 car featured a biplane rear wing; the triplane rear wing was used only at Monaco. The 2011 specification GP2/11, built by Dallara Automobili, replaced the first-generation GP2/05 chassis. The GP2/11 was used until the end of the 2017 season and was priced at approximately €1.5–2 million per car.
Gearboxes were supplied by Hewland — a 6-speed sequential paddle-shift unit with an 8-position barrel. O.Z. Racing exclusively supplied wheel rims throughout the series. From 2011, Pirelli was the sole tyre supplier (previously Bridgestone, 2005–2010). Front tyre size was 245/660-R13; rear was 325/660-R13. Brembo supplied monobloc brake calipers and disc bells; Hitco supplied carbon brake discs and pads (278 × 28 mm). From 2011, XAP Technology provided the steering wheel and dash display.
Elf exclusively provided LMS 102 unleaded fuel and HTX 840 0W-40 lubricants for all cars, with the exception of ART Grand Prix, which used Total Quartz 9000.
The 2005 model accelerated from 0 to 200 km/h in 6.7 seconds with a top speed of 320 km/h (198 mph). The 2011 model improved to 6.6 seconds 0–200 km/h with a top speed of 332 km/h (208 mph) in the Monza aero configuration.
The inaugural season succeeded the defunct Formula 3000 championship. Arden International, winner of the last F3000 titles, started as one of the favourites. The season began on April 23, 2005, at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy, on the weekend of the San Marino Grand Prix. The championship lasted 23 rounds, two races per weekend except a single race at Monaco. Nico Rosberg won the championship; he was subsequently hired by the Williams team for 2006. Heikki Kovalainen finished second and moved to Renault as reserve driver. This was the only season GP2 used grooved tyres like F1, rather than slicks.
After champion Rosberg's move to Williams and runner-up Kovalainen's move to Renault, Nelson Piquet Jr. was installed as early title favourite, alongside ART Grand Prix's Alexandre Prémat and Lewis Hamilton. The season began separately from the F1 calendar, starting at the Circuit de Valencia on April 8, 2006. After an exciting 21-race championship battle, Hamilton claimed the title at the penultimate race at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. This was the first season to begin on a calendar separate from the Formula One calendar.
The 2007 season began on April 13 at the Bahrain International Circuit and completed on September 30 at the Circuit de Valencia — the only round not on the F1 calendar. Timo Glock won the championship with a convincing final-race victory at Valencia, ahead of Lucas di Grassi. The season was the last with the first-generation GP2/05 chassis.
The 2008 season was the first to feature the new Dallara GP2/08 chassis — the only non-Formula One car to pass the 2007 FIA crash test in full. The calendar supported all F1 races in Europe plus the Valencia Street Circuit. In the United Kingdom, the series was exclusively aired on ITV4. Giorgio Pantano won the championship for Racing Engineering, with Bruno Senna finishing a distant runner-up.
The 2009 season began at Circuit de Catalunya (May 9–10) and ended at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal (September 19–20) as a standalone event not supporting a Formula One race. Nico Hülkenberg won the title at the penultimate round at Monza — the second time the championship was won before the final race.
The 2010 season contained ten rounds, all supporting the F1 World Championship, starting at Catalunya in May and concluding at Abu Dhabi in November. Pastor Maldonado won the title in his fourth season in the series, winning a record-breaking six successive feature races mid-season. Sergio Pérez was his closest rival; the title was sealed at the penultimate round at Monza. This was the final season for the Dallara GP2/08 chassis and Bridgestone as tyre supplier.
The 2011 season contained nine rounds plus a tenth non-points round, all supporting the F1 World Championship, starting in May at Istanbul and concluding at Abu Dhabi in November. Romain Grosjean won the championship at the penultimate round. The new Dallara GP2/11 chassis was introduced. Pirelli replaced Bridgestone as tyre supplier. Two new teams joined — Carlin and Team AirAsia — while DPR was not selected to continue.
The 2012 season contained twelve rounds: eleven supporting the F1 World Championship and one standalone round in Bahrain. The season started on March 24 in Malaysia and concluded in Singapore on September 23. Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) won the title by 25 points from Arden's Luiz Razia, with Lotus GP's Esteban Gutiérrez third. For 2012, Team Lazarus replaced Super Nova Racing under the name "Venezuela GP Lazarus"; Lotus ART was renamed "Lotus Grand Prix."
The 2013 season contained eleven rounds, all supporting the F1 World Championship, starting March 23 in Malaysia and concluding in Abu Dhabi on November 3. Fabio Leimer won the title for Racing Engineering with 201 points and 3 wins. Sam Bird, driving for Russian Time, finished runner-up. The GP2/11 chassis, originally set to be retired after this season, was retained for further seasons to keep costs down.
The 2014 season contained eleven rounds, all supporting the F1 World Championship, starting April 5 in Bahrain and concluding in Abu Dhabi on November 23. Jolyon Palmer won the title in Sochi driving for DAMS. Stoffel Vandoorne, driving for ART Grand Prix, finished runner-up.
The 2015 season contained eleven rounds, supporting the F1 World Championship and the final round of the World Endurance Championship at the 6 Hours of Bahrain. It started in Bahrain on April 18 and finished in Abu Dhabi on November 29. The season introduced the Drag Reduction System (DRS), following the same detection and activation rules as Formula One. Stoffel Vandoorne won the title in Sochi driving for ART Grand Prix. Alexander Rossi, driving for Racing Engineering, finished runner-up.
The 2016 season contained eleven rounds, supporting the F1 World Championship, starting in Spain on May 14 and finishing in Abu Dhabi on November 27. It was proposed as the final season for the Dallara GP2/11 and the Mecachrome 4.0-litre V8, but both were retained for a further season due to cost considerations before a new package was introduced for 2017. Pierre Gasly won the title driving for Prema Racing, who also won the teams' championship in their debut season. Antonio Giovinazzi, also driving for Prema, finished runner-up.
Many drivers used GP2 as a stepping stone to Formula One. Among the champions: Nico Rosberg (2005) joined Williams for 2006; Lewis Hamilton (2006) joined McLaren for 2007; Timo Glock (2007) joined Toyota for 2008; Nico Hülkenberg (2009) moved to a Williams race drive in 2010. Runners-up Heikki Kovalainen (2005), Nelson Piquet Jr. (2006), and Lucas di Grassi (2007) all became Renault test drivers the following year, each later earning F1 seats. Further GP2 alumni who reached Formula One include Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov, Pastor Maldonado (Williams, 2011), Romain Grosjean (Lotus F1 Team, 2012), Sergio Pérez (Sauber alongside Kamui Kobayashi), and Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Virgin Racing, 2011). By the end of the 2016 season, 35 out of 174 GP2 drivers had raced in Formula One (20.1%).
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 2 related images
