So on April 17th in Bahrain the 2015 Championship will start in earnest in its usual format of a feature race on Saturday and a reverse grid sprint race on the Sunday. GP2 is often criticised and dismissed but what can't be denied is that the racing is always entertaining to watch and I don't see any reason why this year will be any different. This years grid will be a mixture of genuine rising talents and those in a last chance saloon career state who are absolutely desperate to catch the eyes of the F1 teams or some big named sponsor. It makes for compelling watching and whilst most of us roll our eyes at some of the wacky races style incidents that happen in the GP2 category we can't help but love watching it.
The biggest criticism GP2 gets is that it is not the feeder series that it promises to be. None of the last 3 GP2 champions have graduated to F1 and those that have graduated from the series aren't always the ones with the best results. On top of that, due to the fact the drivers have to pay for their drives, its not always the most talented drivers that get into the category in the first place. It is a fair criticism but this season might change that round a little bit. The FIA have introduced new restrictions on the super licence which means that drivers have to have a certain level of results to get one. With GP2 being the premier category to earn these results it has attracted a field a hopefuls this year who need the results even more than they did previously.
So who is in the running this year? Well its hard to look past Stoffel Vandoorne as the favourite for the title after such a strong debut year last season. Vandoorne really came on strong at the end of last season and he once again teams up with ART to try and better his runner-up spot last year. The chink in his armour? Well both Vandoorne and ART were not the quickest on strategy last year and lost quite a good results from it. Who will he be up against? Well 3 out of the last 4 GP2 titles have been won by DAMS drivers (the only year they missed out on was when Marcus Ericsson was there number 1) and they really are the team to beat. This year they have 2 rookies in the team. One is a Red Bull junior in Pierre Gasly who did race a couple of races at the end of last year but spent most of 2014 in the WSR 3.5 category where he eventually finished runner-up. Gasly did not actually win a race in 3.5 last year and got his runner-up spot through consistency, something that will serve him well in GP2. The other DAMS driver is a now ex Red Bull Junior and current GP3 champion Alex Lynn. Lynn was massively dominant in GP3 last year and is blindingly fast, which is probably why he has landed the Williams reserve role. Lynn did get himself in a mess on occasion when caught in the pack though so the sprint races will be interesting for him. Anyone else to watch? Well Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello is back for a second year and can't be discounted. He figured heavily in a lot of the races last year but was very much a victim of bad luck. I don't think we should rule out Kiwi Mitch Evans either. Evans is a former GP3 champion and was set for championship year last year in GP2 but was thrown off before the series in started when the owner of the Russian Time team passed away and the team had to be restructured just before the season started. Evans has always been a front runner and with the experience of GP2 he has behind him could be the dark horse for this years title.
And the rest? Well the notorious Sergey Sirotkin failed to impress in WSR 3.5 and has switched over to GP2 for one more chance of impressing. He is not the only one to do this with Filipino driver Marlon Stockinger and Norman Nato also doing the same thing. Jumping straight up from European F3 is Jordan King flush with Daddy Justin's money and likely to get a Manor F1 seat for 2016 (if not before). King looked pacey at times in F3 but I'll be surprised if he figures in the front running in GP2 on a regular basis. American Alexander Rossi is also back for another go at GP2 probably hoping to land a super licence in order to figure in Haas's F1 plans and Romanian Robert Visoiu steps up from GP3 to see if he can do better in GP2.
I'm looking forward to the GP2 as I always do and whilst I realise there are times when it will make me rol my eyes in despair I also know most of the time it'll have me on the edge of my seat. Anyone else going to be watching?
Teams + Drivers:
DAMS - Pierre Gasly / Alex Lynn
Carlin - Julian Leal / Marco Sorensen
ART - Stoffel Vandoorne / Nobuharu Matsushita
Racing Engineering - Jordan King / Alexander Rossi
Russian Team - Mitch Evans / Artem Markelov
Trident - Raffaele Marciello / Rene Binder
Campos - Arthur Pic / Rio Haryanto
MP Motorsport - TBA / Daniel De Jong
Rapax - Sergey Sirotkin / Robert Visoiu
Arden - Andre Negrao / Norman Nato
Status - Marlon Stockinger / TBA (most likely Richie Stanaway)
Hilmer - Tba /Tba
Lazarus - Nathanael Berthon / Tba
The biggest criticism GP2 gets is that it is not the feeder series that it promises to be. None of the last 3 GP2 champions have graduated to F1 and those that have graduated from the series aren't always the ones with the best results. On top of that, due to the fact the drivers have to pay for their drives, its not always the most talented drivers that get into the category in the first place. It is a fair criticism but this season might change that round a little bit. The FIA have introduced new restrictions on the super licence which means that drivers have to have a certain level of results to get one. With GP2 being the premier category to earn these results it has attracted a field a hopefuls this year who need the results even more than they did previously.
So who is in the running this year? Well its hard to look past Stoffel Vandoorne as the favourite for the title after such a strong debut year last season. Vandoorne really came on strong at the end of last season and he once again teams up with ART to try and better his runner-up spot last year. The chink in his armour? Well both Vandoorne and ART were not the quickest on strategy last year and lost quite a good results from it. Who will he be up against? Well 3 out of the last 4 GP2 titles have been won by DAMS drivers (the only year they missed out on was when Marcus Ericsson was there number 1) and they really are the team to beat. This year they have 2 rookies in the team. One is a Red Bull junior in Pierre Gasly who did race a couple of races at the end of last year but spent most of 2014 in the WSR 3.5 category where he eventually finished runner-up. Gasly did not actually win a race in 3.5 last year and got his runner-up spot through consistency, something that will serve him well in GP2. The other DAMS driver is a now ex Red Bull Junior and current GP3 champion Alex Lynn. Lynn was massively dominant in GP3 last year and is blindingly fast, which is probably why he has landed the Williams reserve role. Lynn did get himself in a mess on occasion when caught in the pack though so the sprint races will be interesting for him. Anyone else to watch? Well Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello is back for a second year and can't be discounted. He figured heavily in a lot of the races last year but was very much a victim of bad luck. I don't think we should rule out Kiwi Mitch Evans either. Evans is a former GP3 champion and was set for championship year last year in GP2 but was thrown off before the series in started when the owner of the Russian Time team passed away and the team had to be restructured just before the season started. Evans has always been a front runner and with the experience of GP2 he has behind him could be the dark horse for this years title.
And the rest? Well the notorious Sergey Sirotkin failed to impress in WSR 3.5 and has switched over to GP2 for one more chance of impressing. He is not the only one to do this with Filipino driver Marlon Stockinger and Norman Nato also doing the same thing. Jumping straight up from European F3 is Jordan King flush with Daddy Justin's money and likely to get a Manor F1 seat for 2016 (if not before). King looked pacey at times in F3 but I'll be surprised if he figures in the front running in GP2 on a regular basis. American Alexander Rossi is also back for another go at GP2 probably hoping to land a super licence in order to figure in Haas's F1 plans and Romanian Robert Visoiu steps up from GP3 to see if he can do better in GP2.
I'm looking forward to the GP2 as I always do and whilst I realise there are times when it will make me rol my eyes in despair I also know most of the time it'll have me on the edge of my seat. Anyone else going to be watching?
Teams + Drivers:
DAMS - Pierre Gasly / Alex Lynn
Carlin - Julian Leal / Marco Sorensen
ART - Stoffel Vandoorne / Nobuharu Matsushita
Racing Engineering - Jordan King / Alexander Rossi
Russian Team - Mitch Evans / Artem Markelov
Trident - Raffaele Marciello / Rene Binder
Campos - Arthur Pic / Rio Haryanto
MP Motorsport - TBA / Daniel De Jong
Rapax - Sergey Sirotkin / Robert Visoiu
Arden - Andre Negrao / Norman Nato
Status - Marlon Stockinger / TBA (most likely Richie Stanaway)
Hilmer - Tba /Tba
Lazarus - Nathanael Berthon / Tba
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