Teach me about GP2
- This topic has 23 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 2 months ago by Iestyn Davies.
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- 14th February 2013, 12:24 at 12:24 pm #132708Lucas WilsonParticipant
I know a bit about F1. But (probably because its not shown on TV), I don’t know anything about GP2. Can some people get me up-to-date with the sport so I can can start following it?
14th February 2013, 15:49 at 3:49 pm #225183Ryan WilliamsParticipant@full-throttle-f1 The GP2 Series is the official support series to Formula 1. It began in 2005, after the Formula 3000 series which originally supported F1 was discontinued.
The Car:
The GP2 car has developed over the years to match the style of current F1 machinery, with the current car utilising a Dallara chassis with a 4-litre Renault V8 engine producing 612bhp. All the cars are the same meaning victory is down to the skill of the driver & the team. The tyres are also similar to those used in F1.The Race Weekend
A GP2 race weekend consists of a 30 minute practice session & 30 minute qualifying session on the Friday to determine the Feature Race grid. 4 points are awarded to the fastest driver in qualifying. There is then a 1 hour “Feature” race on the Saturday, usually following F1 qualifying, which includes a mandatory pitstop where at least 2 tyres must be changed. On Sunday there is a shorter “Sprint” race lasting 45 minutes, with no pitstops. The grid for this race is determined by the result of the Feature Race, with the top 8 finishers being reversed (Winner of the Feature Race starts 8th and so on), with the rest of the grid starting in the position they finished the Feature Race in.Points System:
Points for the Feature Race are :
1st – 25
2nd – 18
3rd – 15
4th – 12
5th – 10
6th – 8
7th – 6
8th – 4
9th – 2
10th – 1
With an additional 2 points for the fastest lap of the raceSprint Race:
1st – 15
2nd – 12
3rd – 10
4th – 8
5th – 6
6th – 4
7th – 2
8th – 1
Again, with 2 points available for the fastest lapChampions:
2005: Nico Rosberg
2006: Lewis Hamilton
2007: Timo Glock
2008: Giorgio Pantano
2009: Nico Hülkenberg
2010: Pastor Maldonado
2011: Romain Grosjean
2012: Davide Valsecchi14th February 2013, 18:11 at 6:11 pm #225184katederbyParticipantGP2 has been covered on SkyF1 since last year and on Eurosport before that… will Eurosport be covering it this year?
14th February 2013, 18:45 at 6:45 pm #225185Ryan WilliamsParticipant@katederby Sky Sports F1 are continuing their GP2 and GP3 coverage this year I think
14th February 2013, 21:10 at 9:10 pm #225186katederbyParticipantThanks Ryan, yes I believe Sky are carrying on with the feeder series’ coverage… which is great, I shall be watching again this year. I just wondered about those who don’t have the SkyF1 channel.
14th February 2013, 21:54 at 9:54 pm #225187Euro BrunParticipantIf GP2 cars currently use V8 engines, surely they’ve got to be downsizing in 2014 too?
14th February 2013, 22:11 at 10:11 pm #225188Prisoner MonkeysParticipantNot that I’m aware of, but the series operates on a three-year cycle. Every three seasons, the cars are upgraded to a new model. An engine format change might be included from 2014, but I haven’t heard any word on it.
15th February 2013, 17:40 at 5:40 pm #225189Euro BrunParticipantWould it not be a little embarrassing for F1 if GP2 end up with larger engines?
Especially while they’re trying to justify the smaller engines. I mean its not like GP2 will suddenly be faster, but on the face of it it sounds a a bit weird.15th February 2013, 17:58 at 5:58 pm #225190matt90Participant@eurobrun Not if the engines are slower. In the 80’s I believe most BTCC cars had larger engines than F1 cars- so it doesn’t really mean anything.
15th February 2013, 18:27 at 6:27 pm #225191Ryan WilliamsParticipant@eurobrun GP2 already has larger engines than F1!
15th February 2013, 18:45 at 6:45 pm #225192matt90ParticipantOh yeah, that’s an even more obvious point.
16th February 2013, 13:27 at 1:27 pm #225193Euro BrunParticipanthaha, fair point. I’m confusing V’s with Litres. :)
16th February 2013, 13:59 at 1:59 pm #225194Ryan WilliamsParticipantIt would make sense for the series to downsize alongside F1 in 2014. GP2 has always aimed to make the cars as similar to F1 machinery as possible, otherwise it’s sort of missing the point of a feeder series
25th February 2014, 20:59 at 8:59 pm #249838AnonymousInactiveI created Excel spreadsheets with a timeline of F3000 and GP2 teams, including separate ones for race winners.
This is how the field evolved in F3000 over the course of 20 seasons. The teams are listed in descending order from the first to take part in the championship. Grey boxes indicate a race participation, whilst blank boxes mean the opposite.
This is the same as the above, excluding teams who did not win a single race, and includes statistics. The teams are listed in descending order from the first to win. Races won are shown in yellow.The same goes for GP2:
Obviously the 2014 data in the first table are projections, hoping no one withdraws half way through the season, and have not been counted in the second table’s statistics.
Hope you like them – any feedback is appreciated!
25th February 2014, 22:59 at 10:59 pm #249847StevenParticipantAnother point I’ll add: because the cars are all identical and only differ in setup/driver/team, the racing is very close and fun. If a driver is pulling away, you know it’s because they nailed a setup and are perfectly in tune with the car.
I find GP2 races to be consistently exciting, and GP3 to a certain degree as well (should be much better now that they have even faster cars).
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