The stakes in the GP2 Final: Three men and a final blow

The Yas Marina Circuit hosts, alongside F1, the final round of the 2016 GP2 Series. Focus on the last three contenders competing for the title of this second division.

Antonio Giovinazzi, Prema Racing -> 197 pts, 5 victories:

Giovinazzi comes to us from European F3 where he competed for three seasons, including the first in 2013 alongside British F3. He finished as the British F3 vice-champion that year behind Jordan King and seventeenth in European F3. He then continued for two more seasons in the discipline, finishing sixth in 2014 and second in 2015 behind Felix Rosenqvist.

The Italian approaches these last two races of the year in GP2 as the championship leader, with a 7-point advantage over his teammate Pierre Gasly. But it should be noted that he is contending for the title as a rookie in the discipline. Such a performance hasn’t occurred since Lewis Hamilton in 2006.

However, before the start of the season, the Italian was not among the favorites for the title due to his rookie status combined with his team’s entry into the discipline. Indeed, the Prema team only started in GP2 at the beginning of the 2016 season, even though it had already been dominating in F3 for several years. But succeeding in a new category with a radically different car was not necessarily guaranteed…

Quickly, it turned out that his team was ready; the Italian still had two difficult first weekends before winning both races in Baku. From then on, his season was underway. He continued with good results and won three more times: in Belgium, Italy, and Malaysia. From now on, the challenge for Giovinazzi will be simple: achieve good results against his teammate, the closest of his competitors for the title. It remains to be seen if this famous rookie status won’t weigh too heavily on him when it comes to concluding. In any case, the driver’s future will lie between F1 and the WEC, where he competed in two rounds this year, in a Ligier LMP2 for the Extreme Speed Motorsports team, with good results: a class podium in Shanghai to his credit.

His 2017 season might thus steer him towards LMP2, but why not consider an integration into the Ferrari Driver Academy given his nationality and especially his performances; potentially leading to a role with Sauber, Haas, or Ferrari.

Ready!! #lastweekend #gp2016 #readytofight @ymcofficial #FinalRaceOfTheSeason pic.twitter.com/daUOtchZ0f

— Antonio Giovinazzi (@anto_giovinazzi) November 22, 2016

Pierre Gasly, Prema Racing -> 190 points, 3 wins: The Frenchman competed in his second full season in GP2 this year, after a three-weekend stint in 2014. In 2015, his season was quite disappointing as he only made it to the podium three times, made some errors, and suffered from persistent bad luck. His campaign ended in eighth place in the championship, without a win, a first since 2013 and his Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 title.

Let’s recall that before GP2, the member of the Red Bull junior team competed in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship and finished as vice-champion behind another protégé of the Austrian brand, a certain Carlos Sainz Jr. Returning to GP2, he joined the new team Prema for this season, like Giovinazzi, hoping to fight for the championship and convince Red Bull management to make him a full-time driver in 2017.

His team and he immediately found their rhythm as the Normandy-born driver stepped onto the third and second places in the two inaugural races in Spain. The next race was less successful, but he returned to the podium in Azerbaijan and finally won in Great Britain, then in Hungary. Unfortunately, bad luck struck in Germany, where an extinguisher issue disqualified him and cost him significant points in the championship. He regained his momentum by winning in Belgium and securing two more podiums in Italy and Malaysia. As a result, he found himself second in the championship behind Giovinazzi. However, the positions could have been reversed without that infamous disqualification and the Monza snafu, where a misplaced safety car robbed him of a potential victory.

From now on, the only way for the Frenchman to become champion is to beat his teammate in both races and score a maximum number of points to close the seven-point gap that separates him from the GP2 2016 championship title (197 points for Giovinazzi, 190 for Gasly). If the third Red Bull and Toro Rosso driver wins, he will have to find another program for 2017 as the rules prohibit the champion from repeating in the discipline.

In the opposite case, another season is possible but unlikely, as GP2 will have little left to teach him. Let’s recall that Red Bull chose to keep Kvyat at Toro Rosso instead of promoting him to Formula 1, with Helmut Marko considering his performances “insufficient.”

For 2017, he will be retained as a third driver for Red Bull, but a parallel program may be in the works. Why not a season in Japanese Super Formula like Stoffel Vandoorne this season and become a driver for Toro Rosso in 2018. Time will tell.

Final race! 🏁 Can’t wait for a great battle with my mate @antogiovinazzi – ready to give it all! Last puuush in Abu Dhabi. 🇫🇷 #JB17 pic.twitter.com/0Dkqs1vdrK — Pierre Gasly (@PierreGASLY) 21 novembre 2016

Raffaele Marciello, Russian Time -> 158 points, 0 victory: The Italian embarked on his third season in GP2 with a third different team. In 2014 with Racing Engineering, he finished eighth in the championship with three podiums and one victory. In 2015, he moved to Trident but this time, he completed his season in seventh place in the championship with four podiums. This second season disappointed observers and Ferrari effectively decided to exclude him from the Ferrari Driver Academy. Before joining GP2, the Italian had won the competitive F3 championship in 2013 ahead of Félix Rosenqvist. It is worth highlighting Marciello’s performance as he had already finished vice-champion for his first season in the discipline behind Daniel Juncadella.

Regarding the GP2, the Italian was making a comeback at the beginning of the season with Russian Time, hoping to compete for the title and prove that he deserves a place in F1 without relying on Maranello’s support.

His GP2 season started off well. He stepped onto the podium for the first time in Monaco, finishing third in the sprint race. In Azerbaijan, he again secured this position at the finish, but during the long race on Saturday afternoon. The following rounds were quite successful as he finished all his races in the points (Austria, England, Hungary). In Germany, he claimed another podium. His subsequent races were similar, achieving another podium in Monza, second in the long race, and in Sepang, second in the sprint race. As a result, before the Emirati meeting, the Italian is still mathematically in contention for the title behind the duo of Prema drivers, thanks to his rather impressive consistency; knowing that the GP2 field is filled with young wolves eager to prove themselves, sometimes taking significant risks.

The Italian will still have to rely on problems from the Prema drivers and possible underperformances on their part to be in the title race. In any case, with a 39-point gap behind Giovinazzi (158 for the first mentioned, 197 for the second), he will give it his all without thinking to hope for a pleasant surprise. As for his future, it is quite uncertain now that he is no longer a member of the Ferrari Academy; only time will tell. Will he take advantage of the pressure on the leading drivers?

Now, it’s time for the last two races of the 2016 GP2 Series. Who will succeed the Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne?

To find out, tune in to the Canal+ group channels, this Saturday at 3:30 PM (Canal+ Décalé, right after the Qualifications), and this Sunday at 11:05 AM (Canal+ Sport)!

BOOM! Are you ready for this weekend’s season finale at @ymcofficial? We are 😉 #Ready2Race #GP2 pic.twitter.com/JI4mdbfhIC

— GP2 Series Official (@GP2_Official) 23 novembre 2016