Monaco – Race 1: A winning poker move for Artem Markelov, a cruel outcome for Nato

First significant information before the start of this main race: Pierre Gasly was logically excluded from the qualifying rankings after ignoring the call to the weighbridge. One of the strong contenders, currently leading the drivers’ standings, started from the pits after all his fellow competitors. He was not the only one, as Sergio Canamasas (Carlin) received the same sanction for the same reason, while Nabil Jeffri (Arden International) was penalized for obstructing Artem Markelov during Qualifications.

After a fifteen-minute delayed start, due to makeshift repairs on damaged barriers, the drivers finally set off for the formation lap. As a reminder, Sergey Sirotkin was starting from the pole position ahead of the two Racing Engineering cars: Norman Nato ahead of Jordan King.

Norman Nato foot to the floor from the start

At the start, Norman Nato got off to a superb start to get ahead of Sirotkin at the first corner! Behind, unusually, there were hardly any major incidents to report: all 22 drivers smoothly passed the Sainte-Dévote corner.

Certainly motivated by this almost home race, Norman Nato delighted the fans from the start. Sirotkin clung on as best he could a few paces behind, just like Jordan King who remained in third position.

Nato’s opponents are being eliminated!

After 5 laps, the leading trio pulled away from the rest of the pack. Behind them were Mitch Evans (Campos), Oliver Rowland (MP Motorsport), and Alex Lynn (DAMS) wheel to wheel. Arthur Pic (Rapax) was in 12th place, and Pierre Gasly had gained one position (19th).

From the eighth lap, drivers who had started on super-soft tires were heading to the pits to switch to soft tires. Among them were drivers from the lower part of the standings like Antonio Giovinazzi (Prema Racing) and Arthur Pic.

The leading men stayed on track, exchanging tit for tat: the top six were clocking very good lap times. The pressure was intense, and Sirotkin even cut the chicane at the tunnel exit. But the Russian was still maintaining a gap of one and a half to two seconds.

Just behind, there was an exchange of words between Oliver Rowland and Mitch Evans: the Briton was trying to overtake, but the Campos driver maintained his position by cutting the chicane in turn. On the 19th lap, Evans was logically given a 5-second penalty when he pitted.

The race progressed and the plot twists multiplied: on the 23rd lap, Sergey Sirotkin hit the wall exiting the swimming pool complex. Destabilized at the exit of the turn, the pole sitter was out, and the virtual safety car was activated again. While the ART team member assessed the damage (another retirement following the sprint race in Barcelona), the two Racing Engineering cars were leading the race, but two setbacks successively struck the team. On the 29th lap, Jordan King hit the barrier: he had to retire!

The turning point for Nato: a complicated pit stop…

Solid leader until then, Norman Nato was trying to extend his stint as much as possible. But the mechanics played a really bad trick on him at the end of the 31st lap, losing precious seconds fixing his left rear tire!

The Azuréen briefly lost the lead to Artem Markelov: fortunately, he came out second, just ahead of Rowland. The asset of Russian Time, the new leader, had not yet made his mandatory stop. His lead over Nato was nonetheless very interesting: with nearly a fifteen-second gap, Markelov was indeed playing for the win!

As the race entered its final phase, the stewards were not idle. Giovinazzi lost a piece of his front wing rubbing against the inside wall in front of the Casino, while Luca Ghiotto stopped right in the middle of the track due to a mechanical problem.

A Russian driver can hide another…

At the very end of the race (37th lap), Markelov finally made his stop. The outcome was no longer counted in laps but in minutes, and once the race was completely restarted, the victory was contested between Markelov, Nato, and Rowland! Right up to the final meters, Norman Nato hoped for a mistake from his opponent, but in vain. Artem Markelov wins the main race of the Monaco round of the GP2 Series!

However, a great deal of uncertainty looms over the performance of the Russian. Having suddenly widened his gap (gaining 15 seconds on lap 36, 18 on lap 37!), did he slow down at the time of the last neutralization via the Virtual Safety Car?

We will have to wait for the final verdict from the stewards to validate the provisional ranking. For Julien Fébreau, commentator of the Grand Prix on Canal+, doubt is permitted…

“The REAL winner of this @GP2_Official race in Monaco is @NatoNorman… It’s up to the stewards to give him his victory now!” — Julien FEBREAU (@Julien_FEBREAU) May 27, 2016

In the meantime, Markelov creates a sensation in Monaco. Present in GP2 since 2014, he wins for the first time in the discipline.

Behind Nato and Rowland, the Top 5 is completed by two strong men of the championship: Alex Lynn ahead of Mitch Evans, who may regret his five-second penalty. Marciello, Giovinazzi, and Kirchofer are in the top 8. It is therefore the Carlin driver who would start on pole for the sprint race held tomorrow afternoon in the streets of the Principality. This is important information as overtaking is difficult here in Monaco.

Finally, honorable mention to Pierre Gasly who symbolically snatched the fastest lap. However, the young Frenchman will not be satisfied with this fifteenth position, which sees him lose the lead in the drivers’ standings to the benefit of Norman Nato.

Here is the full ranking of this first race: