To conclude a week of GP2 celebrations, Formula Scout has consulted a man who knows the series better than most: its former press officer and F1 digital presenter Will Buxton. He kindly shared his thoughts

I was going through a list the other day of GP2 drivers that didn’t make it to Formula 1 and the list runs long.

Just off the top of my head, I’d love to have seen what Hiroki Yoshimoto, Adam Carroll, Alexandre Premat, Toni Vilander, Neel Jani, Nicolas Lapierre, Luca Filippi, Davide Valsecchi, Sam Bird, Tom Dillmann, James Calado, Mitch Evans, Robin Frijns, Artem Markelov, Alex Lynn, Dean Stoneman and Richie Stanaway could have done in the top tier. They were all knockout talents on their day who more than held their own against other GP2 drivers who made it all the way to F1.

From my early years I always felt Yoshimoto was a great talent who never got the chance he deserved, either with the team his skills merited in GP2 or the chances such a seat would have afforded him beyond that. Carroll, it goes without saying, is one of the best lost talents of the last two decades. So blindingly fast. I’d love to have seen what the French duo of Lapierre and Premat could have done in F1, too. They are both still super competitive and bloody quick. Jani, too, spent too long on the test roster. Always felt Toro Rosso should have given him a race seat. He was more than worthy. And it’s often forgotten that Vilander did a couple of races for Scuderia Coloni in the early days of GP2. Now there was (and is) a rapid racer who deserved way more from single-seaters.

The Italian duo of Filippi and Valsecchi could and should have had race shots in F1, no question. There was a cabal of Brits who I think would have more than cut the mustard, too. Bird, Calado and Lynn all had the quality to have raced, Evans was a sadly missed talent who I think could have made a splash, and given his natural ability behind the wheel I’d loved to have seen Stanaway have a shot.

Photo: Zak Mauger/GP2 Series Media Service

Dillmann and Frijns were dropped from their junior programmes tragically early as both more than had the talent to ascend to the very top with the right guidance and backing. And then there’s Markelov and Stoneman. Wouldn’t have played the political games, but would have been Nigel Mansell fast and no nonsense. Old school racers.

In the end I witnessed, as a press officer and then commentator, well over 200 races in GP2. Picking just one is so hard because of the almost limitless variables encountered across the seasons. The cars, the tracks, the field. But honestly, Lewis Hamilton in the Istanbul sprint race in 2006 was one of the most incredible drives I’ve seen in any series ever. The risk he took with the set-up of the car, the setback he encountered at the start and the comeback drive he delivered, was second to none.

Imola 2005 was, in hindsight and putting it mildly, a nightmare. It was four of the least pleasurable, longest and hardest days I think any of us involved in the championship as organisers or competitors had ever experienced either before or since. But it made the championship what it became, and I think in the end proved to beneficial for us all. Testing hadn’t been smooth. There were issues with the Dallara GP2/05 and we all knew it. Nobody had ever tried to make a spec series with a car this advanced before. You must remember that, at the time, it was such a massive leap ahead of where Formula 3000 had been and closer than a feeder category had ever been to F1 both in terms of tech and performance. We knew there were issues with the engines, the electrics and crucially the brakes. But Imola was where it had to begin. We couldn’t delay. Given the backing from Renault, Bridgestone and, crucially, Bernie Ecclestone, it had to start as planned.

Practice got off to a dreadful start when about half the field pulled over with an issue with the wiring loom. The first race was a disaster before it had even begun as Lapierre, who’d qualified on pole, blew up leaving the pitlane for the grid. Those whose engines or electrics didn’t fail soon realised their Carbone Lorraine brakes were never going to make full race distance.

The teams had been pulling all-nighters and were knackered. The media didn’t have F1 media centre access as we weren’t FIA, we didn’t have a proper media centre sorted in the paddock nor timing screens and so they weren’t best impressed. It was just one thing after another.

Overnight, Brembo paid GP2 bosses a visit. They’d heard we were having brake problems and just so happened to have a truck waiting outside the track with the exact size and spec replacement parts. They were fitted for Sunday’s sprint race. They were such better brakes that Ernesto Viso put his BCN Competition car in the wall on the recon lap to the grid because he’d hit the left pedal as hard as he’d needed to with the old brakes, locked everything up and spun off.

The race was brilliant, and was won by Adam Carroll with an insane overtaking move at the last chicane. I’m still not sure how he pulled it off as he came out almost sideways, overtaking Premat in the process who’d straightlined the kerb. That move was so electrifying and the race so good that by Sunday night we all breathed a sigh of relief. The problems were soon forgotten and fixed, but that first weekend had created something of a Blitz spirit and a bond between everyone in the paddock. Teams, organisers, media… everyone had chipped in and helped each other. It was such a huge undertaking that everyone worked together to ensure the success of the championship. It created a community and a spirit which I feel characterised GP2 for the rest of its existence.

More from GP2 week
The top 10 GP2 drivers that F1 missed out on
The strange story of the support series that supported itself
Reliving the first ever GP2 weekend: Imola 2005
Ranking the GP2/F2 champions of the 2010s
Giacomo Ricci: The GP2 underdog leading F2?s dark horse

Photo: Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2

The post Revisiting the early years of GP2 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: F2 Media Service / LAT Images

The idea that Formula 1 contains the 20 greatest drivers in the world is an unrealistic unfair assumption, especially when you consider the strength and breadth of talent outside of the supposed ‘pinnacle of motorsport’.

We all know various factors, such as finances, injury and just sheer bad timing can prevent an extremely promising driver from reaching single-seaters’ pinnacle, meaning that many great drivers have to display their talent in other top-tier series.

GP2 was created in 2005 to be the final step for drivers before they raced in F1, replacing the International Formula 3000 championship that was deemed to not be doing its job anymore in F1’s support paddock.

In its 13 years of running, before transitioning into the current Formula 2 championship, it and its Asian spin-off produced 37 drivers who raced in F1. The quality of the grid each year was as strong as you’d expect for F1’s direct support series, especially after rival Formula Renault 3.5 (latterly known as Formula V8 3.5) stopped.

It’s not just the GP2 drivers that have reached F1 that prove the series’ pedigree, with race winners in IndyCar, Super Formula, Formula E, DTM, GT World Challenge and the World Endurance Championship all using GP2 as a platform to becoming professionals.

Here are 10 of the best GP2 drivers (who raced between 2005-’17) to never make it to F1.

Adam Carroll NORTHERN IRELAND 37y/o
2019 Ferrari Challenge World Final winner, 2008-09 A1GP champion, 6th in 2007-08 A1GP – 5th in 2005 GP2, 7th in ’07 GP2

Adam Carroll missed out on the privilege of winning the first-ever GP2 race, but he did claim the second at Imola and won again three races later in Monaco. He was second in the points until his home Silverstone round, which ended his title hopes. One more win at Spa-Francorchamps helped him to fifth in the points, but it was a season that could have provided far more.

Carroll moved from Super Nova to Racing Engineering for 2006, without the Honda F1 support he previously had, and his year was dotted with driver errors and car issues. But he was competitive at Silverstone this time, taking two podiums and pole.

A move to the DTM for 2007 lasted only until Carroll found a way back to GP2 with the Giancarlo Fisichella-branded Scuderia Coloni team. He won at Silverstone, then started a four-race podium run with a win at the Hungaroring. His part-season resulted in seventh place, scoring more and finishing in a higher position than he had the year before.

Carroll juggled his 2007 and two-round 2008 GP2 cameo with A1GP duties for Status Grand Prix-ran Team Ireland, and it was the latter that revived his F1 hopes by winning the 2008-09 title. He was then in talks to join one of F1’s new teams for 2010, but was unable to raise the budget and ended up making cameos in IndyCar, Auto GP, Formula V8 3.5 and GP2 once more.

Sporadic sportscar appearances kept him in a car until his long-term partnership with Gulf Racing resulted in a full-time race-winning international gig in 2014. The Gulf link almost brought him into FE on several occasions too.

It wasn’t until he ended his Gulf association that he actually made it back into single-seaters, being hired by Jaguar for its FE debut in late 2016 and promptly being dropped after one season and five points. He’s since revived his career again via Ferrari’s own GT championships, he was linked to the Scuderia after his A1GP title, and won last year’s World Final.

Oliver Turvey ENGLAND 33y/o
currently 21st in 2019-20 FE, 10th in 2017-18 FE, 5th in 2014 Le Mans 24H – 6th in 2010 GP2 & 2009-10 GP2 Asia

Turvey’s FE record does him a total injustice considering how potent he is in the series, all while remaining a useful part of McLaren’s F1 simulator programme as he has done since 2012.

It never quite happened for Turvey in GP2 either, but his stock was high when he joined iSport for the 2009-10 Asian season after impressing in FV8 3.5 and winning the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award. The British team was the one to beat, and one win in the eight-race series put Turvey sixth in the standings.

iSport was the logical place to be for the rest of 2010, and Turvey was sixth again after a lengthy pointless spell in the first half of the season. On the plus side, he claimed four podiums and a pole. He joined Super Nova and Arden for post-season testing, but went for minnow team Ocean Racing Technology for the next Asian season which marked the debut of Dallara’s GP2/11.

Predictably results didn’t come easy and Turvey failed to score, and the Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver then found he was didn’t have the budget for the main 2011 season. He stood in for Mikhail Aleshin at Carlin for pre-season testing, and also made a race return in Monaco where he bagged an eighth place finish.

It was almost two years until he raced again, this time in the European Le Mans Series. He won on his debut, and added LMP2 class success at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2014. A side-step to Super GT occurred before in the summer of 2015, Turvey made a stand-in appearance at Team China Racing in FE.

Scoring immediately grabbed the paddock’s attention, and he’s been at Team China/NIO ever since. His sole podium is not why his peers rate him among the most underrated in the series, rather it’s been the lower points finishes he’s taken as NIO has slid down the order. In the 2017-18 season he was 10th in the points, despite missing two races through injury.

Sam Bird ENGLAND 33y/o
currently 10th in 2019-20 FE, 3rd in 2017-18 FE, 2nd in 2016 WEC GTE, 10th in 2015 WEC – 2nd in 2013 GP2, 5th in 2010 GP2

Sam Bird’s first year in GP2, with ART Grand Prix in 2010, was plagued with technical issues and bad luck, but he was known as a ferocious overtaker from the off and he finally got to stand on the top step of the podium at Monza after 24 starts.

He switched to iSport for 2011 and bounced back from a tricky Asian campaign with three consecutive podiums in the main series. No more podiums came after and while he was 10 points away from being runner-up, he ended up sixth in the points.

Bird continued his Mercedes-Benz F1 test duties, as he went for a change of scenery in 2012 by racing in FV8 3.5. He just missed out on the title there, prompting a return to GP2 the next year with new Motopark-ran team Russian Time.

This produced Bird’s best campaign, with five wins and consistent scoring making him a title contender until the final race.

Similarly impressive performances in sportscars in 2014 made it look like Bird would be lost to single-seaters, until Virgin Racing signed him for the then-new FE. He won on his second start in a memorable display in Putrajaya, and to date is the only driver to win a race in each of the series’ six seasons.

Third place in 2017-18 stands as his best run of form, and scene of the most dominant performances in FE history when he won by over 11 seconds despite a drive-through penalty in Hong Kong.

As well as FE, Bird has notched up a FIA Endurance Trophy title, podiums at the Le Mans 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours, and had a factory Ferrari contract through three WEC seasons.

Raffaele Marciello ITALY 25y/o
currently 5th in 2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge, 2018 GTWC Europe champion – 4th in 2016 GP2, 7th in 2015 GP2

If Ferrari had been willing to put in a little more cash for Raffaele Marciello’s GP2 exploits, then the Italian may well have ended up being a title-winning driver in a title-winning team, and an F1 driver as a result.

At first, he was placed at Racing Engineering as reigning FIA European Formula 3 champion, and he claimed a win, a pole and three other podiums in his rookie season. In the process, he became one of only eight teenagers to win in the main series.

Rather than remain with the team, which had a title-capable car, Marciello moved to Trident for his second season and while he did score more points with the decidedly midfield team he failed to win a race and ended up splitting with Ferrari.

Being free of the Scuderia’s politics and pressures seemed to help his continued improvements in pace, although again he didn’t win a race in his third and final season with Russian Time – a team in its second season of being run by Virtuosi Racing.

However, he was still a title contender, and against the dominant Prema at that, taking six podium finishes and remaining in title contention until the penultimate race. He was promptly signed up by Mercedes, albeit for GT racing rather than F1.

The highlight of his first year as a pro driver was fifth in the GTWC Europe Endurance series, and he won the overall title (combining Endurance and Sprint) a year later and the FIA GT World Cup in 2019.

His status as one of the top GT racers of the moment is more than assured, but what is more tantalising about the 25-year-old is what he could achieve in a single-seater return. He’s tested for HWA Racelab in FE, and a race seat in the series with Mercedes or its customer squad Venturi would probably be the final bit of proof needed to show what F1 missed out on.

Read more: The European F3 champion making the most of a Mercedes seat

Oliver Rowland ENGLAND 27y/o
currently 9th in 2019-20 FE, 10th in 2018-19 FE, 2015 FV8 3.5 champion, 4th in 2014 FV8 3.5 – 3rd in 2017 F2, 9th in 2016 GP2

Competing in F2 as recently as 2017 and racing in single-seaters for a squad with a technical link to a current F1 team means Oliver Rowland could actually race in F1 in the near future – just as Antonio Giovinazzi had to be patient for his chance.

Unlike Giovinazzi, Rowland never truly looked like he was going to win a GP2/F2 title, and the only time he actually led the standings was in his first full season with midfield team MP Motorsport in 2016 as a Renault F1 junior.

Rowland gained mileage across four rounds in 2015 during his FV8 3.5 title year, and he picked up his first podium in Monaco a year later. Two more at Silverstone elevated him into his surprise points lead, but he ended the year in ninth.

As Rowland’s team-mate’s struggles proved, the lack of wins was down to the machinery more than the driver, and for 2017 the Briton was rewarded with a Renault development role and a top DAMS seat. A long-awaited first win came in Monaco, but by then it was already fairly clear that the title was headed in the direction of Prema’s Charles Leclerc.

All Rowland had to do was hold on to second in the points, but a steady run of podiums and a second win at the Hungaroring wasn’t enough. Renault didn’t think he was ready for F1, and he joined Williams as a ‘young driver’ as a result for 2018.

Beyond some scarce sportscar appearances, it looked very unlikely Rowland would be racing full-time again any time soon until Alex Albon’s surprise call up to F1. This opened up a seat at Nissan e.dams in FE, where Rowland had made one start in 2016, and DAMS picked Rowland after having already lauded him as a reserve, and of course having worked with him in F2.

His pace was blindingly evident as a rookie, taking three pole positions and two podiums. The errors that meant he didn’t convert them into wins were more than evident, but the 27-year-old is still improving and should be seen as F1 standard.

Mitch Evans NEW ZEALAND 25y/o
currently 2nd in 2019-20 FE, 5th in 2018-19 FE, 7th in 2017-18 FE, 10th in 2015 Le Mans 24H – 4th in 2014 GP2, 5th in ’15 GP2

After winning the GP3 title and completing his European racing adaption in 2012, big things beckoned for Mitch Evans.

The Mark Webber protege remained with his GP3 team Arden for his debut year in GP2, but he was only able to score on seven occasions – although that did include four podiums and third-place finishes in both Monaco races.

For the following year, he took over from Bird at Russian Time, now run by iSport, and continued the team’s strong form.

Despite a tricky start to the year Evans scored a podium at Monaco and achieved his maiden win at Silverstone. He repeated the feat two weeks later at Hockenheim, and three more podiums followed to take him to fourth in the standings.

Evans remained with the team for 2015 but could not find form until late in the year where he claimed sprint race wins at Monza and Bahrain. He qualified in second place in Italy before being excluded and sent to the back of the feature race grid but recovered to finish a remarkable third which set up his win a day later.

Campos Racing gained from Sean Gelael’s considerable financial support for 2016, and this enabled the Spanish team to sign Evans despite the Kiwi having already conceded his F1 dream was over and he would be better to focus on other racing.

His one win of the year came in mixed conditions at the Red Bull Ring in a one-two for the team, and before the year was up he had been signed by debuting FE team Jaguar for the 2016-17 season.

Evans has flourished in the series since, taking his first pole at Zurich in his sophomore season (and the first where Jaguar had a competitive package), winning in Rome last year and launching a title challenge this year with victory in Mexico City.

Luca Filippi ITALY 34y/o
16th in 2019 TCR Europe, 21st in 2017-18 FE, 21st in 2015 IndyCar – 2nd in 2011 GP2 & 2009-10 GP2 Asia, 4th in 2007 GP2

After winning the 2005 Auto GP title, and completing an F1 test with Minardi, an enthusiastic 20-year-old Luca Filippi headed to GP2 with Coloni for 2006. A string of poor results with the team, despite the chemistry between them, meant a mid-season switch to BCN Competicion and no upturn in form.

He spent 2007 with David Sears’ Super Nova team, another he would build a strong repertoire with, and took victory from pole in the Bahrain season opener. More podiums would follow, but a string of retirements stopped his title chances and despite three podiums in a row at Monza and Spa he missed out on fourth in the points on win countback.

In 2008 Filippi drove for Meritus, ART and Arden with poor form but did become Honda’s F1 test driver. Honda’s demise at the end of the year killed Filippi’s F1 ambitions, but a return to Super Nova provided a lifeline and more inconsistent GP2 form. Of his seven points finishes, four were podiums and one was a win. Somehow he ended up fifth in the points.

A return to Meritus resulted in runner-up in the 2009-10 Asia season, but Filippi only made it onto the main series grid after Sears picked him as a substitute for the injured Josef Kral.

Filippi joined Coloni for GP2 Asia in 2011, but went for Super Nova in the main series and claimed one podium in the first 10 races. The team was faster than the results suggested, but Filippi’s return to Coloni resulted in three wins in eight races and the title runner-up spot. He also came just short of a second Auto GP title with Super Nova, and signed off the Coloni team in 2012 with another pole and win in a two-round cameo.

After that Filippi instead went to IndyCar part-time, then landed a NIO FE seat before switching to touring cars and continuing his highly rated development work for various parties – including F2.

Read more: Luca Filippi: The GP2 throwback guiding the future of F2

Alex Lynn ENGLAND 26y/o
currently 4th in 2019-20 WEC GTE, 16th in ’19 GTWC Europe, 16th in 2017-18 FE, 29th in ’17 IMSA – 6th in 2015 & ’16 GP2

After winning the GP3 title as a rookie in 2014, Red Bull junior Alex Lynn looked to be the next British driver to make it to F1. At the end of the year, he tested for Lotus though, then ended his Red Bull association to join Williams as a development driver.

For 2015 he stepped up to GP2 as expected, and joined reigning champion team DAMS alongside Pierre Gasly. He won at Barcelona and the Hungaroring but too many non-scores left him sixth in the points and as second best rookie.

His win tally that year was nothing to be sniffed at, but his three 2016 wins – bettered only by Prema’s dominant duo – in his second season with DAMS was of little improvement due to a barren run in the middle of the year.

Prototype sportscars beckoned for Lynn rather than F1, with his highly-rated work at Williams eventually turning into F3 simulator preparation for the team’s future race driver Lance Stroll.

After two high profile endurance racing wins, Lynn made it back into single-seaters in a cameo FE appearance with Virgin. Taking pole on his debut in New York more than guaranteed a return to the championship.

He was rewarded with a full-time drive for the 2017-18 season, but was outscored by 127 points by team-mate Bird and dropped come season’s end. The sportscar world hadn’t forgotten his rapid pace, and Aston Martin signed him up.

Despite being a sportscar rival, Lynn was then free to concurrently make a FE return with Jaguar in 2019 as a mid-season replacement to champion Nelson Piquet Jr, and narrowly missed out on retaining the seat for the current campaign.

It’s an opportunity Lynn shouldn’t be worried about losing, as his current employer Aston Martin is entering F1 next year…

Robin Frijns NETHERLANDS 28y/o
currently 15th in 2019-20 FE, 4th in 2018-19 FE, 5th in ’19 DTM, 2015 GTWC Europe champion – 15th in 2013 GP2

Frijns has a GP2 record that doesn’t really do him much justice. He has just 12 starts to his name in the category and those came as part of a rotated driver line-up with Hilmer Motorsport in 2013. At that point he was hot property – he had beaten Bird and Jules Bianchi to win the previous year’s FV8 3.5 title and was also Sauber’s F1 test driver.

It took three races for Frijns to show what he was capable of: winning the Barcelona feature race and storming to second in the sprint after struggling with the Pirelli tyres in Bahrain. He never reached those heights again and then lost his drive.

Frijns had planned to start the year with Trident but didn’t have the budget, hence missing the season opener, and the same financial shortfall cost him his seat for the Hungaroring round. At Spa a few weeks later he made an unexpected return after one of his team-mates also ran out of money, but that was it for Frijns’ time in GP2.

Fortunately for him, his career didn’t end entirely and he remained in the F1 paddock in 2014 as Caterham’s reserve.

Audi team WRT handed him a sportscar drive for 2015, and despite a year on the sidelines, he eased to the GTWC Europe title, more than proving what F1 had missed out on and securing a long-term future with the team. At the end of the year, he also got signed by Andretti Autosport for FE and took an unbelievable podium in Putrajaya on his second start despite serious car damage. After two seasons with the American outfit, which included an IndyCar test, Frijns lost his drive as a result of landing a factory Audi contract.

This was a loss for FE and a benefit for the DTM, where Frijns took seven podiums before returning to FE with Audi customer team Virgin. Following on from another GTWC title with WRT, Frijns took two wins on his single-seater return.

Alexandre Premat FRANCE 38y/o
2008 LMS champion, 4th in 2008 Le Mans 24H, 10th in ’08 DTM, 2005-06 A1GP champion – 3rd in 2006 GP2, 4th in 2005 GP2

Premat has the distinction of being team-mate to GP2’s first and F1’s most recent champions Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. They both achieved the feat as rookies with ART, and Premat was second-best each time. It was probably the double defeat that did for his F1 hopes, but Premat hardly disgraced himself against two top talents in some of GP2’s strongest grids.

Premat was something of a protege of ART co-founder Frederic Vasseur, winning the French Formula Renault title in 2002 as well as F3’s prestigious Zandvoort Masters and Macau Grand Prix event in 2004 when he also came second in the F3 Euro Series to team-mate Jamie Green.

In GP2, Premat was bettered by fellow F3 graduate Rosberg, but did beat him to sprint race victory in Hungary and inherited a win at Istanbul Park. Rosberg comfortably won the title ahead of FV8 3.5 champion Heikki Kovalainen, with Premat on little over half of his points in fourth, half a point behind FR Eurocup champion Scott Speed.

The top three moved on, and Premat entered 2006 with a target on his back. He’d beaten Hamilton as F3 team-mates and was confident he could do it again. In reality, it would be a repeat of 2005. Premat did beat Hamilton to a win at Barcelona after spinning him on the last lap, but only four other times did he finish ahead, and ended up third with one point less than 2005.

Alongside his GP2 exploits, Premat was also proving himself as a top-line single-seater racer in the inaugural A1GP season, with he and fellow GP2 driver Nicolas Lapierre – another of the GP2’s under-appreciated aces – helping the DAMS-run French team to dominate. Premat won seven of the 10 races he started.

But the closest he got to F1 was a practice outing for Spyker. After talks with Champ Car teams, he joined Audi in the DTM for 2007, taking three podiums for the manufacturer as well as the 2008 Le Mans Series title. He then moved to Australian Supercars, where he struggled at first but won last year’s Bathurst 1000 for DJR Team Penske alongside Scott McLaughlin.

Honourable mentions

British F3 champion and Macau Grand Prix winner Mike Conway is the definition of a driver who gets better with age, and after a couple of tricky campaigns in GP2, he became one of the world’s top prototype sportscar and Indycar racers.

Conway joined GP2 full-time in 2007 as a Honda test driver but struggled to just a single podium at Silverstone while team-mate to frontrunner Filippi. A switch to Trident for 2008 netted a win in Monaco, but that was as good as it got.

He landed a full-time IndyCar drive without issue, claimed a podium as a rookie but had his progress curtailed by a heavy crash in the Indianapolis 500 that put him out of action for months. On his return he earned a reputation as a street course specialist, winning the famed Long Beach Grand Prix twice and adding wins at Detroit and Toronto to his resume.

During this time he also entered the sportscar arena, quickly rising into the Toyota LMP1 team and becoming a star of endurance racing. He’s currently leading the 2019-20 WEC season. One chapter of his career that could have been even larger too was FE, where he impressed at Venturi and was supposed to front Dragon Racing’s entry into the series.

Richie Stanaway is almost the opposite of Conway, being rapidly quick in his youth but failing to match that potential in professional competition. He won back-to-back-to-back titles in Formula Ford, Formel Masters [a predecessor of Formula 4] and F3 before stepping up to FV8 3.5. That was cut short by a crash at Spa that left injuries which have plagued the rest of his career, and he returned to racing in 2013 with DAMS in the Porsche Supercup and as a factory Aston Martin driver in WEC.

His career was still being supported by DAMS boss Eric Boullier’s Gravity Sport Management, and he coordinated a return to single-seaters while maintaining the Aston role. It was worth the commitment, as Stanaway took two GP3 wins and a podium in FV8 3.5.

Status moved into GP2 for 2015, and its GP3 driver Stanaway followed. Clashing WEC commitments meant he missed two rounds, but before then he claimed two wins and came home 10th in the standings in a car that wasn’t truly up to it. That he didn’t return in 2016 was a travesty, especially as a focus on WEC and then Australian Supercars has yielded limited success.

Written by Peter Allen, Rachel Hillmann, Craig Woollard and Elliot Wood

The post Top 10 GP2 drivers that F1 missed out on appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Zak Mauger/GP2 Series Media Service.

Luca Ghiotto has taken his first GP2 win of his career in the Malaysian?GP2 Sprint Race. Ghiotto took the lead out of turn two and held off a?late charge from?Raffaele?Marciello?to become the tenth different winner of the season.

Ghiotto had the better start and pulled ahead of Mitch Evans?off the line, but Evans wasn’t going to go without a fight as he?slipped back ahead into turn one, only for Ghiotto to get back ahead out of turn two to take the lead.

On the second lap, the two Racing Engineering cars went into turn two together, but as Norman Nato assumed the fourth position was his, Jordan King clipped the rear of the Frenchman’s car and spun him out on the spot. With Nato’s car going nowhere, the safety car had to be brought out. King was given a 10 second time penalty for the incident.

When the race went green again, Marciello tried a move on Evans into turn one, but was unable to pull it off until turn four as Evans struggled with brake issue. Meanwhile behind them, Gustav Malja made a move on King for fourth position coming out of turn two.

Pierre Gasly then made a move on Sergio Canamasas for eighth on the track on the inside of turn four, putting himself just behind Antonio Giovinazzi and Oliver Rowland. King was struggling with damage from his earlier incident, and was passed by both Rowland and Giovinazzi down the main straight. Giovinazzi then tried to take Rowland on the outside of turn four, but was pushed wide and went way off track, allowing both King and Gasly through on the Italian.

Gasly made short work of King in the DRS zone and then used the tow down the main straight on Rowland to put himself up into fifth place. Giovinazzi would follow his team mate through on Rowland a lap later as King fell down the field.

After a race long battle for third position, Malja was finally able to catch and pass Evans after a late dive down the inside of turn four. But because they were slowing each other so much, it allowed Gasly and Giovinazzi within striking range of the pair of them.

At the tail?end of the?of the points paying positions, a battle between Canamasas and Johnny Cecotto for eighth ended with Nobuharu Matsushita overtaking the pair of them. Matsushita started on the back row of the grid but was now putting in some of the fastest laps of the race.

Gasly and Giovinazzi finally made their?way passed Evans as?the Kiwi had to concede fourth position to?the faster Prema drivers. Malja was the next to go after locking up?into turn nine and running wide, allowing the Prema pair through for third and fourth positions.

Despite coming under heavy pressure in the final few laps, Ghiotto was able to hold off Marciello to the line to take his first GP2 win of his career. Likewise, Gasly was able to hold his championship rival Giovinazzi to take the final podium position. Malja finished in?fifth position to take his eighth points finish in a row. Evans held off the late charging Matsushita in sixth position, with Rowland dropping down?to eighth by the chequered flag.

After retiring with gearbox issues, Sergey Sirotkin is now out of the running in the championship, meaning that Giovinazzi, Gasly and Marciello will go into the final round as potential?champions.

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Photo: Zak Mauger/GP2 Series Media Service.

Antonio Giovinazzi has won a chaotic GP2 Feature Race as the series visits Sepang for the first time since 2013. The Italian driver led most of the race before the pit-stops, but had to claw back the win from Sergey Sirotkin, who had used the undercut to get ahead of Giovinazzi until the dying moments?of the race.

Before the race had even begun, Artem Markelov‘s car came to a stop on the back straight during the formation lap. With his Russian Time car?stuck in the middle of the track, a second formation lap was called for while the track marshals tried to remove his?car. Unfortunately though, the marshals were unable to get the car off the track in time for the second attempted start, and a third formation lap was needed while the marshals dragged Markelov’s car into the support pit-lane.

When the lights finally went out, Pierre Gasly made a horrible start from pole position and dropped way down?the field as Raffaele Marciello made a perfect start from third on the grid to get himself into first going into the first corner. Marciello then locked up going into turn two and this allowed second place starter Giovinazzi to get ahead and take the lead of the race. Marciello tried to take the position back coming into turn five, but he couldn’t hold onto the car and had to bail out of the move, allowing Sirotkin to overtake him for second place.

Alex Lynn was onto the back of Norman Nato?for fourth position, but the DRS detection point was not functioning down?the main straight. This mean that Lynn and many other drivers were able to get onto the car in front, but not close enough to make the move down the main straight into turn one.

At the start of lap seven, Oliver Rowland and a very slow Gasly made their?pit-stops onto the harder compound tyres. The following lap, Nato made his stop and just got out ahead of the pair of them. Lynn made his stop a lap later, but he came out behind both Nato and Rowland, showing that the undercut was working very well for those who had pitted early.

Marciello pitted a lap later, but a very slow stop where the wheel gun wouldn’t tighten?meant that he came back out onto the track behind Nato, Rowland and Lynn as well. This meant Sirotkin, who pitted the same time as Lynn, was now flying on the new tyres, and this put pressure on Prema to pit Giovinazzi from first place. Despite a near perfect stop for Giovinazzi, the undercut from Sirotkin worked better than expected, putting the Russian driver into the net?lead of the race.

Luca Ghiotto was running first on the track using the opposite tyre strategy. The Italian driver was running a full five seconds ahead of Mitch Evans and Gustav Malja in second and third. But Malja was the first to blink, pitting on lap 16 and coming out just behind Gasly. Meanwhile, Sirotkin was making his way through the hard compound starters, and this allowed Giovinazzi to catch up to?the?Russian driver.

Ghiotto and Evans pitted on lap 19, with Ghiotto coming out in eighth position just ahead of Gasly. Evans on much fresher medium tyres was able to easily dispatch Gasly into the penultimate corer of the track, with Malja following him through a lap later to demote Gasly out of the points.

The battles weren’t over, as Lynn and Rowland battled it out corner after corner for fourth?position. Rowland went wide coming out of turn 14 allowing Lynn through, but Rowland came back at Lynn by picking up the tow down the main straight, almost touching the pit-lane wall to take the position back in turn one. It was all for naught however, as Rowland’s tyres were shot and by the time they made it back to the start line again, he was re-passed by Lynn. Marciello and Lynn then made their way through the British driver a few corners later.

With only two laps left, Giovinazzi was onto the back of Sirotkin, and by using the DRS on the back straight, he was able to set up a drag race down the main straight. Sirotkin held first?into turn one, but Giovinazzi hung out his car into turn two and was able use the driving line out of turn three to re-take the lead.

Once he had first back, Giovinazzi had nothing stopping him from taking his fifth win of the season and the championship lead. Sirotkin settled for second after two rounds off the podium, with Nato taking the final podium position in third. Lynn took fourth position ahead of King, who passed Marciello in the dying moments for fifth place. Ghiotto took seventh, ahead of Evans and Malja in eighth and ninth place, with Sergio Canamasas in the final points paying position.

Rowland and Gasly battled it out over the line with 0.00 seperating them on the timing screens, but neither drivers scored points.

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Photo: GP2 Series Media Service

Pierre Gasly made it two GP2 feature race wins out of two since ending his long win drought with a controlled performance at the Hungaroring.

The Red Bull Junior held the lead from pole position at the start, as Prema team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi moved up to second past a slow-launching Sergey Sirotkin.

Gasly quickly built a margin of between two and three seconds over Giovinazzi, and he effectively?maintained that for most?of the race, with most of the frontrunners using a soft-hard tyre strategy.

Gasly’s?final winning margin was 1.3 seconds, as he moves into the championship lead.

Giovinazzi gave Prema its third one-two finish of its maiden GP2 campaign, and its second such feature race result in a row.

The Italian had to soak up long pressure from Sirotkin, whose poor start dropped him to fourth before passing?Norman Nato at Turn 3 after the pit stops.

Raffaele Marciello was seventh in the early laps but had strong pace on the hard tyre before stopping later on, rejoining in fourth.

Arthur Pic had by far his best drive of 2016 so far ?- at the scene of his sole GP2 victory two years ago – took take fifth, ahead of?Nobuharu Matsushita and Nato.

From 20th on the 22-car grid,?Jimmy Eriksson drove an attacking race and stayed out longer than anyone else that started on the hard tyre. This put the Swede in eighth and poised to start the sprint race from pole before he crawled to a halt on the final lap, pulling off at the penultimate turn.

Jordan King inherited a third straight feature race eighth place, and will look to convert that to a third straight sprint race win.?Artem Markelov?finished just a tenth behind, while?Mitch Evans beat the erstwhile points leader?Oliver Rowland to 10th.

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Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service

Red Bull Junior Pierre Gasly has finally broken his curse and won?the GP2 feature race at Silverstone.

After one?and a half seasons of near misses, the French driver was able to finally string a race together and finish on the top step of the podium, taking his first single seater win since 2013.

Pole sitter Norman?Nato?had made?a brilliant start off the line,?giving himself a huge margin on second place starter Gasly by turn one. Gasly struggled off the line on his soft compound tyres but was able to keep second place from Nicholas Latifi?behind him.

Jordan King, who like his team mate made a fantastic start, was up to fourth by the end of the first lap and was able to overtake Latifi around the outside going into club corner.

When the pit window opened on lap five, everyone who started on the soft tyres pitted for the harder rubber except for Gasly, who would pit a lap later after barely holding off King, releasing the Brit into second position.

With the soft tyre starters pitting, Nato managed the gap back to King who was heading a huge six-car train behind him as the harder tyres started to lose their grip.

With those who had yet to pit settled into their rhythms, it was the likes of Antonio Giovinazzi and Gasly who were on fresh rubber starting to lap three to four seconds faster than the leaders.

As the train behind King?grew longer, it was Artem Markelov who would make a cracking overtake on both Evans and Marciello into stowe corner for fourth position on track. He would then go on to pass Latifi a couple of laps later in that same spot after failing to pass the DAMS driver into Maggots.

Mitch Evans would follow Markelov through on both Raffaele Marciello and Latfi for fourth position not long after.

Marciello pitted on lap 21 and became the first of the hard starters to make his pit stop, with race leader Nato and Latifi following suit a lap later. As he was left out, King was struggling even more and came under huge pressure from Markelov before the Russian driver was once again able to pass into Stowe corner.

King would then pit for the soft tyre as?Evans followed him in, but suffered a slow stop allowing the Kiwi passed during?the pit stops. Markelov made his pitstop a lap later but trouble with the front left tyre spat him out back down in 13th position.

With the pitstops all played out, it was now the Soft tyre starters who were in the better position as Gasly was now leading the race ahead of Oliver Rowland and Giovinazzi with only four laps left to run.

Evans overtook Nato into Stowe for sixth position as the French driver started to struggle on the softer rubber. The Campos driver?would then work his way passed Nobuharu Matsushita and Luca?Ghiotto on the penultimate lap.

With no one coming close to him on track, it was Gasly who took the win by nearly ten seconds from his nearest competitor at the chequered flag.

The battle for second went all the way to the last lap as Giovinazzi made a brilliant move into Woodcote, passing Rowland on the outside and coming very close to taking both him and the Brit out of the race. Fourth place went to Evans, who was followed by Ghiotto in fifth after starting dead last on the track.

Matsushita made a comeback after sitting out the previous round in Baku by running a quiet race for sixth position, followed by Racing Engineering duo Nato and King. Russian Time team mates Marciello and Markelov rounding?out the top 10, with all 24 starters finishing the race.

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Photo: Zak Mauger/GP2 Series Media Service

Norman Nato claimed a first GP2 pole position at Silverstone with a lap set just as red flags interrupted the session.

A red flag was indicated as Nato came through the final corner on his way to stealing top spot away from?fellow Frenchman?Pierre Gasly, triggering an investigation to establish whether his lap should be allowed to stand.

The lighting gantry on the pit straight only turned from green to flashing yellow lights after Nato had crossed the line, and he was ultimately allowed to keep hold of pole.

The red flag – caused by?Oliver Rowland?stopping off track in the arena section – prevented?Gasly from being able to immediately respond to Nato’s better lap, and could not take back pole in the few minutes after the session was restarted.

After locking out the podium in the Spielberg sprint race five days ago, it was a pretty bad session for the three British drivers on home soil as French rivals swept the front row.

Jordan King, the winner in Austria, was the quickest of them in eighth, while Rowland ended up 10th after his stoppage.

Alex Lynn?meanwhile had a nightmare, visibly and audibly struggling throughout with?his DAMS car, leaving him to conclude over the radio that there must be a problem with the chassis. He was left languishing down in 17th, 1.7 seconds off the pace.

His team-mate?Nicholas Latifi had no such issues and claimed third ahead of the championship leader?Raffaele Marciello.

Sergey Sirotkin was fifth, but faces exclusion?from the results?after missing a call to the weighbridge when an earlier red flag to recover the stopped car of?Nabil Jeffri brought a premature end to the first runs.

Jagonya Ayam colleagues?Antonio Giovinazzi and?Mitch Evans were sixth and seventh respectively ahead of King, while?Arthur Pic ended up ninth on perhaps his most competitive day of the season so far.

Luca Ghiotto‘s Trident car stopped before he could set a time, just as it had towards the end of practice.

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Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service

Jordan King claimed his maiden GP2 victory in the Spielberg sprint race after leading throughout in wet conditions.

Originally 10th in the feature race but promoted to eighth and reverse-grid pole by penalties for Sergey Sirotkin and?Gustav Malja due to?safety car?infringements, ?King led behind the safety car for three laps before the field was released.

He then appeared tentative in the early racing laps, but so was his ?Racing Engineering team-mate?Norman Nato. King then found his confidence and was able to pull away as Nato tried in vain to keep other cars behind, with?Oliver Rowland able to squeeze down the inside of Turn 3 and?Raffaele Marciello sweeping around the outside of Turn 6.

Rowland was unable to chase King, who?had a margin of around four seconds with six laps to go when a safety car was triggered by?Nicholas Latifi spinning in the Turn 1 run-off.

He didn’t let this bother him though, and was able to built a six-second advantage again in the final green-flag laps.

Rowland took second and was joined on an all-British podium by?Alex Lynn.

The DAMS driver started 11th and lost ground to an off early on but then went on a charge, quickly dispatching a group of cars that featured Nato, Latifi,?Mitch Evans, Sirotkin and?Pierre Gasly?to move up to fifth.

He then caught and passed?Luca Ghiotto?for fourth, but the top three were out of reach until the safety car caused by his team-mate Latifi’s spin.

At the restart he could pass Marciello, but was unable to do anything about his compatriots in front.

Behind the three Brits, the championship’s three Italians were due to be next?before Ghiotto spun from sixth to ninth at the very final corner.

Fourth for Marciello extends the points lead he claimed in the feature race, while?Antonio Giovinazzi lost time to a trip through the Turn 5 gravel trap early on but went on a charge after the restart, getting ahead of?Sirotkin, team-mate?Pierre Gasly and feature race winner Evans, who completed the points positions after Ghiotto’s slip-up.

The safety car prompted those outside of the leading group to gamble on slicks, headed by the points leader coming into the weekend Artem Markelov after he spun at Turn 3.

With a dry line forming the slick tyres were as much as five seconds quicker by the end of the race, but Markelov finished almost a minute down in 11th place, one spot ahead of Nato who joined him in pitting for slicks.

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Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service

Sergey Sirotkin has taken GP2 pole at Spielberg, beating double Baku winner Antonio Giovinazzi?by just six thousandths of a second.

It was?Pierre Gasly who led much of the session after going quicker than Sirotkin on the opening runs, and the Red Bull Junior managed to improve his benchmark with the first effort on his final run.

However, he was almost immediately knocked off provisional pole by Sirotkin, and his own Prema team-mate Giovinazzi then snatched second, missing out on top spot by only 0.006s.

Sirotkin was unable to make any further improvements and so was Gasly after he was blocked through the final turns by?Nicholas Latifi.

Giovinazzi meanwhile was up on Sirotkin’s time, but running wide over the kerb at the final corner was enough to stop the Italian rookie taking a second straight pole.

His compatriot and fellow newcomer?Luca Ghiotto took fourth at the circuit at which his GP3 title bid took off last year.

He edged the Russian Time duo of?Artem Markelov and?Raffaele Marciello – currently first and third in the standings – down to the third row of the grid.

Oliver Rowland took seventh in front of?Alex Lynn,?Norman Nato?and?Mitch Evans.

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Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service

Nobuharu Matsushita?got?ART Grand Prix’s season firing by winning the GP2 sprint race in Monaco in crushing style from pole position, surviving a poor start before pulling away.

The Honda protege was promoted onto the reverse-grid pole when?Antonio Giovinazzi?was demoted from seventh to 11th in the feature race results for cutting the chicane.

Matsushita?suffered a pretty poor initial launch, with fellow front-row starter?Marvin Kirchhofer able to pull alongside him, but the Japanese ace stayed ahead on the inside line and then began pulling away.

He finished up 13.6 seconds clear, setting the fastest lap on lap 28 of 30. It’s a second GP2 win for Matsushita but comes after he failed to finish higher than eighth in the first three races of his second?season.

Kirchhofer kept?Raffaele Marciello behind him to finish second in just his second weekend in?GP2?and first ever in Monaco.

Mitch Evans followed fifth in the feature race with a sixth in the sprint, five seconds behind Marciello but 11 ahead of?Alex Lynn, who finished the race with Norman Nato,?Oliver Rowland and the feature race winner Artem Markelov all within 1.3 seconds.

Nato’s finish two places ahead of Markelov puts him into the standings lead.

Behind?Arthur Pic, veteran?Sergio Canamasas finished 10th after displaying his Monaco expertise with fantastic?moves on Pierre Gasly and?Gustav Malja on the inside at Rascasse, and another pass on?Daniel De Jong before the end.

Matsushita’s team-mate?Sergey Sirotkin remains yet to score in 2016 after a third retirement in four races, slowing to a halt at Casino Square.

Indonesian drivers?Philo Paz Armand and?Sean Gelael?both found the barriers, the latter sliding wide at Ste Devote and the former left with nowhere to go when being passed at the hairpin by?Jordan King, who was handed a 10-second penalty for the move.

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