Discussion about the GP2 2010 season

[jens]

So finally the new season is underway. Considering, how many fresh F1 drivers have arrived from GP2 (Chandhok, Senna, di Grassi, Kobayashi, Petrov, Hülkenberg), it can be said the series has got quite a good boost. It is going to be interesting to follow, which drivers could turn out to be the next ones to reach F1 in the next few years. What is clear, is that we are going to have new front-runners in 2010 as the whole Top5 of 2009 has left.

Qualifying for the opening race in Barcelona has been held. Despite a few setbacks in GP2 Asia Bianchi has immediately claimed pole - can he replicate Hulk's achievements from last year? Another favourite in Perez seems to have adapted well in Barwa Addax and starts from the front row. 2010 is a remarkable season due to the amount of rookies especially in competitive teams, which has made the season more unpredictable to predict. So we have also rookies in positions 3-6 on the grid. The disappointments are the experienced Maldonado and van der Garde, also d'Ambrosio (or is DAMS that bad as a team?!). GP2 Asia winner Valsecchi is also going to find it tough to live up to the results shown in winter.

1. Jules Bianchi ART 1m27.727s
2. Sergio Perez Addax 1m28.011s + 0.284s
3. Sam Bird ART 1m28.241s + 0.514s
4. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1m28.254s + 0.527s
5. Oliver Turvey iSport 1m28.298s + 0.571s
6. Charles Pic Arden 1m28.300s + 0.573s
7. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1m28.372s + 0.645s
8. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova 1m28.376s + 0.649s
9. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 1m28.670s + 0.943s
10. Davide Valsecchi iSport 1m28.714s + 0.987s
11. Fabio Leimer Ocean 1m28.723s + 0.996s
12. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1m28.969s + 1.242s
13. Giedo van der Garde Addax 1m29.000s + 1.273s
14. Luiz Razia Rapax 1m29.065s + 1.338s
15. Johnny Cecotto Trident 1m29.129s + 1.402s
16. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 1m29.238s + 1.511s
17. Alberto Valerio Coloni 1m29.271s + 1.544s
18. Josef Kral Super Nova 1m29.382s + 1.655s
19. Max Chilton Ocean 1m29.437s + 1.71 s
20. Michael Herck DPR 1m29.500s + 1.773s
21. Adrian Zaugg Trident 1m29.518s + 1.791s
22. Ho-Pin Tung DAMS 1m29.519s + 1.792s
23. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Coloni 1m29.912s + 2.185s
24. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden 1m30.209s + 2.482s

[jens]

Oh, it turned out that with rookies starting at the front it can cause troubles as well. :D Bianchi and Vietoris collided in T1, Bird got also caught. Perez had a botched pitstop, which all in all enabled Pic to take a race win in GP2 on his debut! The find of the Asia series - Ricci - had another magnificent drive, which confirms the rise of the DPR-team into a serious contender. Clos, who was nowhere in 2009, has already in one race scored more points than he managed throughout the whole last year.

Point-scorers:
1 C. Pic Arden International 57:54.177
2 G. Ricci DPR + 1.489
3 D. Clos Racing Engineering + 4.209
4 S. Perez Addax + 5.111
5 O. Turvey iSport International + 18.339
6 P. Maldonado Rapax + 30.211
7 L. Razia Rapax + 30.588
8 F. Leimer Ocean Racing Technology + 34.231

[DazzlaF1]

The first ever GP3 race was on by Norwegian teenager Pal Varhaug

I dont know where the live timing is but I do know the top 8

1. Pal Varhaug (Jenzer)
2. Robert Wickens (Status)
3. Esteban Gutierrez (ART)
4. Dean Smith (Carlin)
5. Jean-Eric Vergne (Tech 1)
6. Simon Trummer (Jenzer)
7. Lucas Foresti (Carlin)
8. Alexander Rossi (ART)

[Nikki Katz]

I know that GP2 is always a bit of a lottery, but I really wasn't expecting victories from Pic and Leimer this weekend. And where were van de Garde and D'Ambrisio???
Bird was entertaining though, it is possible to pass at Barcelona, just not in an F1 car unless you count passing the new teams.

[patnicholls]

This kinda snuck up on me, which may well explain why the Pickems driver list isn't quite finished...d'oh. (and now Portimao's been surprisingly canned, so the calendar has to be altered too).

Personally, I'd always rated Pic from WSbR days so that wasn't a massive surprise for me that he'd be near the front, although winning outright first time was a bit unexpected. Mind you, Bianchi, Bird, Perez etc all had their own woes so that will have something to do with it. Ricci continues to look good, I feel we probably all owe him a massive apology for slating him over the past few years. Good to see Rapax (nee Piquet Sports) back near the front with two decent drivers, and also Dani Clos starting to come good after a very lacklustre 2009. A shame also for Christian Vietoris who undoubtedly has talent but hasn't had any joy so far in GP2 Asia and now the main series.

[MikeD]

I am most surprised that Bianchi isn't leading this championship. I really thought he would dominate this relative weak field.
I am positively surprised by Maldonado (look to be more mature) and Dani Clos (with 2 feature race podiums).

I do still expect that Maldonado will be picked up by the Sauber F1 team during the season to replace PdlR, because of the teams lack of sponsors and his quite good sponsor-package.

If not, then I expect this GP2 championship to be a fight between Bianchi, Maldonado and Pérez.

PS: What a dissapointment iSport has been so far....
PPS: The fight at the end of the field looks to be between Super Nova, Trident (they won't return to the front with a crappy and dirty driver like Zaugg) and Coloni (Are they hurting from the loss of the PartyPoker sponsorship?)

[jens]

I am most surprised that Bianchi isn't leading this championship. I really thought he would dominate this relative weak field.


Weak? I consider this statement to be unfair towards the unproven drivers we have in the field, who may still prove themselves to be good. And besides that people have claimed the series to be weak ever since 2007. In some ways you can consider all feeder series and seasons to be "weak", because the drivers are not complete packages there yet.

[jens]

The championship after three events:
1 Maldonado (VEN) - 27
2 Clos (ESP) - 23
3 Razia (BRA) - 20
4 Perez (MEX) - 17
5 van der Garde (NED) - 17
6 Valsecchi (ITA) - 13
7 Bird (GBR) - 11
8 Bianchi (FRA) - 11

Everything is still open and a fair bit could change during the rest of the season. By now experienced GP2 racers have snatched Top6 positions in the standings. If before the season I would have guessed that the biggest contenders are going to be Bianchi, Barwas, iSports and Maldonado, then all of them still seem to have outlooks. While before the Turkish GP it looked like iSport could start dropping out of contention, they suddenly managed 1st and 3rd in qualifying.

Maldonado dominated the Turkish main race. Perez seems to have a fair bit of unluck so far this season - this time he was DQ'd from P4 due to underweight car and despite having a storming race in the sprint (from last to 7th!), it wasn't enough for points. But in terms of pace he seems like a serious title contender and one to take into account, when it comes to competing for 2011 F1 seats.

Especially Razia and vd Garde remind me a bit of the 2007 version of di Grassi - in terms of speed they don't get even close to race wins, but thanks to avoiding setbacks they have somehow managed to sneak close to the leaderboard in the standings. One of the surprises of the season so far to me is Bird, who at times seems even quicker than Bianchi.