2013 GP2: The Season so far..

Felipe Nasr (Crash F1)

Dillmann didn’t have good pace and Coletti was the next man to make a move on him, soon followed by Nasr. From the early laps, it started to look like Bird was going to cruise for an easy win, but in the last laps the Brit started to lose some pace. The tyres started to loose grip, which meant Coletti and Nasr were closing on him.

Coletti started to face difficulties soon too and Nasr was able to pass the Monegasque as he went wide on the last corner with only two laps left. Nasr was hunting Bird’s lead and Coletti had a hard time to stay on the track with his tyres. Coming to the last corner on the last lap, Nasr tried to overtake Bird and was right next to him on the finish line. It was so close finish that it couldn’t have been much closer: Bird won the race being only 0,080 seconds in front of Nasr.

This was the closest ever finish in the history of GP2. Coletti managed to fight to the podium, even though he lost his grip from the tyres. Leimer finished 9th which meant that he had won two races, while finishing without points in two. It started to look like the championship fight was going to be between Coletti, Leimer and Nasr.

The first four races of the year confirmed that the Pirelli tyres were going to play a big role in the GP2 series this year and are a big part of race strategy, just as in Formula 1 today. This will help the GP2 drivers to prepare very well for the future, as they have already experienced the delicate compound in the history of Formula 1 in recent times.

Pirelli uses the same compounds in the GP2 series as in F1, but the compounds specially selected for an event might differ a bit. For example, in Nürburgring, the Formula 1 teams had soft and medium compounds for use, while GP2 teams had super soft and medium. The reason for this is that tyre strategies, are much different in GP2 than in F1.

In GP2, only in Saturday’s race, everyone needs to make a pit stop. Also, the drivers don’t need to use both the tyre compounds available during the race, which makes another difference. On Sunday’s race pit stops aren’t necessary, and drivers are allowed to get through the race, with the compound they have started the race.

The drivers who know the art of managing the tyres, gain a lot of advantage, and in Sunday’s sprint race, it’s really important thing to do if you want to fight for the positions until the end.

Sunday’s race in Spain went with a less drama until the last few laps. Cecotto started from pole, but lost positions as he went wide on the first corner. Coletti, Frjins and Nasr were the top three after the first lap, and it stayed until the end of the race.

Behind the top three was where the real action took place in the last laps, as Cecotto and Canamasas were fighting for a position. Canamasas tried to pass Cecotto, but then Cecotto made a questionable move which forced Canamasas off the track. This was very similar to the move Cecotto made with Bird during the qualifying in Malaysia.

The move was clearly against the rules, but the stewards weren’t keen for an investigation. It should have been investigated, especially as the same driver had made the same move earlier. Canamasas’ luck faded during the day, as he tried to avoid a contact with Cecotto, Rio Hariyanto crashed into the back of his car. Canamasas continued his race without his rear wing thereby losing positions, and it wasn’t the most intelligent decision either.

The 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robin Frjins was strong during the weekend and clinched a great victory with his Hilmer Motorsport team on Saturday, and scored a third place on the Sunday’s race. It was a great start to the season for those two new teams on the grid, Hilmer Motorsport and Russian Time as both the teams managed to win a race during the early season.

Frjins also was a positive surprise, as he was called for a drive in Bahrain and he had to bring the desired budget to continue the season. He still was able to win his third race of the series, and really proved his talent to the team.

As you might have noticed so far, the GP2 series is very eventful. Monaco has been an amazing place for an unpredictable racing on any calendar. What happens, when the two eventful combinations get together? Surely something was going to happen, right? Yes. You are definitely right.

Cecotto started from pole position for the first race in Monaco, and had his teammate Mitch Evans starting next to him. When the lights went off, Cecotto had a bad start and Evans went onto the lead. Cecotto went way too fast into the first corner and there was no way he could have made the first corner and he crashed.

This caused a pile-up and a traffic jam to the first corner. Only couple of drivers managed to get through and it was unbelieveable, but also comical.

The race was stopped without any single lap completed and the marshals started to clean up the first corner. Surprisingly, many drivers were able to get into the restart, as they were allowed to make possible repairs for the car. Marshals helped to push start a couple of cars, which was another rare view.

When the mess was cleaned, the race was on again. There was no drama on the restart and it was very difficult to overtake on the track. The biggest position changes were made during the pit stops. Bird won the race ahead of Evans, Kevin Ceccon, Nasr, Calado and Coletti. The stewards took the first lap incident under investigation and decided to give a race ban for Cecotto for the Sunday’s race.