2016 Baku GP2 Series round

Background

The 2016 Baku GP2 Series round was the third of eleven scheduled events of the 2016 GP2 Series season. It was held on 18 and 19 June 2016 at the Baku City Circuit in Baku and was run in support of the 2016 Formula One European Grand Prix. The races were contested by eleven teams of two drivers each. The teams were: ART Grand Prix, Racing Engineering, DAMS, Campos Racing, Russian Time, Rapax, Trident, Carlin, Prema Racing, MP Motorsport, and Arden International. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought two types of tyre to the race: two dry-compounds (supersoft "options" and medium "primes"). The supersoft tyres were identified by a red stripe on their side-walls, and the medium tyres were similarly identified with white. The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones for the race: one was on the start/finish straight linking the final and first corners, and the second on the straight from the second and third turns.

Before the race, Racing Engineering driver Norman Nato led the Drivers' Championship with 49 points, one ahead of nearest rival Artem Markelov, who in turn, was a further seven points in front of Alex Lynn in third. Pierre Gasly was fourth on 33 points, and Raffaele Marciello was fifth on 28. Russian Time were leading the Teams' Championship with 76 points; Racing Engineering were four points ahead of DAMS in the battle for second place. Prema Racing were in fourth on 33 points, and Carlin rounded out the top five on 28. Four different drivers had won the first four events of the season. Nicholas Latifi, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Sergey Sirotkin had finished in second once, and Jordan King, Oliver Rowland, Marciello had each achieved third-place podium finishes.

Practice and qualifying

One 45-minute practice session on Friday was held before the two races. The session was held on a dirty track with lap times gradually improving over the 45-minute period when the cars cleaned the circuit. Nato set the fastest lap with a time of 1:55.392, ahead of Giovinazzi in second and Sirotkin third. Gasly was fourth-fastest; Rowland was fifth and Luca Ghiotto sixth. King, Arthur Pic, Marciello, and Sergio Canamasas rounded out the session's top-ten drivers. The session was disrupted when King went onto the turn 15 run-off area and was required to swerve to avoid hitting a van parked at the corner. It prompted the activation of the virtual safety car (VSC) to allow the vehicle to be moved. Two further VSC periods were necessitated late in the session when Marciello and Gustav Malja slid off the track at the same corner and their sessions were ended prematurely.

Friday afternoon's qualifying session ran for 30-minutes. The session determined the starting order for the first race with the drivers' fastest lap times. The driver who won the pole position was awarded four points that went towards the Drivers' and Teams' Championships. No competitor was required to start the races with the tyres they qualified on. Qualifying was postponed until after the second Formula One practice session when the series race director Charlie Whiting made a track inspection at the second and third turns and decided that alterations were required to the kerbs in the area. It came after concerns were raised by Pirelli who reported that several tyres equipped on the cars had been cut five centimetres (50 mm) by several loosened screws. The session was held in cloudy and windy weather conditions. Giovinazzi achieved the first pole position of his GP2 Series career, and the second for Prema Racing, with a time of 1:51.752. He was joined on the grid's front row by Nobuharu Matsushita who recorded a time 0.089 seconds slower and had the pole position until Giovinazzi's lap. His teammate Sirotkin qualified third and was the fastest driver early in the session. Marciello took fourth, and Ghiotto was fifth, which was achieved on his second run. Rowland, Kirchhöfer, Gasly, Nato, and Canamasas rounded out the top ten qualifiers. King was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten with his fastest time 1.210 seconds slower than Giovinazzi. He was followed by Markelov in 12th, ahead of DAMS teammates Lynn and Latifi. Mitch Evans, Pic, Daniël de Jong, Jimmy Eriksson, Malja, and Sean Gelael were the next six drivers on the grid. The field was completed by Nabil Jeffri and Philo Paz Armand. The session was stopped when Armand and de Jong drove onto the turn three escape road; de Jong was unable to continue.

Races

The first race was held over a distance of either 170 kilometres (110 mi) or 60 minutes and all drivers were required to make one pit stop. The first ten finishers scored points with two being awarded to the competitor who recorded the fastest lap. The starting order for the second event was determined by the finishing positions of the first race, with the first eight drivers in reverse order. It was run over a distance of either 120 kilometres (75 mi) or 45 minutes and drivers were not allowed to make pit stops. The top eight finishers scored points which counted towards both championships.

Feature Race

The first race began at 12:00 Azerbaijan Time (UTC+4) on 18 June. Weather conditions at the start of the event were hot with an air temperature ranging from 29 °C (84 °F) and an track temperature between 46 °C (115 °F). At the outset, Giovinazzi made a slow start and fell to fifth. Matsushita took over the lead and maintained the position heading into the first corner. Sirotkin moved from third to seventh. A multi-car collision occurred at the first turn when Gasly attempted to overtake Nato around the outside. But, as the amount of room going alongside the inside barriers was reduced, the two drivers made contact. Nato was sent into a spin, and as Gasly drove slowly away from the corner, Canamasas went into the rear-end of his car. Kirchhöfer drove into Lynn and Latifi was caught up in the incident. With the exception of Nato, all drivers retired from the race because of the damage sustained to their cars. Sirotkin battled with a Racing Engineering car in turn five but made contact with him, which damaged the front wing's left endplate. The incident prompted the deployment of the safety car which drove into the pit lane at the start of the third lap to allow racing to continue. Marciello passed Matsushita to take over first place in the first corner by running in his slipstream, although the Japanese driver reclaimed the position by passing Marciello on the start/finish straight after drafting behind him.

King was overtaken by Markelov on the same lap. Marciello overtook Matsushita at the third corner to retake the lead on lap six. Armand crashed into the turn one barriers on the same lap, resulting in the safety car's second appearance. Most drivers elected to make their mandatory pit stops during the safety car period. Marciello remained ahead of Matsushita and maintained the lead when the safety car drove into the pit lane shortly afterwards. Marciello fended off a challenge by Matsushita to retain first position. Pic squeezed Markelov towards the turn five barrier on the ninth lap and both drivers damaged their cars, causing Markelov to retire. Pic drove on for a short distance before retiring because of the damage resulting from the collision. The safety car was sent onto the track for the third time. Marciello maintained his lead at the restart, while Matsushita ran wide at the first turn, allowing Jeffri to pass him for second place. Matsushita dropped to fifth position. Rowland passed both drivers by taking the inside line. Marciello pulled away from the rest of the field. Having run in clean air, Giovinazzi had moved into third place by the 12th lap, but moved into second two laps later when he overtook Rowland on the start/finish straight with DRS assistance.

Giovinazzi quickly caught Marciello and overtook him (with the help of DRS and drafting) at the start of lap 18 to take over the lead. Giovinazzi began to pull away from Maricello. The safety car was deployed for the fourth (and final) time after Nato attempted to pass teammate King around the inside and retired from the race having been squeezed into the turn three barrier by him. The area was cleared of Nato's damaged car over the next five laps which meant the race would finish under a time limit. Giovinazzi accelerated as late as possible to limit the slipstream effect and remained the leader at the lap-25 restart despite locking-up his tyres heading into the first turn. King retired from the race following contact with Eriksson. Giovinazzi remained the leader for the remaining two laps to clinch his first, and his team's maiden, victory in the GP2 Series. Siroktin overtook Rowland for third place and clinched second position from Marciello by drafting behind him on the start/finish straight. Rowland finished in fourth place, ahead of Evans and Matsushita whom he defended from in the final two laps. Gelael, de Jong, Ghiotto, and Malja rounded out the point-scoring positions. Eriksson and King were the last of the classified finishers. The attrition race was high, with ten drivers reaching the end of the race.

Sprint Race

The second event started at 14:00 local time on 19 June. Weather conditions at the start of the race were hot with an air temperature of 32 °C (90 °F) and a track temperature of 50 °C (122 °F). De Jong started from pole position but had a slow start and was overtaken by Matsushita (who began in third) around the inside heading into the first corner. This was also due to second-place starter Gelael making a slow start off his grid position. Giovinazzi dropped to the back of the field when the race started because of an engine problem. Matsushita quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. Rowland attempted to pass Evans but ran deep heading into turn one but got ahead driving into the third corner with the assistance of DRS. Evans lost a further position to Sirotkin on the following lap. Matsushita's lead was reduced to nothing when the safety car was deployed on lap eight. Eriksson was sent into a spin towards the turn one barrier after contact with King while battling for ninth place. The race was restarted after Eriksson's car was removed from the track. Matsushita accelerated early and avoided hitting the safety car by reducing his speed. This enabled Rowland and de Jong to slipstream Matsushita; de Jong moved into the first position, but he and Rowland locked their tyres heavily driving into the first corner.

Rowland ran wide while de Jong reversed onto the run-off area. This was caused by both drivers not gaining optimum brake temperature. De Jong dropped to fifth while Rowland fell to third after the latter was passed by Sirotkin. Armand spun in the seventh corner, triggering the safety car's second appearance. It remained on the track for the next three laps. On the restart, Matsushita utilised a tactic of backing the field up before driving away. However some drivers accelerated away after passing the safety car line, while others remained at the pace dictated by Matsushita. This resulted in Malja colliding with the rear-end of Evans's car, removing his front wing, and sending debris from it airborne. Malja then hit Rowland in the first corner. He spun but managed to continue. Gelael was forced to collide with the barrier, causing him to retire. The incident resulted in the safety car's third deployment which remained on track for the next two laps. At the lap 13 restart, Marciello got away faster than Matsushita and drove around the inside of the driver but locked his tyres. The two made contact when they steered into turn one. The incident allowed Gasly to inherit the lead, with teammate Giovinazzi moving into second.

The two drivers pulled away from the rest of the field. Giovinazzi was unable to use his DRS because it was affected by a malfunction. He made attempts to overtake Gasly in the closing stages of the event. On the final lap, Giovinazzi drove on the outside line on the start/finish straight and moved to the inside heading into the first corner. Gasly ran wide by missing his braking point while defending, which allowed Giovinazzi to take over the lead. He maintained the position for the remainder of the race to clinch his second consecutive victory. Gasly finished second, with Sirotkin in third. King took fourth, ahead of Markelov in fifth. Canamasas, Jeffri, and Pic rounded out the top-eight points-scoring finishers, Lynn, Kirchhöfer, Marciello, Ghiotto, Latifi, de Jong and Rowland were the last of the classified finishers. Givoinazzi's victories meant he became the first driver since Davide Valsecchi in the first 2012 Bahrain round to win both races in a GP2 Series race weekend, and the seventh driver in the history of the series to achieve this feat.

Post-round

The top three drivers of both races appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and at a later press conference. After the first race, Giovinazzi said he had been amazed at his first victory in the GP2 Series and thanked his team and his primary sponsor. He stated that he did not think that he would able to secure his first victory before the season was over, and was happy to score the points he earned for himself and his team. Sirotkin said the race was not easy for him because he did not have the start he intended. He said that he was happy with his second-place result but would not to be content finishing in either second or third in every event. Marciello stated that he expected some safety cars to affect the race but was unhappy with how many there were as they had prevented him building a large enough gap to his rivals. He said that his third-place finish was good for his team and revealed that he was not surprised that Sirotkin passed him on the start/finish straight on the first race's final lap as he saw him close up to him under the safety car.

Following the second race, Giovinazzi thanked his team for encouraging him not to give up the race and that he felt emotional and excited during the event's final lap. He stated that was expecting a good result but had not anticipated winning both of the weekend's races. Giovinazzi said it would be difficult to repeat the performance but he would enjoy the results. Gasly said it felt like "a crazy race" but enjoyed it. He revealed that the he attempted to focus on driving in order to be as fast as he could, but it had been difficult to build a large gap because of the circuit's long straights. He was happy with his second-place finish and said that it had been a fair battle for the win. Matsushita was issued with a one-race ban for the next race weekend in Austria for "erratic driving" and for causing a safety hazard in the first and second rolling restarts of the sprint race. Eriksson was judged to have caused the collision between himself and King and was issued with a three-place grid penalty that was taken at the season's next race.

The result of the races meant Markelov moved into the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 54 points, ahead of Nato who dropped to second. Giovinazzi's two victories meant he moved into third place. Gasly remained in fourth place on 45 points, but was now two points ahead of nearest rival Marciello in fifth. Russian Time remained in the lead of the Teams' Championship with 97 points, and were eight points in front of Prema Racing in second place. Racing Engineering dropped to third position on 73 position, while DAMS moved down one place to fourth. ART Grand Prix rounded out the top five on 60 points, with seven rounds left in the season.

Standings after the round