2016 Monaco GP2 Series round

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two groups, with the odd numbered cars in Group A and the even numbered cars in Group B.

Fresh off of his maiden win in Spain, Norman Nato set the quickest time in Group A, edging Campos Racing's Mitch Evans. It was championship leader Pierre Gasly that took the early lead, but improvements from other drivers saw the Frenchman fall down to eighth by the time the checkered flag fell.

Group A

Track conditions remained unchanged for the second qualifying group. Sergio Canamasas was on top briefly, but contact with the wall put an end to his session. But Sergey Sirotkin stole the show at the midway point, as his lap of 1:19.656 ensured that Group B would fight for pole. Artem Markelov had a heavy crash at Turn 1, and the session was red-flagged with 3 minutes and 48 seconds left on the clock to repair the heavily damaged barrier. This set up a one-lap shootout for pole position, which Sirotkin duly claimed with a lap five-tenths faster than Jordan King's second-place effort.

Group B

Notes

1.^ – Gasly started from the pitlane having failed to stop at the scrutineering weighbridge. 2.^ – Canamasas started from the pitlane having failed to stop at the scrutineering weighbridge. 3.^ – Jeffri received a three-place grid penalty after being found guilty of impeding Markelov during Group B's qualifying session. However, since Jeffri could not take his penalty in full, he started from the pitlane.

Feature Race

A sluggish start from poleman Sergey Sirotkin saw fellow front-row starter Norman Nato take the lead into Turn 1. Sirotkin was the quicker driver, but Nato managed to soak up the pressure and hang on to first place. Behind them, Jordan King held position in third, while Mitch Evans, Oliver Rowland, and Alex Lynn staged a fierce battle for fourth position. However, Evans skipped the Nouvelle chicane and gained an advantage, which earned him a 5-second time penalty. The first half of the race was a clean and calm affair, but the second half was anything but.

A chain of virtual safety cars was triggered when Pierre Gasly mounted the back of Jimmy Eriksson, which would ultimately result in terminal damage for the Swedish rookie. At the restart, Rowland quickly displaced Evans and charged after the leading trio, but there was more drama to come. Just after Nicholas Latifi clipped the wall in the tunnel and retired from eighth place, Sirotkin lost control of his car at the exit of La Piscine and crashed into the barriers. For the second feature race in a row, Sirotkin exited his car, visibly distraught with his mistake. Another virtual safety car was brought out for a general cleanup, although once it ended, it didn't take long for the third virtual safety car to be deployed, as Nabil Jeffri had crashed at La Rascasse. King fell victim to this restart, as he clipped the wall, which brought an end to Racing Engineering's hopes of a 1-2 finish. It was after this that the complexion of the race really changed.

Evans stopped for tyres on Lap 28, with Lynn, Rowland, and Nato pitting on laps 29, 30, and 31 respectively. This handed the lead to Russian Time driver Artem Markelov. But Markelov defied logic, setting much faster laps than everyone behind him, despite being on extremely worn tyres. The virtual safety car was called out twice more in the latter stages of the race, first for debris on the track and later for Luca Ghiotto's stricken Trident car. It was here that Markelov sealed the deal on an improbable victory, because the timing of the safety car proved advantageous for him. When Markelov did stop with two laps remaining, he emerged just in front of Nato. He resisted the Frenchman's challenge and took the win, despite starting 15th on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult. Nato was disgusted by having victory snatched away from him, but Rowland was content with a debut podium in GP2.

Notes

1.^ – Giovinazzi received a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage by way of leaving the circuit. 2.^ – Malja received a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage by way of leaving the circuit.

Sprint Race

Following the post-race penalty for Antonio Giovinazzi, Nobuharu Matsushita was promoted into reverse-grid pole for the Sprint race. Despite not getting a great start, Matsushita had the inside line and was thus able to fend off the fast-starting Carlin of Marvin Kirchhöfer. Behind them, Raffaele Marciello led Mitch Evans, Alex Lynn, and Norman Nato, who jumped ahead of Oliver Rowland. From here, Matsushita began to rapidly pull away from Kirchhöfer. The Indonesian contingent of GP2 was rapidly eliminated from the race; Philo Paz Armand was squeezed into the wall by Jordan King on Lap 4, while a virtual safety car was needed after Sean Gelael crashed out at Sainte Devote on Lap 8. Sergey Sirotkin's nightmare season continued when an fire extinguisher failed in his car, and Nicholas Latifi also retired with gearbox woes. At the front of the field, Matsushita was dominating and trading fastest laps with sixth-placed Nato, who himself was locked in a fierce battle with Lynn, Rowland, and Feature Race winner Artem Markelov. In the end, it was an easy victory for the Japanese driver, who took fastest lap and finished more than thirteen seconds ahead of nearest rivals Kirchhöfer and Marciello. Despite a somewhat disappointing weekend, Nato left the weekend with a one-point championship lead over Markelov.

Standings after the round

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.