2016 Silverstone GP2 and GP3 Series rounds

Background

ART Grand Prix's Nobuharu Matsushita will return to the series after serving his one-round ban in Austria.

It was announced that Arjun Maini would be replacing Oscar Tunjo at Jenzer Motorsport GP3 team for the Silverstone round.

Qualifying

In a somewhat controversial manner, Norman Nato achieved the fastest time of 1:38.216, thereby achieving his first pole position of the year. He was under investigation for setting his pole lap under red flag conditions. He was deemed by officials to set the lap time under green conditions and his pole time stood. Pierre Gasly achieved second place two-tenths behind Nato and Nicholas Latifi achieved a career-best of third.

Notes

1.^ – Sirotkin was penalised after he failed to stop at the weighbridge and the car was not brought back before the mechanics worked on it, thereby violating the parc ferme ruling. He will start from the pitlane. 2.^ – Canamasas received a three-place grid penalty after having been deemed to demonstrate unsporting behaviour towards Oliver Rowland after the conclusion of practice.

Feature Race

The preferred tyre strategy for the feature race was often been to start on the hard compound and then to switch the soft later in the race. Prema Racing went against this using the opposite strategy to great effect, with Pierre Gasly taking his maiden GP2 win from team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi. Oliver Rowland also went with this strategy, achieving third despite struggling for grip in the dying laps. This result elevates both Prema drivers to first and second in the standings, with Evans maintaining third.

Notes

1.^ – Rowland was given a five-second time penalty for excessive over-use of track limits.

Sprint Race

The sprint race saw another dominant performance from Jordan King who led from start to finish despite a late charge from Luca Ghiotto. The race was rather calm for the most part until three-laps from the end when the rain started to descend upon the circuit. As the circuit became more and more slippery, the drivers soon found themselves struggling for grip. Norman Nato spun off and several others left the circuit. Rowland passed Matsushita in the final laps to achieve another podium, the only driver to do so throughout the weekend.

Qualifying

In changing conditions, Alexander Albon prevailed an achieved his first pole position and the second for ART Grand Prix for the year. Being over seven-tenths faster than nearest competitor Charles Leclerc, it was a dominant display from Albon. Because of Leclerc's grid penalty, Sandy Stuvik will line up second on the grid, thereby making it the first ever all-Thai front row. Debutant Arjun Maini achieved a time of 1:48.393 to put himself third on the grid.

Notes

1.^ – Leclerc was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision at the previous round in Austria. 2.^ – Nandy was given a five-place grid penalty for exceeding the pitlane speed limit at the previous round in Austria. 3.^ – Ferrucci was handed a five-place grid penalty for impeding and causing a collision during the qualifying session. Seeing as how he could not carry out this penalty in full, he started from the pitlane.

Race 1

It was a dominant performance from Albon from the start of the race, with him maintaining the lead with a comfortable buffer over the rest of the pack. The race began to settle toward the middle of the race, with Stuvik falling back through the pack and Leclerc started to chase after his teammate. Jake Hughes was on a charge, but after a rear wing failure, he was forced to retire after running as high as fourth. Matt Parry was also on a charge, with him climbing from 12th on the grid, although he found himself hounded by Nyck de Vries who had started from 19th. However, at the front, Albon was victorious from team-mate Leclerc and Antonio Fuoco.

Notes

1.^ – Janosz was given a five-second penalty for excessive over-use of track limits. 2.^ – Dennis was given a five-second penalty for excessive over-use of track limits.

Standings after the round

GP2 Series

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

GP3 Series

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