Patronise F1

For the first time in it's history, the GP2 Series crown was wrapped up before the final round of the series in 2009, a situation that proved the extent of Nico Hulkenburg's dominance. Once his only realistic title rival Romain Grosjean had moved up to the F1 grid with Renault, he secured the title with ease.

Whether that reflects more on The Hulk's prodigious talents behind the wheel or on the general dissolution of quality in the GP2 field after the arrival of a side-by-side rival in the FIA's Formula 2 series will inevitably be something that needs to be judged with hindsight once Hulkenburg settles into the F1 drive he will surely now secure.

But while the racing was certainly open this year, with 11 different drivers standing on the top step of the podium over the 20 rounds of the series, there was also a sense that the field was rather ragbag this year, with young rookies mixing with limited success with the familiar faces of the drivers that seem to have been in GP2 since it's inception in 2005, never really threatening to make it any higher.

Nevertheless, it has rarely been dull, so let's take a quick and tired look back at the 2009 GP2 season. It will almost be worth it.

Race-by-Race

- Barcelona
The season kicked off with the Barcelona round, delivering tedious motor racing since time began. Pre-season title favourite Grosjean took a supreme victory in the sprint race, while rookie Edoardo Mortara triumphed in the sprint, putting himself firmly in the "one to watch" bracket. Though he turned out to be a bit naff for the rest of the season. The other pre-season title favourites, Hulkenburg and di Grassi, meanwhile, failed to score a point between them.
Feature Race Winner - Romain Grosjean (Barwa Addax)
Sprint Race Winner - Edoardo Mortara (Arden International)
Standings - 1 Grosjean 18pts, 2 Mortara, d'Ambrosio 10pts, 4 Petrov 8pts.

- Monaco
Monaco provided an insight into the two sides of Grosjean's racing personality, with the Frenchman again dominating the longer feature race with a measured performance, but crashing out in spectacular style in the sprint race attempting one of the most half-arsed overtaking manoeuvers of all time. Nevertheless he and team-mate Petrov left Monaco in a largely happy state of mind, with the Barwa Addax pairing in a commanding position in the championship, or so it seemed.
Feature Race Winner - Romain Grosjean (Barwa Addax)
Sprint Race Winner - Pastor Maldonado (ART Grand Prix)
Standings - 1 Grosjean 31pts, 2 Petrov, D'Ambrosio 18pts, 4 Maldonado 12pts.

- Turkey
Grosjean's season came down to earth at Istanbul, where a spin in the feature race and a dour recovery drive in the sprint left him pointless for the weekend, while Petrov took a hatful of points, including a win in the feature, to take the lead of the championship. Lucas di Grassi finally delivered a solid result with a win in the sprint, while consistency was enabling Hulkenburg to figure on the leaderboard for the first time.
Feature Race Winner - Vitaly Petrov (Barwa Addax)
Sprint Race Winner - Lucas di Grassi (Racing Engineering)
Standings - 1 Petrov 33pts, 2 Grosjean 31pts, 3 D'Ambrosio 18pts, 4 Maldonado, Hulkenburg 17pts.

- Britain
Grosjean's slips continued at Silverstone. Despite starting from pole position, he was overwhelmed by other in the feature race, and slipped back to an eventual 5th place. The surprise winner was Alberto Valerio, who overtook Grosjean early on to take his first ever GP2 Series win. The sprint was, by comparison to the passing drama of the feature, fairly dull, with Maldonado taking his second short-race win of the season for ART. Grosjean at least reclaimed the championship lead after Petrov failed to score a single point.
Feature Race Winner - Alberto Valerio (Piquet GP)
Sprint Race Winner - Pastor Maldonado (ART Grand Prix)
Standings - 1 Grosjean 40pts, 2 Petrov 33pts, 3 Maldonado, Hulkenburg 26pts.

- Germany
If there was a moment when Hulkenburg saw the title fight swing decisively in his favour, it was in his home country. Having been on the periphery of the action for the first four events, Hulkenburg dominated proceedings at the Nurburgring to leave his birthplace as the championship leader. Meanwhile, a mixed weekend for Grosjean saw him retire from the feature race with mechanical dramas, but then he put in one of the drives of the season to fight back to 5th place in the feature race, just behind his team mate Petrov, who was starting to move into championship contention through quiet consistency.
Feature Race Winner - Nico Hulkenburg (ART Grand Prix)
Sprint Race Winner - Nico Hulkenburg (ART Grand Prix)
Standings - 1 Hulkenburg 46pts, 2 Grosjean 42pts, 3 Petrov 41pts, 4 Maldonado, Di Grassi 26pts.

- Hungary
Hulkenburg made it three searing wins in a row in the feature race at Hungary, surprisingly contriving to win by more than fifteen seconds at a track renowned for as little overtaking as the Hungaroring from 5th place on the grid, through a combination of a cracking start, clever pit stop work, and an opportunistic move on Lucas di Grassi for the lead. He followed that up with a lacklustre drive in the sprint though, as Giedo van der Garde took his first GP2 win ever for iSport.
Feature Race Winner - Nico Hulkenburg (ART Grand Prix)
Sprint Race Winner - Giedo van der Garde (iSport International)
Standings - 1 Hulkenburg 57pts, 2 Grosjean 45pts, 3 Petrov 41pts, 4 Di Grassi 40pts.

- Valencia
By the time the teams got to Valencia, Grosjean had jumped ship to the Renault F1 team, leaving Petrov and Di Grassi as Hulkenburg's only real challengers. And Petrov got off to the perfect start in the pursuit of the German by winning the feature race, albeit with Hulkenburg following right behind in his wake. Sadly for the Russian, Hulkenburg won the sprint, with Petrov only third, to extend his title lead once again. Di Grassi's challenge fell apart after a pointless weekend.
Feature Race Winner - Vitaly Petrov (Barwa Addax)
Sprint Race Winner - Nico Hulkenburg (ART Grand Prix)
Standings - 1 Hulkenburg 75pts, 2 Petrov 55pts, 3 Grosjean 45pts, 4 di Grassi 40pts.

- Belgium
The Spa weekend was filled with chaos, right from the start when the Coloni team had their cars impounded over a court dispute. The racing was bizarre as well, with Portuguese driver Alvaro Parente controlling the feature race from pole to win from Hulkenburg, with Di Grassi netting a morale-boosting podium. The race was marred by a scary accident for Durango driver Stefano Coletti, who was hospitalised after writing-off his car in Eau Rouge. The team didn't feature in any of the remaining events. The sprint was wrapped up by van der Garde, but with Petrov scoring a single point all weekend, Hulkenburg now had one hand on the title.
Feature Race Winner - Alvaro Parente (Ocean Racing)
Sprint Race Winner - Giedo van der Garde (iSport International)
Standings - 1 Hulkenburg 83pts, 2 Petrov 56pts, 3 di Grassi 46pts, 4 Grosjean 45pts.

- Italy
And so, Hulkenburg wrapped up the title with one round to go. Not in sensational style, as Van der Garde picked up his third win of the year in the feature race before Coloni man Luis Razia, his car fresh from being impounded, won the sprint, but Hulkenburg drove steady to take the points that he needed to secure the title. Petrov tried to take the championship down to an unlikely final race showdown, but the 6th and 3rd places taken by The Hulk was enough to make sure that he was the champion.
Feature Race Winner - Giedo van der Garde (iSport International)
Sprint Race Winner - Luis Razia (Coloni)
Standings - 1 Hulkenburg 90pts, 2 Petrov 68pts, 3 Di Grassi 57pts, 4 Grosjean 45pts.

- Portugal
Hulkenburg cemented his place as the dominant force in the 2009 GP2 Series with a supreme drive to win the final feature race of the season in the standalone event at the Algarve circuit in Portugal. Elsewhere, in bad news for The Elbow, his favourite rubbish GP2 driver Luca Filippi took a surprisingly good second place in the feature and win in the sprint, perhaps highlighting just how much everyone else had given up by that point of the season. To cement the idea that the final weekend was little more than a pressure-free jolly, formerly useless Spaniard Dani Clos took a podium in the sprint.
Feature Race Winner - Nico Hulkenburg (ART Grand Prix)
Sprint Race Winner - Luca Filippi (Super Nova Racing)
Standings - 1 Hulkenburg 100pts, 2 Petrov 75pts, 3 di Grassi 63pts, 4 Grosjean 45pts.

Final Standings

Five Top Talents from 2009

1) Nico Hulkenburg
Although he wasn't a rookie in the truest sense of the word, after a couple of cameo drives in the similar GP2 Asia series over the winter, he was nevertheless hugely inexperienced at this level compared to his main rivals, and the way that he controlled the series after a difficult start is all the more impressive for it. How he would have fared had Grosjean completed the season is a question that we'll never know the answer to, but in the end all a driver can do is beat what was put in front of him, and he did that decisively. The Hulk finished on the podium in six of the last seven feature races of the season, winning three of them, and in the end he sealed the title with ease through a dizzying combination of speed and consistency. How he fares in F1 will be one of the main things to watch in 2010.

2) Romain Grosjean
That the second best driver in the series only competed in half of the races is hardly an indictment of the quality of this year's grid, and more a glowing commendation of Grosjean's talent. In Patty's season preview, we described this season as a "watershed year" for the Frenchman, who finished fourth in his debut season in 2008 and entered 2009 as the title favourite. He hit the ground running as well, dominating the first two weekends of the series with wins in both the feature races. But then, his season started to off the boil, as his rivals caught up and his fragility when asked to fight his way through the field was exposed. His spectacular Monaco smash after an ill-timed attempted pass on Andi Zuber into Tabac highlighted the downside of Groajean's racecraft that saw him described on these pages by The Hand as "Jean Alesi with more speed and minus the aviators". Yet to fully click in the second Renault seat, but then who ever really does?

3) Giedo van der Garde
The Dutchman has had an indifferent season on paper, but he finished as the second-highest placed rookie driver behind the title-winning Hulkenburg. He took a while to get going, picking up just seven points before he romped to victory in the reverse grid sprint race in Hungary. While keeping the lead at the Hungaroring may not be that much of an achievement, he went on to win twice more, at Spa's sprint race and then at the Monza feature race, where he put in a sublime tactical drive on a damp track to fend off title contender Vitaly Petrov for the victory. Van der Garde will be looking for a second bite at the GP2 cherry in 2010, and will surely start among the title favourites should he do so.

4) Vitaly Petrov
He finished second in the championship, but there is certainly an argument to be had that his accomplishment was less down to outright talent and more down to quiet consistency in a hugely familiar series. And yet, while there is an element of truth there, that would be somewhat harsh on the Russian driver, who was often as fast as Grosjean during their time as team mates, and once the Frenchman left, he tried as hard as he could to keep the championship interesting. He won twice in the more-important feature races, and indeed, save two retirements, only once finished a feature race outside the top four. A drive with Campos F1 is in the offing, and although he may not be the most prodigious talent to ever emerge from the GP2 Series, he is well worth a chance at the highest level.

5) Lucas di Grassi
2009 was the same old story for di Grassi, who has now spent four years trapped in a career dead-end in GP2, totalling up 75 starts along the way. For the last three of those years, he has finished in the top three of the championship, though this season he ended some way behind Hulkenburg, albeit having picked up one win and seven podiums along the way. Sadly for Di Grassi, the most telling information for his future career may well have come during the season, when the Renault F1 team overlooked him, their long term test driver, in favour of the younger, more hairy Grosjean. While he has kept himself competitive in the GP2 Series, it looks increasingly likely that F1 has passed him by.