The Monza rounds of the F1-supporting GP2 and GP3 Series saw both championship titles wrapped up fairly comfortably, though the racing at the flat-out venue was still full of a fair bit of drama and chaos, as you might expect.
The circumstances surrounding both title wins were fairly similar. Both point tables were dominated by a single driver coming to the event, and their rivals needed small miracles to keep their own title hopes alive. But the results of the two title wins were rather dissimilar. Pastor Maldonado secured the GP2 crown, doing so despite turning in his poorest weekend of the season to date, and losing his remarkable run of feature race victories in the process. And despite becoming only the second GP2 champion to secure the title with a round still to go, after last year's champion Nico Hulkenberg, Maldonado still faces a challenge to prove his worth to the watching F1 teams, stuck with the perception that the GP2 veteran, like Giorgio Pantano's title in 2008, won the crown through luck and experience rather than innate talent.
In contrast to that, Esteban Gutierrez has created plenty of buzz around him after winning the GP3 title. The Mexican has controlled the championship almost from the start, and with the Monza races representing the final round of GP3 action for the season, he is now free to concentrate on his 2011 plans. He secured the title in anti-climactic fashion, by taking the two points he needed when he secured pole position, but unlike Maldonado, he does seem to have the air of a future superstar in the making.
GP2 Series Report
Driver Changes
The Monza rounds of the championship saw another couple of driver switches for the GP2 teams. Edoardo Piscopo, who raced for the DAMS team in last winter's GP2 Asia Series and is currently leading the stratospherically pointless Auto GP championship, joined the backmarking Trident Racing team, replacing Johnny Cecotto Jr.
Meanwhile, former Red Bull test driver Brendon Hartley managed to pick up a GP2 drive for the Scuderia Coloni team as a rebound reaction to his recent dumping by the caffeinated drink conglomerate. He replaced Vladimir Arabadzhiev at the team, in a happy result for typing fingers worldwide.
Qualifying
It has been a relatively disappointing season for multiple GP2 champion team ART Grand Prix this year, with neither of their drivers getting involved in the title fight and their F1 graduation being ruined by a lack of finance. But the team secured a late season boost in qualifying for Monza when they took a front row clean sweep for the feature race.
Ferrari tester and French future F1 hope Jules Bianchi clinched the pole position with an early quick time that no other driver ever looked like getting near, and his British team mate Sam Bird held off the opposition to take second place alongside him.
Jerome d'Ambrosio secured a fine third place for the DAMS team, ahead of the second GP2 Brit Oliver Turvey (iSport). Alvaro Parente continued his impressive late-season cameo for Scuderia Coloni in fifth, alongside former Renault F1 failure Romain Grosjean in the second DAMS car.
The two championship rivals made up row four, with Addax's Sergio Perez just outqualifying Pastor Maldonado, who crashed out in his Rapax car in the closing stages of the qualifying session. The Racing Engineering pair of Dani Clos and Christian Vietoris completed the top ten.
Monza GP2 Grid Positions -
1 Jules Bianchi (ART) 1:30.269, 2 Sam Bird (ART) +0.042, 3 Jerome D'Ambrosio (DAMS) +0.097, 4 Oliver Turvey (iSport) +0.199, 5 Alvaro Parente (Coloni) +0.205, 6 Romain Grosjean (DAMS) +0.273, 7 Sergio Perez (Addax) +0.286, 8 Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) +0.406, 9 Dani Clos (Racing Eng) +0.413, 10 Christian Vietoris (Racing Eng) +0.418, 11 Luca Filippi (Super Nova) +0.422, 12 Davide Valsecchi (iSport) +0.445, 13 Fabrizio Crestani (DPR) +0.532, 14 Giedo van der Garde (Addax) +0.625, 15 Luiz Razia (Rapax) +0.838, 16 Charles Pic (Arden) +0.862, 17 Adrian Zaugg (Trident) +0.977, 18 Fabio Leimer (Ocean) +0.986, 19 Marcus Ericsson (Super Nova) +1.103, 20 Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden) +1.170, 21 Michael Herck (DPR) +1.189, 22 Brendon Hartley (Coloni) +1.332, 23 Max Chilton (Ocean) +1.398, 24 Edoardo Piscopo (Trident) +1.831.
Feature Race
Maldonado saw his run of feature race victories, which stretched back to the Turkish round in May and had been the cornerstone of his title push, ended in fairly straightforward fashion around the Monza circuit. THe ART pair that had dominated qualifying also enjoyed things mostly their own way in the race.
The only difference was the order in which they raced, with Bird getting the drop on Bianchi off the line and cruising to his first ever GP2 Series win. Bianchi never looked like keeping pace with him and slowly fell back throughout the race, but he took a comfortable second place as the ART squad dominated proceedings.
Further back, though, things were a lot less straightforward. After Arden's Rodolfo Gonzalez managed the dubious honour of crashing out on the formation lap when warming his tyres, the early running was blighted by incident. Hapless GP2 veteran Luca Filippi (Super Nova) crashed into the pack when he missed his braking point at the Roggia on the first lap, eliminating himself as well as Dani Clos and Giedo van der Garde (Addax).
A brief safety car period followed, but the restart saw another shunt, with Maldonado involved, flying over the top of Romain Grosjean's car at the Rettifilo. Further back, a trio of cars tangled in a separate incident, and the safety car was out again.
Maldonado limped on despite the huge crash, but was eventually forced to retire. Thankfully for his title chances, his only rival for the crown, Perez, eliminated himself from the running on the next restart when he collided with the quick-starting Michael Herck (DPR).
That meant that neither title rival scored points, and left Maldonado virtually assured of the 2010 drivers crown. It also left the 24 car field down at 14 runners with only 6 laps in the books.
The rest of the race was less chaotic, though, and Bird extended a decent cushion to Bianchi to lead home a crushing ART 1-2. Oliver Turvey took the final podium spot, under pressure throughout the race from Christian Vietoris's Racing Engineering machine.
D'Ambrosio took fifth place for DAMS, from Adrian Zaugg and Piscopo (both Trident), the latter scoring points on his GP2 main series debut amidst the carnage.
Max Chilton took eighth place, the final point, and the pole for the sprint race on Sunday, benefiting when Fabio Leimer (Ocean) retired from sixth place late on with mechanical problems.
| Feature Race Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Sam Bird | ART Grand Prix | 49:27.229 | 10 |
| 2 | Jules Bianchi | ART Grand Prix | +8.585 | 8 |
| 3 | Oliver Turvey | iSport International | +17.168 | 6 |
| 4 | Christian Vietoris | Racing Engineering | +18.249 | 5 |
| 5 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | DAMS | +19.361 | 4 |
| 6 | Adrian Zaugg | Trident Racing | +21.189 | 3 |
| 7 | Edoardo Piscopo | Trident Racing | +24.618 | 2 |
| 8 | Max Chilton | Ocean Racing Technology | +28.662 | 1 |
| 9 | Davide Valsecchi | iSport International | +46.833 | |
| 10 | Fabrizio Crestani | DRP | +47.773 |
11 Charles Pic (Arden International) +50.494, 12 Alvaro Parente (Scuderia Coloni) +59.930, 13 Romain Grosjean (DAMS) +1 Lap, R Fabio Leimer (Ocean Racing Technology), R Pastor Maldonado (Rapax Team), R Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team), R Michael Herck (DPR), R Marcus Ericsson (Super Nova Racing), R Luiz Razia (Rapax Team), R Brendon Hartley (Scuderia Coloni), R Dani Clos (Racing Engineering), R Luca Filippi (Super Nova Racing), R Giedo van der Garde (Barwa Addax Team), R Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden International).
Sprint Race
Maldonado came into the sprint race on Sunday morning knowing that he was virtually certain to secure the title. Although he was starting well down the grid after his feature race DNF, so was Perez, and the Mexican needed to somehow win the race from 16th on the grid and take the point for fastest lap in order to take the title fight to the final round.
In the end, the championship fight ended as something of a damp squib. Although Maldonado was eliminated from the race on only the second lap when he crashed out at the Parabolica, Perez never looked like making the progress he needed. The Mexican ended 13th and the title was the property of the Venezuelan driver.
The race itself was a tense, if processional affair. Vietoris made a stunning start from row three to lead into the Rettifilo on the first lap, and he took victory after withstanding prolonged pressure from both d'Ambrosio and Bird.
Bianchi took fourth place, some distance behind the train of three at the front. The result closes the Frenchman to within eight points of Perez in the almost-compelling fight for second in the standings. Polesitter Chilton faded to fifth by the end, with Turvey taking the final point in sixth place.
Piscopo's hopes of a podium on his debut in the series ended when an intense tussle with iSport's Davide Valsecchi ended in a collision and retirement after a handful of laps.
So the title winner for the 2010 GP2 Series has been confirmed, and though Maldonado ended his crowning race in the gravel trap, it is hard to argue he hasn't been the most consistent performer of 2010 in the series.
The drivers now face a slightly farcical wait until the final rounds of the championship, which will take place for no obvious reason at the Abu Dhabi F1 weekend in November. There, the teams championship is at least still up for grabs, with Rapax, Addax and ART all still in the hunt.
| Sprint Race Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Christian Vietoris | Racing Engineering | 32:28.733 | 6 |
| 2 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | DAMS | +1.048 | 5 |
| 3 | Sam Bird | ART Grand Prix | +1.184 | 4 |
| 4 | Jules Bianchi | ART Grand Prix | +6.789 | 3 |
| 5 | Max Chilton | Ocean Racing Technology | +9.485 | 2 |
| 6 | Oliver Turvey | iSport International | +9.917 | 1 |
| 7 | Adrian Zaugg | Trident Racing | +13.430 | |
| 8 | Charles Pic | Arden International | +15.627 | |
| 9 | Alvaro Parente | Scuderia Coloni | +18.921 | |
| 10 | Luiz Razia | Rapax Team | +21.568 |
11 Marcus Ericsson (Super Nova Racing) +25.746, 12 Dani Clos (Racing Engineering) +28.111, 13 Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team) +28.733, 14 Luca Filippi (Super Nova Racing) +31.502, 15 Fabrizio Crestani (DPR) +33.045, 16 Davide Valsecchi (iSport International) +1:12.761, R Brendon Hartley (Scuderia Coloni), R Giedo van der Garde (Barwa Addax Team), R Michael Herck (DPR), R Edoardo Piscopo (Trident Racing), R Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden International), R Pastor Maldonado (Rapax Team), R Fabio Leimer (Ocean Racing Technology).
Drivers Championship after 18 of 20 rounds -
1 Maldonado 87pts (champion), 2 Perez 60pts, 3 Bianchi 52pts, 4 Clos 43pts, 5 Bird 42pts, 6 van der Garde 39pts, 7 Turvey 37pts, 8 Vietoris 29pts, 9 Pic 28pts, 10 d'Ambrosio, Valsecchi 21pts, 12 Razia 20pts, 13 Giacommo Ricci 16pts, 14 Parente 13pts, 15 Herck 12pts, 16 Ericsson 11pts, 17 Zaugg 9pts, 18 Leimer 8pts, 19 Grosjean 7pts, 20 Filippi 5pts, 21 Gonzalez, Alberto Valerio 4pts, 23 Johnny Cecotto Jr, Chilton 3pts, 25 Piscopo 2pts.
Teams Championship after 18 of 20 rounds -
1 Rapax Team 107pts, 2 Barwa Addax Team 99pts, 3 ART Grand Prix 94pts, 4 Racing Engineering 72pts, 5 iSport International 58pts, 6 Arden International 32pts, 7 DAMS, DPR 28pts, 9 Scuderia Coloni 17pts, 10 Super Nova Racing 16pts, 11 Trident Racing 14pts, 12 Ocean Racing Technology 11pts.
GP3 Series Report
For Esteban Gutierrez, the title fight resolved itself almost as easily as Maldonado's issues had, albeit more through Gutierrez's abilities than simply a matter of combined failure from all championship rivals. The Mexican came into the final weekend of the inaugural GP3 Series season needing just two points to take the title.
And he duly scored those two points when the ART driver took pole position for the feature race, netting the bonus points that went with the achievement, and managing to take the edge off the final weekend before the racing had even begun. The points also secured the teams crown for ART Grand Prix.
Not that this meant he wasn't in the mood to celebrate, and he duly took his fifth win of the year in the race itself, coming through an incredible six-way fight for the victory as the GP3 drivers practiced their slipstreaming at the Italian track. He decisively dived ahead of ex-title rival Robert Wickens (Status GP) with three laps to go and held on to take victory.
Wickens kept second place, while Rio Haryanto scored his first podium in eight races for Manor Racing in third. Nico Muller (Jenzer) and Mirko Bortolotti (Addax) came home close behind. Roberto Merhi (ATECH), front row starter Josef Newgarden (Carlin) and Nigel Melker (Mucke) completed the points scorers.
Dutch driver Renger van der Zande, who was tipped to challenge for the title but has endured a luckless season, had been involved in the fight for the lead, but was forced to retire with mechanical issues midway through the race.
In the season-closing sprint race, it was Melker who started on pole position, but he was relegated to the back of the grid after stalling on the dummy grid. Merhi led into the first turn, but Wickens dived past on the exit of the first chicane to take a lead he would never lose, cementing his second place in the championship and taking his third win of the season.
Bortolotti came past Merhi as well to take second place for Addax, while Muller also got ahead of the Spaniard to take the final podium spot. Merhi settled for fourth ahead of Newgarden and Miki Monras (MW Arden).
Gutierrez ended his season in relative ignominy, spinning at the Parabolica on lap three and posting his first retirement of the season, but he could be forgiven for not really concentrating by that point.
The first ever GP3 championship has come to an end then, with some new stars of the future created, and plenty of Dallara-Renaults written-off. It has, if nothing else, been entertaining.
| Race 1 Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Esteban Gutierrez | ART Grand Prix | 28:26.731 | 10 |
| 2 | Robert Wickens | Status Grand Prix | +0.995 | 8 |
| 3 | Rio Haryanto | Manor Racing | +2.104 | 6 |
| 4 | Nico Muller | Jenzer Motorsport | +2.656 | 5 |
| 5 | Mirko Bortolotti | Addax Team | +3.693 | 4 |
| 6 | Roberto Merhi | ATECH CRS GP | +4.539 | 3 |
| 7 | Josef Newgarden | Carlin | +4.886 | 2 |
| 8 | Nigel Melker | RSC Mucke Motorsport | +6.923 | 1 |
| 9 | Daniel Morad | Status Grand Prix | +10.148 | |
| 10 | Tobias Hegewald | RSC Mucke Motorsport | +10.889 |
| Race 2 Result | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pts |
| 1 | Robert Wickens | Status Grand Prix | 26:20.507 | 6 |
| 2 | Mirko Bortolotti | Addax Team | +1.618 | 5 |
| 3 | Nico Muller | Jenzer Motorsport | +1.939 | 4 |
| 4 | Roberto Merhi | ATECH CRS GP | +3.040 | 3 |
| 5 | Josef Newgarden | Carlin | +4.430 | 2 |
| 6 | Miki Monras | MW Arden | +9.604 | 1 |
| 7 | Daniel Morad | Status Grand Prix | +12.695 | |
| 8 | Leonardo Cordiero | MW Arden | +15.274 | |
| 9 | Oliver Oakes | ATECH CRS GP | +15.873 | |
| 10 | Michael Christensen | MW Arden | +17.698 |
Drivers Championship after 16 of 16 Rounds -
1 Gutierrez 88pts (champion), 2 Wickens 71pts, 3 Muller 53pts, 4 Alexander Rossi 38pts, 5 Haryanto 27pts, 6 Merhi 26pts, 7 Dean Smith 24pts, 8 James Jakes 21pts, 9 Stefano Coletti 18pts, 10 Monras 17pts, 11 Bortolotti 16pts, 12 Morad 15pts, 13 Pal Varhaug, Daniel Juncadella, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 10pts, 16 Felipe Guimaraes, Jean-Eric Vergne 9pts, 18 Newgarden 8pts, 19 Lucas Foresti 7pts, 20 Adrien Tambay, Renger van der Zande, Hegewald 6pts, 23 Melker 5pts, 24 Pedro Nunes, Simon Trummer 4pts, 26 Antonio Felix da Costa 3pts, 27 Cordiero 1pt, 28 Oakes, Doru Sechelariu, Pablo Sanchez Lopez, Christensen, Ivan Lukashevich, Patrick Reiterer, Vittorio Ghirelli, Marco Barba, Jim Pla, Mikhial Aleshin 0pts.
Teams Championship after 16 of 16 Rounds -
1 ART Grand Prix 130pts (champions), 2 Status Grand Prix 86pts, 3 Jenzer Motorsport 67pts, 4 Manor Racing 64pts, 5 Carlin 42pts, 6 Tech 1 Racing 37pts, 7 ATECH CRS GP 26pts, 8 Addax Team 25pts, 9 MW Arden 18pts, 10 RSC Mucke Motorsport 17pts.
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