After a dominant weekend for Antonio Giovinazzi, where the Italian became the seventh driver to win both races in a single race meeting, GP2 heads to the familiar circuit of the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The championship standings currently have Artem Markelov leading the field with 54 points, but in a season filled with such competitive talent, the title run is far from over.
Giovinazzi made history a fortnight ago around the new European street circuit of Baku. Both races were chaotic and full of incidents, leading to varied results and a complete mix-up of competitive order. In the feature race, only ten drivers made it to the chequered flag, meaning that as long as they finished they would score points in the first race of the weekend.
But it was the sprint race that saw it all fall apart. Nobuharu Matsushita has been handed a one-race ban for his unsafe driving after the safety car period during the sprint race. The Japanese driver weaved across the track at the restart as he led the field, causing multiple incidents to occur behind him. Austrian Rene Binder returns to the GP2 Series to take over his seat for the fourth round of the championship.
Mitch Evans managed to do quite well in the carnage-filled feature race, scoring unexpected points for his team with a fifth-place finish. But he was not able to optimise his fourth-place start in the sprint race as he was taken out of contention as he was hit from behind whilst Matsushita was weaving dangerously just ahead of him. He had been running strong in the race before the incident that forced him to retire.
It has not been the season Evans was hoping for. His talents outperform the car he has but the car does not seem to have the pace to allow him to challenge at the front of the field. With many speculating this will be Evans last year in GP2 there is a high chance the Campos driver will be lost from single-seater racing and move to Sportscar racing at the end of the year.
Norman Nato is having a strong start to the season in his Racing Engineering car. As pre-season testing predicted, the Spanish team had put together a competitive package this year and Nato has managed some strong results when he has finished races. He sits third in the championship, just three points ahead of third-placed Giovinazzi. However, Nato has only finished two of the first six races this season and will be hoping his fortunes turn around quickly so he can challenge for the title. Markelov is just five points ahead of Nato with a total of 54 points.
Red Bull Ring Track and Race Information
LENGTH: 4.326 km
DIRECTION: Clockwise
TURNS: 9
FEATURE RACE: 40 laps – 173.040 km (start time: 2:35pm BST)
SPRINT RACE: 28 laps – 121.128 km (start time: 9:25am BST)
Last year, Stoffel Vandoorne dominated the feature race just as he did all year, taking the win and the four-point bonus for setting the fastest lap. Alex Lynn started on pole and finished the feature race third. Rio Haryanto took the glory in the sprint race, with Vandoorne second place and Masushita finishing off the second podium of the weekend.
The Red Bull Ring may be a short lap, but the nature of the circuit allows for many overtaking opportunities. with not a lot of corners the track lends to be a high power track, so speed deficits may be more noticeable this weekend that others.
