After 166 days of winter hibernation, GP3 is finally preparing to return to its habitat of a race track for the first round of the 2017 season.
There have been three days of post-season testing and six days of pre-season testing in 2017 since the last racing occurred in Abu Dhabi last November.
Drivers will now take to the track competitively for the first time this year at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to start an eight-race tour to decide the eighth GP3 champion.
With this being a season-opening race for six of the series’ seven years, drivers may look back at previous events to get inspiration, especially rookies looking to fight for a first win.
Qualifying
Last season saw a new team take its first, and to date only, pole position in GP3 when DAMS’ Jake Hughes set a 1m34.632s as he started as one of many drivers making their debuts.
This was one of the best times ever set in this session, with the average pole time just a 1m38.527s. It was the only fastest time not set by an ART driver during the 2016 season.
Barcelona’s fastest-ever pole time in GP3 was set four years ago when Marussia Manor Racing’s Tio Ellinas set a lap of 1m34.233s.
This track was one of the three tracks used for pre-season testing in recent weeks, with recently-signed Trident driver Dorian Boccolacci topping the timesheets in both sessions on the second day.
He set the fastest time of the test, a 1m32.896s, 0.658s faster than last season’s best time at the track set by Oscar Tunjo.
Feature Race (22 laps)
Barcelona’s feature race has traditionally been a close affair with winning margins up to around 2.5 seconds, apart from the last two years.
The highest gap between winner and the second-place driver is 6.023s from Charles Leclerc’s victory ahead of Jake Hughes last season, while the smallest was 0.428s when Tio Ellinas was victorious over Patric Niederhauser in 2013. On average, the gap between the top-two is 2.618s.
This race tends to produce monotonous events, with just nine race leaders during the last seven. Just one race has ever featured more than one leader when Daniel Abt, Antonio Felix da Costa and Mitch Evans all led the 2012 feature before the latter took the chequered flag.
There have only ever been two safety car periods, with seven of a total 125 laps spent under these conditions, an amount which makes up 5.6% of the overall laps.
The average number of finishers since 2010 is 23, although this is skewed by much larger grids in the past, including the 30-driver line-up in the first season. There is set to be a maximum of 19 in 2017.
Sprint Race (17 laps)
GP3’s second race of the weekend has traditionally offered much larger differences between the top-two drivers.
Alexander Rossi’s win in 2010 ahead of Luca Foresti produced the largest gap of 10.535s, while Dean Stoneman produced the narrowest victory over Matteo Tuscher three years ago, winning by 0.925s.
The average gap between the victorious driver and their second-placed rival is 3.692s.
Sprint races have previously produced the same number of leaders than the features, with nine in seven years. Two races in 2012 and 2014 featured two drivers battling for the win.
This race has produced slightly more interruptions, with four safety car periods for a combined 12 laps of 113, 10.6% of the total amount.
Like the feature events, there has been an average of 23 finishers in previous years.
Champion Form
Past results have shown mixed reactions to drivers beginning their best seasons in the series.
Two champions, Valtteri Bottas in 2011 and Daniil Kvyat in 2013, both failed to score points in their championship-winning campaigns.
Just two title winners, Esteban Gutierrez (2010, third twice) and Esteban Ocon (2015, first and seventh) have scored points in both races at the track.
Charles Leclerc in 2016 (first, ninth), Alex Lynn in 2014 (first, 18th) and Mitch Evans in 2012 (first, 20th) all claimed an opening victory before finishing outside the points in the sprint race.
This gives a percentage chance of 57.14% of the opening winner of the season potentially becoming the champion by Abu Dhabi in November.
The season begins with practice on May 12 at 3.45pm.
