FridayFree Practice: 12.00 Qualifying session: 15.55
SaturdayFeature Race: 15.40
SundaySprint Race: 10.25
Warm Up // Raffaele Marciello – RUSSIAN TIME “I love to come to Monza: it’s one of my favourite track of the year, especially because it is my home race. It’s a fast track with low downforce. The fast corners and the long straights make it quite special and you really need to find a good balance with your car.“There are really good opportunities to overtake on this layout. With the long straights, it’s a bit easier to stay behind the car and to try to pass them. You can pass after the first chicane, after the second one as well, and also before Parabolica. Regarding tyre management, you don’t put a lot on the tyres because there are not a lot of fast corners. With the Medium and Soft tyres, it will be manageable.“The Series is not going too bad for us at the moment: I am third in the drivers’ standings. Obviously, I will fight for a podium this weekend, and a win would be fantastic. I will try my best.”
The StakesPREMA Racing’s pair dominated Round 8 in Spa-Francorchamps last week. Second fastest in Free Practice, Pierre Gasly went on to win his third Feature Race of the year adding enough points to his tally to become a clear leader with 146 points. On Sunday, it was rookie Antonio Giovinazzi who controlled the rest of the pack from third on the grid. With this third victory, the Italian ace moved up to second in the standings and closed the gap to his teammate to only 17 points. With only three rounds left in the 2016 GP2 Series season, the battle for the crown has intensified with the Red Bull protégé on a mission to take his first title.
RUSSIAN TIME’s Raffaele Marciello still lies third in the drivers’ standings after two flawless drives on the Belgian track. So far, the Italian has scored in every single race bar Baku Sprint race, but he is still missing a first win this season. He will surely be one to watch this weekend on home soil in Monza. It was a weekend to forget for Sergey Sirotkin: a joint Series leader before summer break, the Renault F1 Tester started Round 8 in fine form with P1 in Free Practice. However, the ART Grand Prix man struggled for pace in Qualifying and then finished ninth in the Feature Race from P13 on the grid. The following day, Sirotkin received a 10s time penalty after an aggressive move on the final lap which caused a collision. Another time penalty was added to his elapsed time after it was found he had used DRS on lap 1. With only 2 points scored in Spa, the Russian driver has dropped to fourth in the standings, but fortunately, he won’t have too long to dwell on his disappointment as the paddock sets up camp in Monza this weekend for the ninth round of the season.
The Autodromo di Monza is another legendary track known best for its high speed. It will be a special event for rookies Giovinazzi and Luca Ghiotto but also for Marciello of course who will do their best to shine in front of their home crowd. Pirelli has selected Medium and Soft compounds for the high-energy demands on the tyres caused by fast corners, long straights and heavy braking. Pirelli’s racing manager Mario Isola says: “The Monza weekend is always a special one for us, taking place close to our home in Milan. By nominating the medium and soft tyres for GP2, we have gone one step softer than last year in the Series. This should make tyre management an important factor for the drivers to consider, and create close racing at a circuit where the long straights and heavy braking zones present good opportunities for overtaking. In GP2, the nature of the circuit will open up different possibilities for strategy.”
Season Stats16 The highest number of points that rookie Gustav Malja has scored in a round this season (Round 8: 4 points Feature Race, 12 points Sprint Race).17 The difference in points between Series leader Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi in second.111 Number of laps led this season so far by both Racing Engineering’s drivers (58 Norman Nato, 53 Jordan King.)78 PREMA Racing lead RUSSIAN TIME by 78 points in the teams’ standings after Round 8.
NoteworthyThe Feature Race on Saturday will be the 250th race of the GP2 Series.
There will be no driver changes for this weekend.
Four rookies have achieved a podium so far (Luca Ghiotto, Gustav Malja, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Antonio Giovinazzi).
Gustav Malja became the 17th driver to have scored a podium this season.Download photo (JPG)
