I don't write about GP2 on my blog very often - I usually save it for RumbleStripNews - but today's Monaco feature race was incredibly chaotic, so I thought I would share a few thoughts.
Jolyon Palmer won the heavily disrupted event and just managed to hold off RUSSIAN TIME's Mitch Evans and Carlin's Felipe Nasr.
Evans started from second place but took the lead into turn one after Palmer had a slow start from pole. However, the Kiwi was soon displaced by the DAMS driver after struggling with tyre wear on the super-soft Pirelli compound.
Having already had an early but relatively short safety car period after Facu Regalia stopped at Tabac on lap one (a very silly place to park his car), the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG was released onto the track once again on the 11th tour.
This was following a collision between the two Arden drivers at the Fairmont hairpin, which resulted in the Circuit de Monaco becoming completely blocked.
A very optimistic and clumsy move from Rene Binder tipped his team-mate Andre Negrao into a spin, with one of the Rapax drivers getting stuck after attempting to negotiate around the stranded car.
The race was red flagged to clear up the mess. Most of the field spent several minutes stationary at Mirabeau and the hairpin itself waiting for the track to be cleared.
This caused a number of cars to go into "safe" mode and stop in the tunnel. It was a bizarre scene, but they all managed to eventually get going again - with a bit of help from the fantastic Monaco marshals - and return to the grid. You can see what went on in the video below:
When the race eventually resumed, we saw some fantastic on-track action. The safety car did make another appearance, after Julian Leal hit the wall at the Nouvelle chicane following a poorly-timed overtake, but it ended in dramatic fashion with Palmer just holding on to first from Evans and Felipe Nasr.
The top three were incredibly separated by just six tenths of a second. Monegasque driver Stefano Coletti could have - in my view - scored a podium had it not been for a collision with Simon Trummer at turn 19.
The Racing Engineering driver had a fantastic restart and passed both Nasr and Evans at the final corner in stunning style. However, his third attempt at the move didn't go to plan.
He dived up the inside of Trummer a little later in comparison to the other overtakes. The Rapax racer didn't seem to see Coletti or expect him to be there, so he started to turn in just as the move was made.
It was a shame to see both drivers taken out of the race and I felt Trummer's five-place sprint race grid drop was a bit harsh. Johnny Cecotto Jr was elevated to fourth after a strong race for the Venezuelan, ahead of his team-mate Sergio Canamasas.
It was definitely one of the craziest GP2 races I have ever seen. I'll certainly remember it for quite some time and I can't wait to see what drama we will see in Saturday's sprint event.
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| © Octane Photographic |
Evans started from second place but took the lead into turn one after Palmer had a slow start from pole. However, the Kiwi was soon displaced by the DAMS driver after struggling with tyre wear on the super-soft Pirelli compound.
Having already had an early but relatively short safety car period after Facu Regalia stopped at Tabac on lap one (a very silly place to park his car), the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG was released onto the track once again on the 11th tour.
This was following a collision between the two Arden drivers at the Fairmont hairpin, which resulted in the Circuit de Monaco becoming completely blocked.
A very optimistic and clumsy move from Rene Binder tipped his team-mate Andre Negrao into a spin, with one of the Rapax drivers getting stuck after attempting to negotiate around the stranded car.
The race was red flagged to clear up the mess. Most of the field spent several minutes stationary at Mirabeau and the hairpin itself waiting for the track to be cleared.
This caused a number of cars to go into "safe" mode and stop in the tunnel. It was a bizarre scene, but they all managed to eventually get going again - with a bit of help from the fantastic Monaco marshals - and return to the grid. You can see what went on in the video below:
When the race eventually resumed, we saw some fantastic on-track action. The safety car did make another appearance, after Julian Leal hit the wall at the Nouvelle chicane following a poorly-timed overtake, but it ended in dramatic fashion with Palmer just holding on to first from Evans and Felipe Nasr.
The top three were incredibly separated by just six tenths of a second. Monegasque driver Stefano Coletti could have - in my view - scored a podium had it not been for a collision with Simon Trummer at turn 19.
The Racing Engineering driver had a fantastic restart and passed both Nasr and Evans at the final corner in stunning style. However, his third attempt at the move didn't go to plan.
He dived up the inside of Trummer a little later in comparison to the other overtakes. The Rapax racer didn't seem to see Coletti or expect him to be there, so he started to turn in just as the move was made.
It was a shame to see both drivers taken out of the race and I felt Trummer's five-place sprint race grid drop was a bit harsh. Johnny Cecotto Jr was elevated to fourth after a strong race for the Venezuelan, ahead of his team-mate Sergio Canamasas.
It was definitely one of the craziest GP2 races I have ever seen. I'll certainly remember it for quite some time and I can't wait to see what drama we will see in Saturday's sprint event.
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