Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Monaco GP2: McLaren F1 junior Stoffel Vandoorne wins feature race

McLaren Formula 1 protege Stoffel Vandoorne claimed his third-straight GP2 feature race victory of the season at Monaco, after making a bold tyre strategy work

Vandoorne led home polesitter Alexander Rossi by a commanding 6.2 seconds, as the pair made super-soft tyres last for half of the 40-lap duration.

From second on the grid, Raffaele Marciello started on the option tyre and moved into the lead around the outside of the first corner, but his time in the sun was fleeting.

The Ferrari junior began to suffer degradation early and was caught by the soft-shod Rossi and Vandoorne, while Arthur Pic - who, like Marciello, started on the super-softs - soon joined them.

Marciello pitted on lap nine, releasing Rossi and Vandoorne and the pair built an advantage at the front of the field.

When Mitch Evans clashed with Nick Yelloly at the chicane while trying to take seventh on lap 20, a virtual safety car was called.

Rossi and Vandoorne capitalised, pitting for the super-softs, but making the compound survive the second half of the race represented a gamble.

Vandoorne leapfrogged Rossi in pitlane, and the pair managed to make the tyres last without any great stress, championship leader Vandoorne in particular.

Their cause was aided by Julian Leal and Sergio Canamasas gaining track position through the same strategy to delay Pic, who could have otherwise challenged the leaders later in the race, on his harder tyres.

Leal jumped Pic during the pitstops and they were seven seconds behind Vandoorne initially, only for Canamasas to also pass Pic at the first corner while his super-softs were fresh.

The gap grew as Leal and Canamasas's tyres faded but Pic couldn't find a way back past.

However, Leal received a 10-second time penalty for an unsafe release in the pits that resulted in contact with Sergey Sirotkin, which promoted Canamasas to the final podium position.

Pic took fourth, ahead of Sirotkin, Leal and Richie Stanaway, while Marciello eventually finished eighth, securing pole for the sprint race.

Marciello's early lead came after the race was delayed by two aborted starts, the first due to Nobuharu Matsushita, who was due to start 11th, stalling.

It created chaotic scenes as cars tried to squeeze past, many of them also stalling and requiring a push from marshals.

Drivers were allowed to retake their original grid positions, other than Pierre Gasly, who lost his 12th place and began from pitlane having been deemed to have jumped the start.

Gasly eventually finished 14th, one place behind DAMS team-mate Alex Lynn.

Matsushita retired from the race after hitting Daniel de Jong at the chicane, which later earned the Japanese ART driver a three-place grid penalty after stewards ruled he had missed the braking point.

As he was due to line up at the back of the grid, the penalty means he must now start from the pits.

RESULT

Pos Driver Team Laps Gap
1 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 40 58m12.368s
2 Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 40 6.292s
3 Sergio Canamasas MP Motorsport 40 16.726s
4 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 40 17.813s
5 Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 40 20.691s
6 Julian Leal Carlin 40 25.164s
7 Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 40 25.470s
8 Raffaele Marciello Trident 40 26.803s
9 Jordan King Racing Engineering 40 31.339s
10 Nick Yelloly Hilmer Motorsport 40 42.915s
11 Rene Binder Trident 40 43.837s
12 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport 40 45.528s
13 Alex Lynn DAMS 40 46.824s
14 Pierre Gasly DAMS 40 47.666s
15 Robert Visoiu Rapax 40 49.290s
16 Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 40 51.085s
17 Nathanael Berthon Lazarus 40 52.135s
18 Norman Nato Arden International 40 1m02.735s
19 Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 40 1m07.600s
20 Johnny Cecotto Jr. Hilmer Motorsport 40 1m07.999s
21 Andre Negrao Arden International 39 1 Lap
22 Zoel Amberg Lazarus 39 1 Lap
- Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 18 Retirement
- Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 12 Retirement
- Marco Sorensen Carlin 10 Retirement
- Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 7 Retirement


Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Monaco GP2: Alexander Rossi takes pole position in wet qualifying
Next article Monaco GP2: Richie Stanaway takes first win for Status GP

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe