The 2016 GP2 Series season was the fiftieth season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also twelfth and final season under the GP2 Series moniker, a motor racing feeder series that was run in support of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the final season run under the "GP2 Series" name, with the championship being rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship from 2017. It was also originally scheduled to be the final season for the Dallara GP2/11 chassis that was introduced in 2011 and the Mecachrome 4.0 litre V8 normally-aspirated engine package that débuted in the maiden season of the series in 2005 before a brand new chassis and engine package was introduced for 2017, however due to another cost-cutting, the series announced it would keep the current chassis and engine package for one more season.

ART Grand Prix started the season as the defending teams' champions after securing the title–their fourth in the championship–at the series' second visit to the Bahrain International Circuit in 2015.^[1] Prema Racing won the Teams' championship, their first in the series and first attempt, while Pierre Gasly won the Drivers' championship.

Pierre Gasly took 4 race wins and the championship. The most races were won by Gasly’s teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, who took 5 victories, Sergey Sirotkin took victories at Mogyoród in the sprint race, and in Hockenheim - he took pole position and won the race. Alex Lynn got 3 sprint races wins, Racing Engineering drivers Jordan King and Norman Nato took 2 race wins each, and Luca Ghiotto, Artem Markelov, Mitch Evans and Nobuharu Matsushita each got 1 race win.

Teams and drivers

Team	No.	Driver name	Rounds
ART Grand Prix[2]	1	Nobuharu Matsushita[3]	1–3, 5–11
		René Binder[4]	4
	2	Sergey Sirotkin[5]	All
Racing Engineering[2]	3	Norman Nato[6]	All
	4	Jordan King[7]	All
DAMS[2]	5	Alex Lynn[8]	All
	6	Nicholas Latifi[8]	All
Pertamina Campos Racing[a]	7	Mitch Evans[9]	All
	8	Sean Gelael[9]	All
Russian Time[2]	9	Raffaele Marciello[10]	All
	10	Artem Markelov[9]	All
Rapax[2]	11	Gustav Malja[11]	All
	12	Arthur Pic[12]	1–9
		Johnny Cecotto Jr.[13][b]	10–11
Trident[2]	14	Philo Paz Armand[14]	All
	15	Luca Ghiotto[15]	All
Carlin[2]	18	Sergio Canamasas[16]	1–6, 8–11
		René Binder[17]	7
	19	Marvin Kirchhöfer[18]	1–10
		Louis Delétraz[19]	11
Prema Racing[20]	20	Antonio Giovinazzi[21]	All
	21	Pierre Gasly[22]	All
MP Motorsport[2]	22	Oliver Rowland[23]	All
	23	Daniël de Jong[24]	All
Arden International[2]	24	Nabil Jeffri[25]	All
	25	Jimmy Eriksson[25]	1–9
		Emil Bernstorff[26]	11

Team changes

• Lazarus left the series at the end of the 2015 season, with their place taken by Prema Racing.^[20]
• Hilmer Motorsport left the series at the end of the 2015 season. As no replacement team could be found, the grid was left at twenty-two cars.
• Status Grand Prix also left the series before the 2016 season due to not being able to find any well-budgeted drivers and also lack of sponsorship for their second season. With the demise of the team, there were no number #16 and #17 cars on the grid.

Driver changes

Changing teams

• Sergio Canamasas, who raced for MP Motorsport, Hilmer Motorsport and Daiko Team Lazarus in 2015, switched to Carlin.^[16]
• Mitch Evans and Sean Gelael, who drove for Russian Time and Carlin respectively in 2015, moved to Campos Racing.^[9]
• Pierre Gasly, who spent the 2015 season with DAMS, moved to newcomers Prema Racing.^[22]
• Nicholas Latifi, who took part in three rounds of the 2015 season with MP Motorsport, switched to a full-time seat with DAMS.^[8]
• Gustav Malja, who raced for Trident and Rapax in 2015, switched Formula Renault 3.5 Series to race full-time with Rapax.^[11]
• Raffaele Marciello, who raced for Trident in 2015, moved to Russian Time.^[10]
• Norman Nato, who raced for Arden International in 2015, switched to Racing Engineering.^[6]
• Arthur Pic, who raced for Campos in 2014 and 2015, switched to Rapax.^[12]
• Oliver Rowland, who previously raced part-time for MP Motorsport and Status Grand Prix, is contesting the full season with MP Motorsport, with backing from Renault.^[23]
• Sergey Sirotkin, who finished third in 2015, moved from Rapax to defending champions ART Grand Prix.^[5]

Entering GP2

• 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 Series competitor Philo Paz Armand joined the series with Trident.^[14]
• GP3 Series race winner Jimmy Eriksson made his series début with Arden International.^[25]
• 2015 GP3 runner-up Luca Ghiotto graduated to the series with Trident.^[15]
• 2015 European Formula 3 runner-up Antonio Giovinazzi made his début in the series with Prema Racing.^[21]
• Nabil Jeffri joined the series with Arden International.^[25]
• Marvin Kirchhöfer, who placed third in the 2014 and 2015 GP3 Series joined the series with Carlin.^[18]

Leaving GP2

• Nathanaël Berthon left Lazarus and the series to join the FIA World Endurance Championship with G-Drive Racing.^[27]
• Rene Binder left MP Motorsport to join Lotus in Formula V8 3.5 Series.^[28]
• Rio Haryanto left Campos Racing and the series to join Formula One team Manor Racing.^[29]
• André Negrão and Dean Stoneman left Arden and Carlin and the series to join the Indy Lights with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Andretti Autosport.^[30][31]
• Richie Stanaway and Marco Sørensen, who raced for Status Grand Prix and Carlin, left to join the FIA World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin Racing.^[32][33]
• 2015 season champion Stoffel Vandoorne left the series as the reigning champion is not permitted to continue competing in the series. He joined the Super Formula with Docomo Team Dandelion Racing.^[34]

Mid-season changes

• ART Grand Prix driver Nobuharu Matsushita was suspended for the fourth round of the season in Austria due to erratic driving at the previous event in Baku.^[35] He was replaced by René Binder.^[4] Binder later joined Carlin, replacing Sergio Canamasas.

Calendar

On 4 March 2016, the full calendar was revealed with eleven rounds taking place.^[36]

Round		Circuit/Location	Country	Date	Supporting
1	Feature	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló	Spain	14 May	Spanish Grand Prix
	Sprint			15 May
2	Feature	Circuit de Monaco, Monaco	Monaco	27 May	Monaco Grand Prix
	Sprint			28 May
3	Feature	Baku City Circuit, Baku	Azerbaijan	18 June	European Grand Prix
	Sprint			19 June
4	Feature	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	Austria	2 July	Austrian Grand Prix
	Sprint			3 July
5	Feature	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	United Kingdom	9 July	British Grand Prix
	Sprint			10 July
6	Feature	Hungaroring, Mogyoród	Hungary	23 July	Hungarian Grand Prix
	Sprint			24 July
7	Feature	Hockenheimring, Hockenheim	Germany	30 July	German Grand Prix
	Sprint			31 July
8	Feature	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	Belgium	27 August	Belgian Grand Prix
	Sprint			28 August
9	Feature	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza	Italy	3 September	Italian Grand Prix
	Sprint			4 September
10	Feature	Sepang International Circuit, Sepang	Malaysia	1 October	Malaysian Grand Prix
	Sprint			2 October
11	Feature	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	26 November	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
	Sprint			27 November

Calendar changes

• The series returned to the Hockenheimring in support of the German Grand Prix, and the Sepang International Circuit.^[36]
  • With the return to Germany, the second Bahrain round—which had filled in as a replacement event in 2015—was removed from the calendar.
• The rounds at the Bahrain International Circuit and the Sochi Autodrom were discontinued after the Bahrain and Russian Grands Prix were brought forward to the start of the Formula One season.^[36]
• The series made its début at the Baku City Circuit in support of the returning European Grand Prix.^[36]

Results and standings

Season summary

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest Lap[37]	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	F	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya	Pierre Gasly	Norman Nato	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering	Report
	S			Pierre Gasly	Alex Lynn	DAMS
2	F	Circuit de Monaco	Sergey Sirotkin	Pierre Gasly[c]	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	Report
	S			Nobuharu Matsushita	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix
3	F	Baku City Circuit	Antonio Giovinazzi	Nobuharu Matsushita	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	Report
	S			Antonio Giovinazzi	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing
4	F	Red Bull Ring	Sergey Sirotkin	Mitch Evans	Mitch Evans	Pertamina Campos Racing	Report
	S			Norman Nato[d]	Jordan King	Racing Engineering
5	F	Silverstone Circuit	Norman Nato	Mitch Evans	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	Report
	S			Luca Ghiotto	Jordan King	Racing Engineering
6	F	Hungaroring	Pierre Gasly	Oliver Rowland[e]	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	Report
	S			Pierre Gasly	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix
7	F	Hockenheimring	Sergey Sirotkin	Sergey Sirotkin	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix	Report
	S			Artem Markelov[f]	Alex Lynn	DAMS
8	F	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Antonio Giovinazzi	Nobuharu Matsushita[g]	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	Report
	S			Antonio Giovinazzi	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing
9	F	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	Pierre Gasly	Luca Ghiotto	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	Report
	S			Artem Markelov	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering
10	F	Sepang International Circuit	Pierre Gasly	Nobuharu Matsushita[h]	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	Report
	S			Sergio Canamasas[i]	Luca Ghiotto	Trident
11	F	Yas Marina Circuit	Pierre Gasly	Nobuharu Matsushita	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	Report
	S			Luca Ghiotto[j]	Alex Lynn	DAMS

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 8 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the feature race also received four points, and two points were given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points were awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race.

Feature race points

Sprint race points

Points were awarded to the top 8 classified finishers.

Drivers' championship

Pos. Driver CAT MON BAK RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC Points 1 Pierre Gasly 3 2 15 13 Ret 2 Ret 7 1 7 1 7 DSQ 6 1 4 4 2 11 3 1 9 219 2 Antonio Giovinazzi 18 Ret 11 18 1 1 Ret 5 2 4 2 17† 8 Ret 6 1 1 3 1 4 5 6 211 3 Sergey Sirotkin Ret 11 Ret Ret 2 3 12 6 18 21 3 1 1 2 9 16 14 Ret 2 Ret 4 3 159 4 Raffaele Marciello 8 5 6 3 3 11 3 4 9 6 4 8 3 7 4 5 2 14 6 2 10 13 159 5 Norman Nato 1 16 2 6 Ret Ret 7 12 7 22† 7 3 Ret 18 Ret 8 5 1 3 Ret 6 5 136 6 Alex Lynn 6 1 4 5 Ret 9 11 3 16 14 12 Ret 7 1 3 10 12 5 4 12 8 1 124 7 Jordan King 7 3 Ret 16 12† 4 8 1 8 1 8 2 15 11 2 12 7 4 5 14 13 10 122 8 Luca Ghiotto Ret 12 Ret 14 9 12 4 9 5 2 17 Ret 2 4 7 3 6 Ret 7 1 11 19 111 9 Oliver Rowland 10 6 3 7 4 15† 6 2 3 3 11 6 5 5 10 6 9 9 12 8 Ret 11 107 10 Artem Markelov 4 4 1 8 Ret 5 Ret 11 10 12 9 4 Ret 9 5 21† 10 10 DNS 13 3 7 97 11 Nobuharu Matsushita 11 8 8 1 6 Ret EX EX 6 5 6 Ret 9 12 11 11 11 6 Ret 7 2 4 92 12 Mitch Evans 12 14 5 4 5 Ret 1 8 4 13 10 5 Ret 10 16 13 8 Ret 8 6 15 8 90 13 Gustav Malja 9 10 14 12 10 Ret 13 16 22 19 13 14 6 8 8 2 3 7 9 5 Ret 14 53 14 Arthur Pic 13 Ret 10 9 Ret 8 9 18 14 11 5 Ret 4 3 14 22† Ret 11 36 15 Sean Gelael 17 13 13 Ret 7 Ret 2 Ret 21 18 22 10 Ret Ret 18 15 DSQ 16 16 Ret Ret 21 24 16 Nicholas Latifi 2 7 Ret Ret Ret 13 10 Ret 11 10 16 12 14 17 13 9 16 15 14 10 9 12 23 17 Marvin Kirchhöfer 15 15 7 2 Ret 10 Ret 19 12 8 14 13 10 14 Ret 14 18 8 15 11 21 18 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 13 9 7 2 18 19 Sergio Canamasas 5 9 12 10 Ret 6 Ret 10 13 9 18 9 12 7 Ret 13 10 15 12 16 17 20 Jimmy Eriksson 16 19 Ret 15 11† Ret 5 13 15 17 21† Ret 12 13 15 20 15 18† 10 21 Daniël de Jong 14 17 9 11 8 14 14 20 19 16 15 11 Ret 16 17 17 17 19 17 Ret 14 Ret 6 22 Nabil Jeffri 19 18 Ret 17 Ret 7 Ret 17 17 15 20 16 11 Ret 19 18 13 12 18 Ret Ret 20 2 23 René Binder 16 15 13 15 0 24 Philo Paz Armand Ret Ret 16 Ret Ret Ret 15 14 20 20 19 15 16 Ret 20 19 19 17 19 Ret 16 18 0 25 Emil Bernstorff 17 15 0 26 Louis Delétraz Ret 17 0 Pos. Driver CAT MON BAK RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Text formatting Meaning Bold Pole position point(s) Italics Fastest lap point(s)

Notes:

• † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Teams' championship

Pos. Team No. CAT MON BAK RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC Points 1 Prema Racing 20 18 Ret 11 18 1 1 Ret 5 2 4 2 17† 8 Ret 6 1 1 3 1 4 1 6 430 21 3 2 15 13 Ret 2 Ret 7 1 7 1 7 DSQ 6 1 4 4 2 11 3 5 9 2 Racing Engineering 3 1 16 2 6 Ret Ret 7 13 7 22† 7 3 Ret 18 Ret 8 5 1 3 Ret 6 5 258 4 7 3 Ret 16 12† 4 8 1 8 1 8 2 15 11 2 12 7 4 5 14 13 10 3 Russian Time 9 8 5 6 3 3 11 3 4 9 6 4 8 3 7 4 5 2 14 6 2 10 13 256 10 4 4 1 8 Ret 5 Ret 12 10 12 9 4 Ret 9 5 21† 10 10 DNS 13 3 7 4 ART Grand Prix 1 11 8 8 1 6 Ret 16 15 6 5 6 Ret 9 12 11 11 11 6 Ret 7 2 4 251 2 Ret 11 Ret Ret 2 3 12 6 18 21 3 1 1 2 9 16 14 Ret 2 Ret 4 3 5 DAMS 5 6 1 4 5 Ret 9 11 3 16 14 12 Ret 7 1 3 10 12 5 4 12 8 1 147 6 2 7 Ret Ret Ret 13 10 Ret 11 10 16 12 14 17 13 9 16 15 14 10 9 12 6 Pertamina Campos Racing 7 12 14 5 4 5 Ret 1 8 4 13 10 5 Ret 10 16 13 8 Ret 8 6 15 8 114 8 17 13 13 Ret 7 Ret 2 Ret 21 18 22† 10 Ret Ret 18 15 DSQ 16 16 Ret Ret 21 7 MP Motorsport 22 10 6 3 7 4 15† 6 2 3 3 11 6 5 5 10 6 9 9 12 8 Ret 11 113 23 14 17 9 11 8 14 14 20 19 16 15 11 Ret 16 17 17 17 19 17 Ret 14 Ret 8 Trident 14 Ret Ret 16 Ret Ret Ret 15 14 20 20 19 15 16 Ret 20 19 19 17 19 Ret 16 18 111 15 Ret 12 Ret 14 9 12 4 9 5 2 17 Ret 2 4 7 3 6 Ret 7 1 11 19 9 Rapax 11 9 10 14 12 10 Ret 13 16 22 19 13 14 6 8 8 2 3 7 9 5 Ret 14 107 12 13 Ret 10 9 Ret 8 9 18 14 11 5 Ret 4 3 14 22† Ret 11 13 9 7 2 10 Carlin 18 5 9 12 10 Ret 6 Ret 10 13 9 18 9 13 15 12 7 Ret 13 10 15 12 16 38 19 15 15 7 2 Ret 10 Ret 19 12 8 14 13 10 14 Ret 14 18 8 15 11 Ret 17 11 Arden International 24 19 18 Ret 17 Ret 7 Ret 17 17 15 20 16 11 Ret 19 18 13 12 18 Ret Ret 20 12 25 16 19 Ret 15 11† Ret 5 11 15 17 21† Ret 12 13 15 20 15 18† 17 15 Pos. Team No. CAT MON BAK RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Text formatting Meaning Bold Pole position point(s) Italics Fastest lap point(s)

Notes:

• † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.