In his fourth season in the series,
DAMS driver
Jolyon Palmer won the championship title after a consistent season, with points-scoring finishes in 20 of the campaign's 22 races. He won four races – joint-most for the season, along with
Stoffel Vandoorne and
Felipe Nasr – and achieved twelve podium finishes, en route to the title, which he won in
Russia.[2] The battle for the runner-up position in the championship standings was not decided until the final race of the season, between Vandoorne and Nasr.[3] It was ultimately settled in favour of Vandoorne, by five points, after a fifth-place finish compared to Nasr's second-place finish. Vandoorne, a rookie in the series after moving from
Formula Renault 3.5, had started the season with a victory in his first start in
Bahrain,[4] and also won at the
Hungaroring,
Monza,[5] and
Abu Dhabi.[6] After two winless years in the series, Nasr took his first GP2 victory in his 50th start, in
Montmeló.[7] He also achieved wins at the
Red Bull Ring,[8]Silverstone,[9] and
Spa-Francorchamps,[10] before his graduation to Formula One for the
2015 season.[11]
A trio of double race-winners filled positions four, five and six in the final drivers' championship standings.
Mitch Evans – driving for defending teams' champions RT Russian Time – was another first-time winner in the series, taking back-to-back feature race victories at Silverstone and
Hockenheim, the latter from 15th on the grid. Fifth place went to
Johnny Cecotto Jr. for the
Trident team, recording his best season in the series, which included victories in Montmeló and Spielberg.
Racing Engineering driver
Stefano Coletti completed the championship top six, with sprint race victories at Hockenheim and Abu Dhabi. Four other drivers won on one occasion, and for each, was their first GP2 victory.
Stéphane Richelmi won the sprint race, for DAMS, on home soil in
Monaco, matching Coletti's feat from the
previous season. Rookies
Arthur Pic (
Campos Racing) and
Raffaele Marciello (Racing Engineering) won the feature races at the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps respectively, while
Marco Sørensen achieved the first victory for
MP Motorsport, with sprint race success in Sochi.
DAMS were the winners of the teams' championship for the second time in three seasons – after a similar title sweep with
Davide Valsecchi winning the drivers' championship in
2012 – finishing 57 points clear of closest competitors,
Carlin.
ART Grand Prix finished a further 37 points in arrears, completing the championship top trio.
Regulation changes
The 2013 season was originally proposed to be the last season with the third-generation GP2 chassis, the
Dallara GP2/11, which was introduced in
2011, but it was decided that the series would continue to use this chassis for a further three years in order to avoid a leap in costs to the competitors.[12] The series continued to use tyres provided by
Pirelli.[13]
Free practice sessions were extended from 30 to 45 minutes long.[14] Drivers were required to use both the harder "Prime" and softer "Option" tyre compounds during a Feature Race – unless declared a wet race – mirroring the rules of Formula One.[14] Previously, drivers had been free to use both compounds as they saw fit, provided both were used over the course of a race meeting.
After the final race of the
2013 season, series organisers announced that the 2014 championship would be contested at every European round of the
Formula One World Championship.[55] With the expansion of the Formula One calendar to include races in
Russia and
Austria, the GP2 Series held rounds at the
Sochi Autodrom and the
Red Bull Ring for the first time.[56] The final calendar, consisting of eleven rounds, was revealed on 6 December 2013.[57]
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
Position
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
Pole
FL
Points
25
18
15
12
10
8
6
4
2
1
4
2
Sprint race points
Points were awarded to the top 8 classified finishers.
† — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.
Notes
^Cecotto competed under a state Venezuelan racing licence.
^Venezuela GP Lazarus competed under a Venezuelan licence in round 1.
^Artem Markelov set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap.
Jolyon Palmer was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Alexander Rossi set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap.
Jolyon Palmer was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Mitch Evans set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap.
Julián Leal was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Daniël de Jong set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap.
Jolyon Palmer was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Tio Ellinas set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap.
Stefano Coletti was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Mitch Evans set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap.
Tom Dillmann was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Adrian Quaife-Hobbs set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap.
Felipe Nasr was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Julián Leal set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap.
Jolyon Palmer was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
References
^Allen, Peter (3 November 2013).
"Calado finishes GP2 season with victory". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 3 November 2013. His rival Sam Bird came through to fourth from ninth on the grid to give Russian Time the teams' title at their first attempt.
^
abCaruccio, Antonio (20 November 2014).
"Rapax chiama Giovesi" [Rapax chooses Giovesi]. ItaliaRacing.net (in Italian). Inpagina. Archived from
the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
^
abCosta, Massimo (31 August 2014).
"Gasly debutta a Monza con Caterham" [Gasly debuts at Monza with Caterham]. ItaliaRacing.net (in Italian). Inpagina. Archived from
the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.