2017 was the final season that the
Dallara GP2/11 chassis package—which débuted in the
2011 GP2 Series—was used in competition. It was also the final season that the Mecachrome 4.0 litre V8 naturally-aspirated engine package that débuted in the
2005 GP2 Series was used, as a brand new chassis and engine package was introduced for the 2018 season.[2][3]
The season was dominated by
Charles Leclerc, who secured the drivers' championship with three races to go.[4] Second place went to
Artem Markelov with
Oliver Rowland finishing third. The teams' championship was decided in the final race, with
Russian Time winning by fifteen points over
Prema Racing and
DAMS in third, a further eleven points behind.
After six seasons in the series,
Carlin withdrew to concentrate on their
Indy Lights programme.[31] German entry
Hilmer Motorsport were due to return to the series while it was still known as GP2, however, this never came to fruition.[32]
Trident drivers Luca Ghiotto and
Philo Paz Armand departed the team, with Armand leaving racing entirely. The team signed
Nabil Jeffri and
Sergio Canamasas,[16] who moved across from the Arden and Carlin teams respectively.
Rapax retained
Johnny Cecotto Jr., who raced with the team in the final two rounds of the previous season in place of
Arthur Pic. He was joined by GP3 sixth-placed finisher and
McLaren junior driver
Nyck de Vries in place of the departing Gustav Malja.[26]
Pertamina Arden did not retain
Emil Bernstorff, who debuted with the team in the final round of 2016. Norman Nato and Sean Gelael joined the team from Racing Engineering and Campos respectively, in place of Bernstorff and Nabil Jeffri.[30]
Mid-season changes
Campos Racing initially stated that Stefano Coletti would continue to race with them for the second round at the
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but he was replaced with former Formula One driver
Roberto Merhi shortly before the event.[17] Merhi was then replaced by former Rapax driver
Robert Vișoiu before the third round at the
Circuit de Monaco.[18]
A broken collarbone from a bicycle accident forced ART Grand Prix driver Alex Albon to miss the fourth round at the
Baku City Circuit.[38][39] Sergey Sirotkin returned to the team to deputise.[12]
The eighth round at
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps saw Rapax driver Nyck de Vries and Racing Engineering's Louis Delétraz swap seats for the rest of the season.[7] Sergio Canamasas left the series before the round and his Rapax seat was taken by Roberto Merhi, who returned to the championship. Canamasas later revealed he had left motorsport entirely due to an incident involving security at the
Hungaroring round during which he "almost lost [his] father".[42]
Merhi returned to the Rapax seat for the final round at
Yas Marina Circuit. Reigning
FIA Formula 3 European champion
Lando Norris made his debut in the category at Yas Marina,[15] taking the Campos Racing seat vacated by Ralph Boschung.[44]
Calendar
The following eleven rounds took place as part of the 2017 championship:
The series was originally intended to be run as the
GP2 Series before it was rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship in March 2017.[1] The decision to rebrand the series brings it in line with the
FIA Global Pathway, which aims to create a linear path of feeder series from domestic
Formula 4 to the top tier of open-wheel racing,
Formula One. Despite the name change, it will retain the GP2 regulations as originally scheduled, making the 2017 season the thirteenth to use GP2 regulations. It will be the first time that a series has been run under the name of Formula 2 since
Jonathan Palmer's
unrelated series collapsed in
2012.
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.
Footnotes
^Palou is a Spanish driver who competed under a Japanese racing licence.
^Cecotto competed under a state Venezuelan racing licence.
^Stefano Coletti set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Artem Markelov was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Sérgio Sette Câmara set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Charles Leclerc was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Ralph Boschung set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Nicholas Latifi was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Charles Leclerc set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Oliver Rowland was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Charles Leclerc initially qualified on pole, but was later disqualified due to a technical breach.
^Antonio Fuoco set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Artem Markelov was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Charles Leclerc won the race, but was later disqualified due to a technical infringement.
^Jordan King set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Nyck de Vries was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^
abLuca Ghiotto won the race and set the fastest lap, but was later issued a time penalty and stripped of the fastest lap after he was found to have exceeded track limits and gained an advantage.
^Jordan King set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Antonio Fuoco was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^René Binder set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Nyck de Vries was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
^Oliver Rowland won the race, but was later disqualified due to a technical infringement.
^Jordan King set the fastest lap, but finished outside the top 10, so he was ineligible to score points for the fastest lap.
Nicholas Latifi was awarded the points instead as he set fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.