2016 GP3 Series explained

The 2016 GP3 Series was the seventh season of the third-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also seventh season under the moniker of GP3 Series, a motor racing feeder series that runs in support of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship and sister series GP2. In keeping with the series' philosophy of updating its technical regulations every three years, the Dallara GP3/13 chassis introduced in the 2013 season was discontinued and Dallara supplied all teams with a new model known as the GP3/16, which will be used until 2018.^[1]

Mecachrome took over as official engine supplier of the series from 2016 onwards, replacing AER after three years but the 3.4-litre V6 naturally-aspirated would remain.

ART Grand Prix started the season as the defending teams' champions, and successfully defended their title, securing the championship after the first race at Monza.^[2] Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc, who drove for ART Grand Prix, won the drivers' title after the first race in the final round in Abu Dhabi.^[3]

The most races were won by runner-up Alexander Albon, who scored 4 race wins, he lost the title by 25 points to his ART Grand Prix teammate Charles Leclerc who took 3 feature race wins; Antonio Fuoco took 2 race wins, Jake Dennis and Nyck de Vries also took 2 podiums each on the top step. Jake Hughes took 2 sprint race wins; he won in Hockenheim and Yas Marina. Jack Aitken, Matthew Parry, and Ralph Boschung each took 1 race win during the season.

Teams and drivers

Teams are allowed to run four cars to compensate for the drop in the number of entries.^[4] The starting grid for any individual race meeting may contain a possible maximum of 28 cars across seven teams.

Team		Driver name	Rounds
ART Grand Prix^[5]	1	Charles Leclerc^[6]	All
	2	Nirei Fukuzumi^[7]	All
	3	Alexander Albon^[8]	All
	4	Nyck de Vries^[9]	All
Trident	5	Antonio Fuoco^[10]	All
	6	Artur Janosz	All
	7	Giuliano Alesi	All
	8	Sandy Stuvik	All
	9	Jake Dennis^[11]	All
10	Tatiana Calderón^[12]	All
11	Jack Aitken^[13]	All
Koiranen GP	14	Matt Parry^[14]	All
	15		1
	16	Matevos Isaakyan^[15]	All
	17	Ralph Boschung^[16]	1–5, 7
		Niko Kari^[17]	6
Jenzer Motorsport	18	Akash Nandy^[18]	All
	19	Richard Gonda^[19]	1–2, 4
		Óscar Tunjo^[20]	6
		Alessio Lorandi^[21]	8–9
	20	Óscar Tunjo	1–2
		Arjun Maini^[22]	3–9
Campos Racing	22	Álex Palou^[23]	All
	23	Steijn Schothorst^[24]	All
	24		All
DAMS	26	Santino Ferrucci^[25]	All
	27	Jake Hughes	All
	28	Kevin Jörg	All

Driver changes

Entering GP3

• Alexander Albon, who finished seventh in the 2015 European Formula 3 season, entered the series, with ART Grand Prix.^[8]
• Giuliano Alesi, son of former Formula One driver Jean Alesi, graduated to the series from French F4 with Trident, with backing from Scuderia Ferrari.^[10]
• 2015 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps runner-up Jake Hughes, 2015 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC runner-up Kevin Jörg and European Formula 3 driver Santino Ferrucci joined the series with newcomers DAMS.
• Jake Dennis, who finished third in the 2015 European Formula 3 season, entered the series with Arden International.^[11]
• Matevos Isaakyan, who contested the last two rounds of the 2015 season for Koiranen GP, moved to the series full-time with the team.^[15]
• 2015 Euroformula Open runner-up Konstantin Tereshchenko and 2015 Renault Sport Trophy runner-up Steijn Schothorst joined the series with Campos Racing.^[24]
• 2015 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Alps champion Jack Aitken graduated to the series with Arden.
• 2015 European Formula 3 entrant and 2015–16 MRF Challenge runner-up Tatiana Calderón entered the series with Arden International.
• Nirei Fukuzumi, who finished fourth in Japanese F3 in 2015, stepped up to the series with ART Grand Prix.^[7]
• European Formula 3 driver Mahaveer Raghunathan joined the series with Koiranen.
• 2015 European Formula 3 rookie champion Charles Leclerc, who finished fourth, entered the series with ART, with backing from Scuderia Ferrari.^[6]
• 2015 MotorSport Vision Formula Three Cup and Asian Le Mans Series runner-up Akash Nandy moved to the series with Jenzer Motorsport.^[18]
• McLaren junior driver Nyck de Vries, who finished third in the 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season, joined the series with ART Grand Prix.^[9]

Changing teams

• Antonio Fuoco and Sandy Stuvik, who raced with Carlin and Status Grand Prix in 2015 respectively, switched to Trident.^[10]
• Ralph Boschung, who raced with Jenzer in 2015, moved to Koiranen.
• Óscar Tunjo, who won race at Spielberg with Trident in 2015, switched to Jenzer.^[20]

Leaving GP3

• Aleksander Bosak, who competed for Arden International in the 2015 season, switched to Formula V8 3.5 with Pons Racing.^[26]
• 2015 runner-up Luca Ghiotto left the series to continue his collaboration with Trident in GP2 Series, while Marvin Kirchhöfer, who finished behind Ghiotto also graduated to GP2 with Carlin.^[27]
• Jann Mardenborough, who finished ninth for Carlin in 2015, left the series to compete in both Super GT and All-Japan F3.^[28]
• Seb Morris, who raced with Status Grand Prix in the 2015 season, left the series to race in British GT with Team Parker Racing.^[29]
• 2015 season champion Esteban Ocon left the series as the reigning champion is not permitted to continue competing in the series. He joined the DTM with Mercedes-Benz.^[30]

Mid-season changes

• European Formula 3 driver Arjun Maini replaced Óscar Tunjo at Jenzer Motorsport from the Silverstone round onwards.^[22]
• Ralph Boschung was replaced by 2015 SMP F4 Championship winner Niko Kari, for the Spa round, with the team citing financial reasons for the decision.^[17]
• Alessio Lorandi joined Jenzer Motorsport for the last two rounds at Sepang and Yas Marina.^[21]

Team changes

• After having competed in the series since its inaugural season, Carlin and Status Grand Prix left the championship due to lack of sponsorships.
• DAMS, which operates across multiple single-seater championships, left Formula Renault 3.5 Series to join the GP3 series.^[5]
• Virtuosi Racing were scheduled to enter, but were removed from the entry list before the season.^[5]

Calendar

On 4 March 2016, the full calendar was revealed with nine rounds taking place.^[31]

Round		Circuit/Location	Country	Date	Supporting
1	1			14 May
	R2			15 May
2	R1	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg		2 July
	R2			3 July
3	R1	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone		9 July
	R2			10 July
4	R1	Hungaroring, Budapest		23 July
	R2			24 July
5	R1	Hockenheimring, Hockenheim		30 July
	R2			31 July
6	R1			27 August
	R2			28 August
7	R1	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza		3 September
	R2			4 September
8	R1	Sepang International Circuit, Sepang		1 October
	R2			2 October
9	R1	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi		26 November
	R2

Calendar changes

• The series will return to the Hockenheimring in support of the German Grand Prix, and will make its début at the Sepang International Circuit.
• The rounds at the Sochi Autodrom and the Bahrain International Circuit were discontinued for the 2016 season.

Results

Season summary

Round		Circuit		Fastest lap^[32]			Report
1	1		Jake Hughes	Charles Leclerc	Charles Leclerc		Report
	R2		Óscar Tunjo
2	R1	Red Bull Ring	Charles Leclerc	Charles Leclerc	Charles Leclerc	ART Grand Prix	Report
	R2			Ralph Boschung	Ralph Boschung	Koiranen GP
3	R1	Silverstone Circuit	Alexander Albon	Alexander Albon	Alexander Albon	ART Grand Prix	Report
	R2				Antonio Fuoco	Trident
4	R1	Hungaroring	Nyck de Vries		Matt Parry	Koiranen GP	Report
	R2			Alexander Albon	Alexander Albon	ART Grand Prix
5	R1	Hockenheimring	Alexander Albon	Charles Leclerc	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	Report
	R2			Jake Hughes	Jake Hughes	DAMS
6	R1	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Charles Leclerc	Charles Leclerc	Charles Leclerc	ART Grand Prix	Report
	R2			Jack Aitken	Jack Aitken	Arden International
7	R1	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	Charles Leclerc	Jake Hughes	Jake Dennis		Report
	R2			Nyck de Vries	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix
8	R1	Sepang International Circuit	Charles Leclerc	Alexander Albon	Alexander Albon	ART Grand Prix	Report
	R2				Jake Dennis	Arden International
9	R1	Yas Marina Circuit	Alexander Albon	Jack Aitken	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	Report
	R2			Jake Dennis	Jake Hughes	DAMS

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in the race 1, and to the top 8 classified finishers in the race 2. The pole-sitter in the race 1 also received four points, and two points were given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the race 1 and race 2. No extra points were awarded to the pole-sitter in the race 2.

Race 1 points

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pole
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1	4	2

Race 2 pointsPoints were awarded to the top 8 classified finishers.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Points	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1	2

Drivers' championship

Driver CAT RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC Points R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 Charles Leclerc 1 9 1 Ret 2 3 6 3 5 3 1 6 4 Ret 3 5 Ret 9 202 2 Alexander Albon 6 1 2 2 1 14 7 1 4 Ret 9 10 6 2 1 8 Ret Ret 177 3 Antonio Fuoco 4 3 5 3 3 1 2 10 1 18† 4 2 8 3 8 Ret 16 17 157 4 Jake Dennis 7 4 Ret Ret 12 9 3 7 12 6 2 5 1 4 6 1 2 4 149 5 Jack Aitken 20 19 9 5 13 6 9 6 6 2 5 1 2 5 2 3 3 2 148 6 Nyck de Vries 9 5 3 4 5 8 20 13 2 8 3 8 7 1 13 6 1 11 133 7 Nirei Fukuzumi 3 13 7 Ret 11 7 4 4 Ret 11 Ret 15 5 Ret 7 2 5 3 91 8 Jake Hughes 2 8 8 6 Ret 17 23 19 8 1 Ret Ret 3 10 Ret 12 7 1 90 9 Matt Parry 12 20 6 7 4 16 1 5 3 7 Ret Ret 9 17 9 4 Ret 12 82 10 Arjun Maini 8 19 8 2 7 5 Ret 16 14 6 4 7 14 14 50 11 Ralph Boschung 10 10 4 1 6 12 5 22 15 Ret 18 9 48 12 Santino Ferrucci 15 11 15 10 18 4 15 11 9 4 7 3 19† 11 Ret Ret 9 15 36 13 Steijn Schothorst Ret 22 20 12 14 5 22 20 Ret 17 6 7 13 13 5 10 6 7 36 14 Kevin Jörg 5 7 13 14 15 11 10 9 14 10 11 Ret NC 12 12 11 4 8 26 15 Álex Palou 19 14 16 11 10 2 11 14 16 19† 13 11 11 7 14 19 10 5 22 16 Óscar Tunjo 8 2 14 13 15 DNS 18 17 Matevos Isaakyan 11 6 Ret Ret 21 18 12 8 Ret 13 8 4 Ret Ret 15 14 Ret 16 17 18 Sandy Stuvik 18 15 10 8 7 10 18 18 Ret 12 Ret 17† 12 15 10 20 15 18 9 19 align=left style="padding-right:24px" 17 21 18 Ret 20 13 16 17 Ret 15 17 Ret 17 14 17 17 8 6 8 20 Artur Janosz 16 12 11 9 9 15 14 12 11 Ret 12 9 16 8 Ret 16 Ret 19 3 21 Tatiana Calderón 14 18 17 Ret 17 20 21 21 10 9 14 Ret 10 16 Ret 15 Ret Ret 2 22 Giuliano Alesi 22 16 DNS DNS 16 Ret 19 16 Ret 14 10 12 DNS 19 16 13 11 10 1 23 Alessio Lorandi 11 9 12 20 0 24 Akash Nandy 21 23 12 Ret 19 21 17 Ret 13 16 16 13 15 18 Ret 18 13 13 0 25 Richard Gonda 13 17 19 Ret 13 15 0 26 Niko Kari Ret 14 0 27 Mahaveer Raghunathan 23 24 0 Driver R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 Points CAT RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC

valign=top

Notes:

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

Teams' championship

Only three best-finishing cars are allowed to score points in the championship.^[33]

Team CAT RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC Points R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 align=left rowspan="3" style="padding-right:24px" ART Grand Prix 1 1 1 2 1 3 4 1 2 3 1 6 4 1 1 2 1 3 3 5 2 4 2 7 6 3 4 8 3 8 5 2 3 5 5 9 6 9 3 Ret 5 8 7 4 5 11 9 10 6 Ret 7 6 Ret 11 2 align=left rowspan="3" style="padding-right:24px" 7 4 9 5 12 6 3 6 6 2 2 1 1 4 2 1 2 2 297 14 18 17 Ret 13 9 9 7 10 6 5 5 2 5 6 3 3 4 20 19 Ret Ret 17 20 21 21 12 9 Ret Ret 10 16 Ret 15 Ret Ret 3 align=left rowspan="3" style="padding-right:24px" Trident 4 3 5 3 3 1 2 10 1 12 4 2 8 3 8 13 11 10 170 16 12 10 8 7 10 14 12 11 14 10 9 12 8 10 16 15 17 18 15 11 9 9 15 18 16 Ret Ret 12 12 16 15 16 20 16 18 4 align=left rowspan="3" style="padding-right:24px" 2 7 8 6 15 4 10 9 8 1 7 3 3 10 12 11 4 1 152 5 8 13 10 18 11 15 11 9 4 11 Ret 19† 11 Ret 12 7 8 15 11 15 14 Ret 17 23 19 14 10 Ret Ret NC 12 Ret Ret 9 15 5 align=left rowspan="3" style="padding-right:24px" Koiranen GP 10 6 4 1 4 12 1 5 3 7 8 4 9 9 9 4 Ret 12 147 11 10 6 7 5 16 5 8 15 13 Ret 14 18 17 15 14 Ret 16 12 20 Ret Ret 21 18 12 22 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 align=left rowspan="3" style="padding-right:24px" 8 2 12 13 8 19 8 2 7 5 15 13 14 6 4 7 12 13 68 13 17 14 Ret 19 21 13 15 13 16 16 16 15 18 11 9 13 14 21 23 19 Ret 17 Ret Ret DNS Ret 18 14 20 7 align=left rowspan="3" style="padding-right:24px" Campos Racing 17 14 16 11 10 2 11 14 16 15 6 7 11 7 5 10 6 5 66 19 21 18 12 14 5 16 17 Ret 17 13 11 13 13 14 17 8 6 Ret 22 20 Ret 20 13 22 20 Ret Ret 17 Ret 17 14 17 19 10 7 Team R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 Points CAT RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ SEP YMC

valign=top

Notes:

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

Notes and References

1. News: GP3 Series increases number of cars per team. gp3series.com. 13 November 2015. 24 November 2015.
2. News: ART seals GP3 Series teams' title with five races to spare. Smith. Luke. 3 September 2016. NBC Sports. NBCUniversal. 4 September 2016.
3. News: Allen. Peter. Leclerc is GP3 champion despite collision as De Vries wins. 14 May 2017. formulascout.com. 26 November 2016.
4. Web site: Rook. Aaron. GP3 Series teams allowed to run four cars in 2016. Autosport.com. Haymarket Media. 13 November 2015. 13 November 2015.
5. News: DAMS and Virtuosi join 2016 grid as Carlin and Status exit. Charley. Bradley. Motorsport.com. 1 October 2015. 2 October 2015.
6. Web site: Charles Leclerc completes ART GP line-up. GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 29 February 2016. 29 February 2016.
7. Web site: Fukuzumi joins ART Grand Prix. GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 12 February 2016. 12 February 2016.
8. Web site: Albon named as ART Grand Prix driver for 2016. February 26, 2016. February 26, 2016.
9. Web site: Nyck de Vries confirmed at ART Grand Prix. GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 24 February 2016. 24 February 2016.
10. Web site: Trident announces 2016 GP3 Series roster. GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 1 February 2016. 1 February 2016.
11. News: Dennis enters GP3 with Arden, secures Le Mans drive. Valentin. Khorounzhiy. Motorsport.com. 11 December 2015. 11 December 2015.
12. Web site: Arden International sign Tatiana Calderon for 2016 season. GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 8 February 2016. 8 February 2016.
13. Web site: FR2.0 Champion Aitken joins Arden in GP3 title pursuit. GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 25 January 2016. 25 January 2016.
14. News: Matt Parry sticks with Koiranen for 2016 GP3 season. Allen. Peter. Paddock Scout. 17 December 2015. 17 December 2015.
15. News: Koiranen GP's 2016 program. Koiranen GP. 14 December 2015. 14 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151222082103/http://koiranengp.com/news-posts/koiranen-gps-2016-program/. 2015-12-22. dead.
16. Web site: Boschung completes Koiranen GP line-up. 22 March 2016. 23 March 2016.
17. News: Kari in for Boschung for Spa GP3 round, Tunjo returns. Allen. Peter. 25 August 2016. Paddock Scout. 26 August 2016.
18. News: Akash Nandy in der GP3 Series. Jenzer Motorsport. 26 February 2016. 26 February 2016. de. Akash Nandy in the GP3 Series. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305041501/http://www.jenzermotorsport.ch/de/13-gp3-series/top-news-gp3/812-pressemitteilung-01-2016. 5 March 2016. dead.
19. News: Richard Gonda becomes Jenzer's third signing in GP3. Paddockscout.com. David. Gruz. 4 April 2016. 4 April 2016.
20. News: Tunjo to make GP3 return with Jenzer. Motorsport.com. Khorounzhiy. Valentin. 1 April 2016. 1 April 2016. 20 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220210022/http://www.motorsport.com/gp3/news/tunjo-to-make-gp3-return-with-jenzer-683604/. dead.
21. News: Alessio Lorandi joins Jenzer Motorsport. GP3 Series. 23 September 2016. 23 September 2016.
22. News: Maini in for Tunjo at Jenzer. Khorounzhiy. Valentin. 6 July 2016. motorsport.com. 6 July 2016. 7 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180707090559/https://www.motorsport.com/gp3/news/maini-in-for-tunjo-at-jenzer-796149/. dead.
23. News: Adrián Campos capta al mejor socio en la antesala de la Fórmula 1. El Confidencial. es. 20 January 2016. 20 January 2016.
24. News: Campos Racing announce 2016 line up. GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 21 January 2016. 21 January 2016.
25. Web site: DAMS puts faith in impressive all-rookie line-up for maiden GP3 Series campaign. GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 28 January 2016. 28 January 2016.
26. News: Visser and Bosak team up with Pons for Formula V8 3.5 season. David. Gruz. Paddock Scout. 25 January 2016. 25 January 2016.
27. News: Kirchhofer graduates to GP2 with Carlin. Motorsport.com. 8 March 2016. 8 March 2016. 9 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160509064345/http://www.motorsport.com/gp2/news/kirchhofer-graduates-to-gp2-with-carlin-678090/. dead.
28. News: Jann Mardenborough returns to Formula 3 in Japanese Championship. Simmons. Marcus. Autosport. Haymarket. 26 February 2016. 26 February 2016. 3 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303065253/http://beta.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122990/mardenborough-returns-to-f3. dead.
29. News: GP3 racer Seb Morris joins Bentley's factory British GT effort. Ladbrook. Rob. Autosport. Haymarket. 3 February 2016. 3 February 2016.
30. News: Esteban Ocon completes 2016 DTM line-up for Mercedes. TouringCarTimes.com. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 11 February 2016. 12 February 2016.
31. News: GP3 Series 2016 season calendar unveiled. gp3series.com. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 4 March 2016. 4 March 2016.
32. Web site: GP3 Fastest laps . results.motorsportstats.com . Motorsport Stats . 25 July 2020 . 25 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200725130153/https://results.motorsportstats.com/series/gp3-series/season/gp3-series-2016/stats/fastest-laps . dead .
33. News: GP3 teams to score points with three cars only. Vinel. Benjamin. 15 March 2016. motorsport.com. 14 May 2016. 20 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220210051/http://www.motorsport.com/gp3/news/gp3-teams-to-score-points-with-three-cars-only-679647/. dead.