2018 GP3 Series explained

The 2018 GP3 Series was the ninth and final season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also ninth and final season under the moniker of GP3 Series, a motor racing feeder series that runs in support of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship and sister series Formula 2. This was the final contested season of GP3, as the series united with the FIA Formula 3 European Championship to form the FIA Formula 3 Championship.^[1]

2018 was the final season that the Dallara GP3/16 chassis package—which débuted in the 2016 GP3 Series—was used in competition, as a brand new chassis package for the FIA Formula 3 Championship was introduced in 2019.

After finishing 3rd in the final feature race of the last season of GP3, Anthoine Hubert was crowned the 2018 GP3 Champion. ART successfully defended their teams' title over Trident after the first race at Sochi, winning the teams' title in eight of the nine seasons of GP3.^[2]

Runner-up Nikita Mazepin won 4 races; in Barcelona, Hungaroring, Spa-Francorchamps, and Yas Marina. After having four rounds with Jenzer Motorsport, David Beckmann moved to Trident before the summer break and took 3 race wins. Champion Anthoine Hubert, Callum Ilott, Leonardo Pulcini, and Pedro Piquet all won 2 races. Also, Giuliano Alesi won the second race in Spain, Jake Hughes won for the third time in the series at the Red Bull Ring, and Dorian Boccolacci, who drove for MP Motorsport before being promoted to their Formula 2 team won the sprint race at the Hungaroring.

Teams and drivers

All GP3 drivers competed in a Dallara GP3/16 chassis using a Mecachrome GP3 V6 engine and Pirelli P Zero and Cinturato tyres.

Team		Driver name	Rounds
ART Grand Prix	1	Callum Ilott^[3]	All
	2		All
	3	Nikita Mazepin^[4]	All
	4	Jake Hughes^[5]	All
Trident	5	Pedro Piquet^[6]	All
	6	Giuliano Alesi^[7]	All
	7	Ryan Tveter^[8]	All
	8	Alessio Lorandi^[9]	1–4
		David Beckmann^[10]	5–9
Jenzer Motorsport	9	Tatiana Calderón^[11]	All
	10		All
	11	David Beckmann^[12]	1–4
		Jannes Fittje^[13]	5–9
	14	Gabriel Aubry^[14]	All
	15	Julien Falchero^[15]	1–7
		Sacha Fenestraz^[16]	8–9
	16	Joey Mawson^[17]	All
Campos Racing	18	Leonardo Pulcini^[18]	All
	19		All
	20	Diego Menchaca^[19]	All
MP Motorsport	22		1–5
			6–9
	23	Will Palmer^[20]	1
		Christian Lundgaard^[21]	2
		Devlin DeFrancesco^[22]	3–9
	24	Niko Kari^[23]	1–7
		Jehan Daruvala^[24]	9
Sources:^[25] ^[26]

Team changes

• DAMS left the championship after two years of competition. Their entry was taken by Formula 2 team MP Motorsport.^[26]

Driver changes

• Gabriel Aubry and Joey Mawson, who raced in 2017 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship respectively, made their series début with Arden International.^{[14] [17]} They were joined by Julien Falchero, who switched from Campos Racing.^[15] Steijn Schothorst left the team and switched to sports car racing, joining 2018 Blancpain GT Series.^[27]
• Dorian Boccolacci and Niko Kari moved from Trident and Arden International respectively to MP Motorsport.^[23] They were joined by 2017 Formula Renault Eurocup runner-up Will Palmer.^[20]
• Tatiana Calderón moved from DAMS to Jenzer Motorsport.^[11] She was joined by 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship driver David Beckmann.^[12] Arjun Maini left the team to join the FIA Formula 2 Championship.^[28]
• 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers Callum Ilott and Nikita Mazepin moved to the series, joining ART Grand Prix for the season.^{[3] [4]} Under the series regulations, reigning GP3 Series champion George Russell could not compete in the championship again and left the series along with Jack Aitken and Nirei Fukuzumi and joined Formula 2.^{[29] [30]} Fukuzumi will also contest the 2018 Super Formula Championship.^[31]
• Simo Laaksonen continued his collaboration with Campos Racing after his campaign with the team in the 2017 Euroformula Open Championship. He was partnered by Leonardo Pulcini and Diego Menchaca, who reignited their partnership with Campos after a season with Arden in 2017 and 2017 World Series Formula V8 3.5 respectively.^{[18] [19]} Raoul Hyman and Marcos Siebert both left the team. Siebert later joined Campos in the 2018 Euroformula Open Championship.^[32]
• Alessio Lorandi, who raced with Jenzer Motorsport switched to race with Trident.^[9] He was joined by former FIA Formula 3 European Championship driver Pedro Piquet.^[6]

Midseason changes

• Formula Renault Eurocup race-winner Christian Lundgaard joined MP Motorsport for a one-off entry at Paul Ricard, replacing Will Palmer.^[21] Lundgaard was replaced by FIA Formula 3 European Championship driver Devlin DeFrancesco for the rest of the season.^[22]
• Jannes Fittje replaced David Beckmann in Jenzer Motorsport after Beckmann parted ways with the team prior Hungaroring round.^[13] Beckmann filled Alessio Lorandi's slot in Trident, while Lorandi moved to Trident's FIA Formula 2 Championship team ahead of the Hungaroring round, replacing Santino Ferrucci.^[10]
• Richard Verschoor replaced Dorian Boccolacci for the Spa-Francorchamps round, as the French driver joined MP's FIA Formula 2 team, to replace Roberto Merhi. Niko Kari was also promoted to Formula 2 with MP Motorsport before the Sochi round.^[33] Jehan Daruvala took Kari's seat for the Abu Dhabi round.^[24]
• Sacha Fenestraz replaced Julien Falchero for Arden International ahead of the Sochi Autodrom round.^[16]

Calendar

The following nine rounds took place as part of the 2018 championship. Each round consisted of two races, a longer race 1 and a shorter race 2:

Round	Circuit	Race 1	Race 2	Supporting
1		12 May	13 May
2	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet	23 June	24 June
3	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	30 June	1 July
4	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	7 July	8 July
5	Hungaroring, Budapest	28 July	29 July
6		25 August	26 August
7	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza	1 September	2 September
8	Sochi Autodrom, Sochi
9	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi	24 November	25 November
Source:^[34]

Calendar changes

• The championship will expand to nine rounds in 2018.^[34]
• The championship will return to the Sochi Autodrom, running in support of the Russian Grand Prix.^[34] The series last visited the circuit in 2015.
• The championship will make its début at the Circuit Paul Ricard, running in support of the French Grand Prix.^[34]
• The stand-alone event run at the Jerez Circuit in 2017 was discontinued.^[34]

Results

Season summary

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap^[35]	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1			Leonardo Pulcini	Anthoine Hubert	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	Report
				Giuliano Alesi	Giuliano Alesi	Trident
2	R1	Circuit Paul Ricard		Anthoine Hubert			Report
	R2			Anthoine Hubert	Callum Ilott	ART Grand Prix
3	R1	Red Bull Ring	Callum Ilott	Leonardo Pulcini	Callum Ilott	ART Grand Prix	Report
	R2			Leonardo Pulcini	Jake Hughes	ART Grand Prix
4	R1	Silverstone Circuit	Anthoine Hubert	Callum Ilott	Anthoine Hubert	ART Grand Prix	Report
	R2			Callum Ilott	Pedro Piquet	Trident
5	R1	Hungaroring	Anthoine Hubert	Nikita Mazepin	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	Report
	R2				Dorian Boccolacci	MP Motorsport
6	R1	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	David Beckmann	Anthoine Hubert	David Beckmann	Trident	Report
	R2			Nikita Mazepin	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix
7	R1	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	David Beckmann		David Beckmann	Trident	Report
	R2			Nikita Mazepin	Pedro Piquet	Trident
8	R1	Sochi Autodrom		Nikita Mazepin	Leonardo Pulcini		Report
	R2				David Beckmann	Trident
9	R1	Yas Marina Circuit	Nikita Mazepin	Nikita Mazepin	Leonardo Pulcini	Campos Racing	Report
	R2				Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix

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 LEC RBR SIL HUN SPA MNZ SOC YMC Points R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 Anthoine Hubert 2 2 1 7 17 9 1 4 3 3 3 2 2 DSQ 3 4 3 Ret 214 2 Nikita Mazepin 1 10 2 5 13 7 2 7 1 12 5 1 5 3 2 Ret 5 1 198 3 Callum Ilott 3 7 8 1 1 6 3 5 6 2 6 3 3 DSQ 13 18 4 4 167 4 Leonardo Pulcini 4 9 4 8 2 3 6 6 2 4 15 Ret 14 7 1 8 1 12 156 5 David Beckmann 6 17 18 10 8 Ret 14 Ret 4 7 1 Ret 1 5 5 1 2 Ret 137 6 Pedro Piquet 9 Ret 6 2 4 2 7 1 12 9 4 5 7 1 15 11 12 Ret 106 7 Giuliano Alesi 7 1 3 6 6 Ret 8 2 17† 16 9 6 6 2 14 17 6 10 100 8 Jake Hughes 13 3 10 17 5 1 Ret 8 16 14 7 4 9 4 7 16 7 2 85 9 Ryan Tveter 17 14 11 9 7 Ret 4 3 5 6 2 8 11 16 18 9 11 5 69 10 Dorian Boccolacci 5 5 DSQ 14 10 5 5 9 8 1 58 11 Alessio Lorandi 11 16 5 4 3 4 10 12 42 12 8 4 9 12 19 13 Ret 15 7 5 11 10 17 Ret 9 5 8 6 42 13 Joey Mawson 16 15 7 3 Ret 10 9 13 Ret 18 8 17† 12 12 8 2 20 9 38 14 Simo Laaksonen 15 8 13 11 9 15 13 16 14 11 12 13 4 8 6 14 9 3 36 15 Richard Verschoor 17 7 8 9 4 3 14 7 30 16 Tatiana Calderón Ret Ret 17 16 12 12 Ret 10 11 8 10 9 15 6 10 7 10 8 11 17 Niko Kari Ret 6 DSQ Ret 11 8 11 Ret Ret Ret 14 12 10 10 6 18 Gabriel Aubry 12 Ret 15 Ret 16 Ret Ret Ret 10 13 13 11 Ret Ret 11 6 15 14 5 19 Diego Menchaca 10 12 14 Ret 14 16 12 11 9 10 19 16 Ret 14 Ret 15 18 16 3 20 Jannes Fittje 13 17 20 15 16 11 12 10 13 Ret 0 21 Devlin DeFrancesco 18† 11 15 14 WD WD 18 Ret 13 15 17 12 17 11 0 22 Julien Falchero 14 11 16 15 15 14 Ret Ret 15 15 16 14 Ret 13 0 23 Christian Lundgaard 12 13 0 24 Sacha Fenestraz 16 13 16 15 0 25 Will Palmer 18 13 0 26 Jehan Daruvala 19 13 0 Driver R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 Points CAT LEC RBR SIL HUN SPA MNZ SOC YMC

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Rookie

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.^[36]

Team CAT LEC RBR SIL HUN SPA MNZ SOC YMC Points R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 ART Grand Prix 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 4 3 1 640 2 3 2 5 5 6 2 5 3 3 5 2 3 4 3 16 4 2 3 7 8 7 13 7 3 7 6 12 6 3 5 DSQ 7 18 5 4 2 Trident 7 1 3 2 3 2 4 1 4 7 1 5 1 1 5 1 2 5 433 9 14 5 4 4 4 7 2 5 8 2 6 6 2 14 9 8 10 11 16 6 6 6 Ret 8 3 12 9 4 8 7 5 15 11 11 Ret 3 Campos Racing 4 8 4 8 2 3 6 6 2 4 12 13 4 7 1 8 1 3 195 10 9 13 11 9 15 12 11 9 10 15 16 14 8 6 14 9 16 15 12 14 Ret 14 16 13 16 14 11 19 Ret Ret 14 Ret 15 18 Ret 4 MP Motorsport 5 5 12 13 10 5 5 9 8 1 14 7 8 9 4 3 14 7 94 18 6 DSQ 14 11 8 11 14 Ret Ret 17 12 10 10 17 12 17 11 Ret 13 DSQ Ret 18† 11 15 Ret WD WD 18 Ret 13 15 DNP DNP 19 13 5 Jenzer Motorsport 6 4 9 10 8 12 14 10 7 5 10 9 15 6 9 5 8 6 65 8 17 17 12 12 13 Ret 15 11 8 11 10 16 11 10 7 10 8 Ret Ret 19 16 19 Ret Ret Ret 13 17 20 15 17 Ret 12 10 13 Ret 6 12 11 7 3 15 10 9 13 10 13 8 11 12 12 8 2 15 9 43 14 15 15 15 16 14 Ret Ret 15 15 13 14 Ret 13 11 6 16 14 16 Ret 16 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 18 16 17 Ret Ret 16 13 20 15 Team R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 Points CAT LEC RBR SIL HUN SPA MNZ SOC YMC

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Notes:

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

Notes and References

1. News: FIA confirms new single-make Formula 3 category for 2019. Marcus. Simmons. autosport.com. Autosport. 22 September 2017. 22 September 2017.
2. News: Paterson . Cameron . PULCINI CLAIMS MAIDEN GP3 VICTORY, ART WINS TEAMS' TITLE . 30 September 2018 . readmotorsport.com . Fresh Press Media . 29 September 2018.
3. News: Kalinauckas. Alex. Ferrari junior Ilott joins dominant GP3 team. 4 December 2017. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 4 December 2017.
4. News: Allen. Peter. Nikita Mazepin lands ART GP3 seat for 2018. 15 December 2017. formulascout.com. 15 December 2017.
5. News: Allen. Peter. Jake Hughes makes GP3 return with ART. 23 January 2018. formulascout.com. 16 January 2018.
6. News: Pedro Piquet gets last-minute 2018 GP3 deal with Trident squad. Jack. Benyon. Autosport. 7 May 2018.
7. News: Kalinauckas. Alex. Alesi sticks with Trident GP3 squad for 2018. 7 February 2018. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 6 February 2018.
8. News: Gruz. David. Trident retains Tveter for second GP3 campaign. 16 February 2018. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 16 February 2018.
9. News: Kalinauckas. Alex. GP3 race winner Lorandi signs for Trident. 20 February 2018. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 20 February 2018.
10. News: González . Marc . GP3: DAVID BECKMANN DEJA JENZER Y FICHA POR TRIDENT . 24 July 2018 . formularapida.net . Formula Rapida . 21 July 2018 . Spanish.
11. News: Calderon switches to Jenzer for third GP3 season. 19 February 2018. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 19 February 2018.
12. News: Allen. Peter. David Beckmann makes GP3 switch with Jenzer Motorsport. 20 February 2018. formulascout.com. Formula Scout. 20 February 2018.
13. News: Allen. Peter. David Beckmann leaves Jenzer GP3 team, replaced by Jannes Fittje. 21 July 2018. formulascout.com. Formula Scout. 20 July 2018.
14. News: Gruz. David. Arden signs Aubry for maiden GP3 campaign. 24 January 2018. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 24 January 2018.
15. News: Allen. Peter. Arden adds Julien Falchero to 2018 GP3 line-up. 10 February 2018. formulascout.com. 8 February 2018.
16. News: Hewitt . Chloe . SACHA FENESTRAZ JOINS ARDEN INTERNATIONAL GP3 TEAM . 25 September 2018 . thecheckeredflag.co.uk . The Checkered Flag . 25 September 2018.
17. News: Khorounzhiy. Valentin. Mawson joins Arden for GP3 move. 21 February 2018. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 21 February 2018.
18. News: Allen. Peter. Leonardo Pulcini returns to Campos for second GP3 campaign. 3 February 2018. formulascout.com. 3 February 2018.
19. News: Allen. Peter. Diego Menchaca back with Campos for GP3 debut. 20 February 2018. formulascout.com. Formula Scout. 20 February 2018.
20. News: Palmer completes MP Motorsport lineup. GP3 Series. 2 May 2018. 2 May 2018.
21. News: Lundgaard to make GP3 Series debut with MP Motorsport. GP3 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 20 June 2018. 20 June 2018. Christian will drive for MP Motorsport across the two races, as part of a one-off entry in the class..
22. News: Gruz . David . DeFrancesco joins MP for rest of GP3 season . 25 June 2018 . . Motorsport Network . 25 June 2018.
23. News: Gruz. David. Ex-Red Bull junior Niko Kari gets GP3 lifeline with MP Motorsport. 15 January 2018. Autosport. 15 January 2018.
24. News: Benyon . Jack . Daruvala joins MP Motorsport for Abu Dhabi GP3 finale . 21 November 2018 . . . 21 November 2018 . 21 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181121203823/https://www.motorsport.com/gp3/news/daruvala-gp3-abu-dhabi-mp/4300810/ . dead .
25. News: DAMS and Virtuosi join 2016 grid as Carlin and Status exit. Charley. Bradley. Motorsport.com. 1 October 2015. 26 August 2016.
26. News: Kalinauckas. Alex. MP Motorsport to replace DAMS in GP3 in 2018. 16 October 2017. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. 16 October 2017.
27. News: Attempto Switches to Audi for Full-Season Blancpain GT Entry. Lloyd. Daniel. 7 March 2018. sportscar365. John Dagys Media. 7 March 2018.
28. News: Allen. Peter. Trident signs Haas juniors Ferrucci and Maini for F2. 11 May 2018. formulascout.com. Formula Scout. 21 February 2018.
29. News: Jack Aitken Confirmed At ART Grand Prix. 15 January 2018. 15 January 2018. fiaformula2.com. FIA Formula 2 Championship. 15 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180115165124/http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2018/01_January/Jack-Aitken-confirmed-at-ART-Grand-Prix/. dead.
30. News: George Russell joins ART Grand Prix. 18 January 2018. fiaformula2.com. 18 January 2018. Formula 2 Championship.
31. News: Thukral. Rachit. Honda protege Fukuzumi to combine Formula 2, Super Formula in 2018. 12 January 2018. Autosport. Motorsport Network. 12 January 2018.
32. Web site: Entry List. euroformulaopen.net. GT Sport. 12 April 2018.
33. News: Allen . Peter . Niko Kari steps up to F2 for final two rounds of 2018 with MP Motorsport . 25 September 2018 . formulascout.com . Formula Scout . 25 September 2018.
34. News: Di Zinno. Tony. F2, GP3 2018 schedules released. 7 November 2017. motorsports.nbcsports.com. NBC Sports. 6 November 2017. 27 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200927181900/https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2017/11/06/f2-gp3-2018-schedules-released/. dead.
35. Web site: GP3 Fastest laps . results.motorsportstats.com . Motorsport Stats . 25 July 2020 . 25 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200725111317/https://results.motorsportstats.com/series/gp3-series/season/gp3-series-2014/stats/fastest-laps . dead .
36. News: GP3 teams to score points with three cars only. Vinel. Benjamin. 15 March 2016. motorsport.com. 13 May 2017. 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.