2007 Monaco Feature Race

The 2007 Monaco Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2007 Monaco GP2 Series Race, was the fifth race of the 2007 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on 26 May 2007. The race would see Pastor Maldonado claim his maiden GP2 victory from pole position in dominant fashion, despite his lead being cut by two Safety Cars.

Indeed, Maldonado was the man to beat across the weekend, dominating practice before sweeping to pole position in qualifying by a third of a second. Giorgio Pantano proved to be the Venezuelan racer's closest challenger in second, while Andreas Zuber and debutante Sébastien Buemi shared the second row.

Maldonado duly converted pole into the lead at the start of the race, streaking into Sainte Devote unopposed as Pantano made a poor getaway. Pantano was, however, spared his blushes as Zuber stalled in third, meaning the rest of the field had to squeeze around the stranded #6 iSport.

With Buemi also slow away it was Lucas di Grassi who ended up in third, squeezing between the iSport and the #1 ART with Vitaly Petrov and Luca Filippi following him through. Behind, Buemi's engine finally picked up to leave him in sixth, while further back Andy Soucek was squeezed onto the kerb at Sainte Devote and clattered into the side of Karun Chandhok.

Incredibly that was the only incident of note on the opening tour, and only Chandhok would end up on the sidelines as a result. Out front, meanwhile, Maldonado set about establishing a dominant lead, escaping up the road by almost two seconds a lap as Pantano and di Grassi squabbled over second.

The pitstop phase began early, with Mike Conway the big loser as he spun on his way out of the pits on cold tyres. Maldonado, meanwhile, would begin to catch the back markers due to the pitstops, but would continue to build his lead as Pantano's pace began to collapse as he battled with his tyres.

The Pantano train would break-up shortly before half-distance, with Filippi and Buemi jumping first, before Petrov followed a lap after them. They would, however, all find themselves behind early stopper Glock, who would narrowly miss-out on jumping Pantano when the Italian relented on using his starting set of Bridgestones.

With clear air di Grassi began to better Maldonado's pace, although the Venezuelan racer would respond and increase his pace, before stopping on lap nineteen. di Grassi then stopped but rejoined behind Pantano, Glock and Filippi after a slow stop, before two quick-fire safety cars destroyed Maldonado's hard fought lead.

The first was triggered by Javier Villa, who spun through the Swimming Pool section and slapped the barriers, while the second came a lap after the race restarted when Jason Tahincioğlu crashed at Tabac. At the restart for the first Filippi was the man on the move before he touched Glock and ended both of their hopes to challenge for victory, although both continued.

With that the race was run, with Maldonado again storming away to claim victory by eight seconds from Pantano. Glock kept his podium run going by claiming third ahead of Filippi, both carrying damage to the chequered flag, while di Grassi was a frustrated fifth after his slow stop. Petrov was next up ahead of Buemi, while Antônio Pizzonia claimed the final point in eighth.

Background
The third round of the 2007 FIA GP2 Series saw the field arrive at the Circuit de Monaco in the heart of Monte Carlo, Monaco, which had received some revisions for the Series' third visit alongside Formula One. Indeed, there had been some changes to the kerbs across the the street circuit, with the inside kerb at the "Grand Hotel" hairpin significantly lowered to allow single-seaters to clamber over it. Elsewhere, there was a change to the entry list, with Sébastien Buemi stepping in for Michael Ammermüller as the German racer was declared unfit to race around the Principality.

An Asian Announcement
Ahead of the round at Monte Carlo the GP2 Series announced the creation of a sister series for the championship, centred upon Asia and the Middle East. The new creation, dubbed the GP2 Asia Series, was set to start in 2008 using the GP2/05 as its base car as the main GP2 Series was set to introduce a new Dallara built car for its own 2008 campaign. The new series was set to run between January and April 2008, with a plan to support the fly-away races on the Formula One calendar in future seasons.

Barca Bounty
Victory and fastest lap meant that Timo Glock established an impressive early lead in the Championship, thirteen clear of his closest challenger. Bruno Senna left Barcelona as his closest challenger in second while Luca Filippi, who had started the weekend in the lead of the Championship, slipped fifteen of the lead in third. Lucas di Grassi was next up in fourth ahead of Nicolas Lapierre, while Giorgio Pantano had become the fifteenth scorer of the campaign in fifteenth.

In the Teams' Championship iSport International had moved fourteen points clear at the head of the field, leaving them in early command of the standings. Arden International were sat in second, having climbed above Super Nova Racing who had slipped nineteen off the lead in third. Behind, ART Grand Prix and DAMS completed the top five, while Campos Grand Prix had added their name to the scoresheet in ninth.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Qualifying
Qualifying for the inaugural GP2 Series race would be staged via a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon, ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday. All 24 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time. There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of Bridgestone tyres.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * Debut race for Sébastien Buemi.
 * Fifth and final start for Antônio Pizzonia.
 * Pastor Maldonado recorded his first pole position.
 * Maldonado claimed his maiden FIA GP2 Series victory.
 * Maldonado also claimed his maiden points finish.
 * Trident Racing claimed their fourth win as an entrant.
 * Timo Glock scored his tenth podium finish.
 * It was also Glock's fifth podium in a row.
 * Maiden points finish for Vitaly Petrov, Buemi and Pizzonia.
 * Alexandre Negrão recorded his first and only fastest lap.

Standings
Timo Glock had retained command of the Championship as GP2's trip to the Mediterranean coast came to a conclusion, the German racer having moved onto 37 points for the campaign. Luca Filippi, meanwhile, had moved back up to second, but remained sixteen off the lead, while Bruno Senna had just remained ahead of Lucas di Grassi on count-back. Pastor Maldonado, meanwhile, had rocketed up to fifth after his maiden triumph, with twenty drivers on the scoresheet after the trip to Monte Carlo.

In the Teams' Championship it was iSport International who led the charge leaving Monaco, having claimed their 43rd point of the fledgling season. Super Nova Racing were up to second, level on points with ART Grand Prix but ahead on countback, both twenty points off the leaders. Behind Arden International were two points further back in fifth, while BCN Competición and DPR remained as the only scorers.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.