2016 Monza Feature Race

The 2016 Monza Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2016 Monza Race 1, was the seventeenth race of the 2016 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on the 3 September 2016. The race, held in support of the 2016 Gran Premio d'Italia, would see Antonio Giovinazzi sweep to victory after a last gasp move on Raffaele Marciello.

It was Giovinazzi's teammate Pierre Gasly, however, who would streak to pole in qualifying, fending off the Italian for the second race in succession. Artem Markelov was best of the rest in third ahead of Mitch Evans, before Giovinazzi was relegated to the back of the field for using illegal tyre pressures.

Gasly duly catapulted himself into the lead at the start, while Giovinazzi almost wiped himself out on the back of a stalled Sean Gelael at the back. Between the two Premas Markelov and Arthur Pic came to blows over second, causing the Frenchman to cut the first chicane.

Those two continued to fight throughout the early stages, causing the pack behind them to bunch up, led by Norman Nato. All of them would, however, begin to struggle with their tyres after only a handful of laps, aiding Giovinazzi and Marciello to carve their way up the order from the back.

All of the soft Pirelli shod drivers would pit before lap twelve, with race leader Gasly himself coming in last. That handed the lead to Marciello and Giovinazzi, although as Gasly got up to speed it became clear that they would not re-emerge with the lead.

However, what changed the race would be an accident at the Parabolica, which was timed beautifully for Marciello, Giovinazzi and Malja as they had all come in to serve their stops. They duly rejoined at the head of the field once the safety car train was sorted out, with Pic and Sergio Canamasas out having caused the interruption.

On newer, softer, rubber there was no stopping the lead trio from blasting clear at the restart, with Marciello leading from Malja and Giovinazzi. The latter man in the trio would then move into second with a dive into the Rettifilo, before lining up a move on Marciello as they started the final tour.

Ultimately Giovinazzi would make his move stick at the Rettifilo, and duly swept to victory ahead of Marciello by over a second. Malja was a comfortable third, just shy of their fight, while Gasly fended off the chasing pack behind him to claim fourth and maintain his Championship lead.

Background
The GP2 Series headed to one of its favourite haunts for the eighth pair of races of the 2016 season, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. The circuit itself was unchanged ahead of the 2016 visit, with no modifications to the DRS zones or the wider circuit. There were also no changes to the entry list ahead of the weekend, meaning all of the attention was on the Championship fight.

Into said Championship and Pierre Gasly arrived as the leader after a strong showing in Spa, although his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi had cut the gap back down to seventeen points. Indeed, the Italian ace had moved up to second from fourth after his third victory of the season, trading places with Sergey Sirotkin. Raffaele Marciello had retained third, with all four still in realistic contention for the title, as was Oliver Rowland in fifth.

In the Teams' Championship it was Prema Racing who arrived in Italy as leaders, having extended their lead to 78 points in the Spa double header. Indeed, such was the Italian team's advantage that they could afford to miss an entire weekend and still retain the lead, with a maximum of 78 point available over a weekend. Russian Time remained their closest challengers ahead of Racing Engineering, with ART Grand Prix also in position to attack for second.

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

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:
 * * Giovinazzi and Jeffri were both excluded for using illegal tyre pressures.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Eriksson handed a five second time penalty for forcing another driver off track.
 * † Gelael was disqualified for failing to serve a stop-go penalty originally applied for failing to slow under double-yellow flags.
 * ‡ Pic handed a three place grid penalty for the 2016 Monza Sprint Race for causing a collision.

Milestones

 * Fourth victory for Antonio Giovinazzi.
 * Prema Racing claimed their seventh win as an entrant in the GP2 Series.

Standings
Victory for Antonio Giovinazzi ensured that the Italian racer moved into striking position in the Championship, moving within eight points of teammate Pierre Gasly. Indeed, the Frenchman's pole and fourth place were vital to keeping him in the lead of the Championship, with Raffaele Marciello also making ground. Sergey Sirotkin, meanwhile, had lost ground in fourth, as had Oliver Rowland in fifth.

In the Teams' Championship it was, unsurprisingly, Prema Racing who continued to lead the charge, with their pair of Gasly and Giovinazzi heading the Drivers' Championship. Indeed, the Italian team had moved 100 points clear at the top of the Championship, and were the only team to score more than 300 points in total. Russian Time remained their closest challengers, having just broken the 200 point barrier, with themselves, Racing Engineering and ART Grand Prix looking set to fight for second.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.