IFMC Season 2

## Support Series

IFMC GP2 Season 2

IFMC GP3 Season 2

## Champions

Drivers Champion: Fernando Alonso

Constructors Champions: Etihad BMW

## About Season 2

The Season 2 IFMC Season will be the second season of the championship. Set up by Joseph Willows the league will consist of 11 teams with 22 real driver. From Season 2 onwards teams can now choose up to 3 test/reserve drivers if they so wish to. Also introduced will be a tyre war between Season 1 suppliers Goodyear and new Japanese comers Bridgestone. The Calendar also had an increase in Season 2 with the introduction of modded tracks being added.

## Signed Teams and Drivers

* Valtteri Bottas initially had a 2 season contract with Etihad, however it was confirmed in May 2016 that he would be released. Following the Spanish Grand Prix, it was confirmed that he shall join El Dorado, replacing Felipe Massa. Pascal Wehrlein was announced as his replacement at Etihad, whilst Massa moved to GRM replacing Max Verstappen. Stoffel Vandoorne was confirmed as Pascal's replacement at AMP after being loaned out by Etihad Racing.
* Sergey Sirotkin originally had a 3 season testing contract with Thomas Cook Sport, however got terminated by the team on good terms. He was replaced by 3 people which were Artem Markelov, Antonio Giovanazzi and Matthieu Vaxivière.
* Mark Webber would not be renewing his contract with Thomas Cook Sport meaning he would have to look for a new team. His replacement would IFMC GP2 S1 driver and experienced Indycar driver, Josef Newgarden
* Jann Mardenborough got released of his testing duties at the end of Season 1, with Mick Schumacher being his replacement. Mick would later be joined by Santino Ferrucci and Christian Vietoris.
* It was confirmed that Daniil Kvyat and Charles Leclerc would be the new test drivers for Etihad Racing with Stoffel Vandoorne no longer test driver due to being drafted to AMP and instead would be replaced by Norman Nato.
* Shaun Grant will enter a top tier team for Season 2 under the name of Bud Light Lime Motorsport replacing the outgoing Smit Racing Incorporated. Their driver line up would consist of former Smit driver Romain Grosjean and veteran Indycar driver Simon Pagenaud. As a result, Kimi Raikkonen would be left without a seat and looking for a drive.
* Alexander Rossi would be jumping from GP2 and joining Nico Rosberg at MOrange Orange Racing.
* Max Verstappen would be moving from GRM to Monster Grand Prix in Season 2 replacing the released Robin Frijns.
* Kevin Magnussen would be making the jump from GP2 and joining Max Verstappen at Monster Grand Prix replacing Jérôme d'Ambrosio.
* Roberto Merhi was released from his testing duties at Monster Grand Prix and was replaced by Sophia Florsch.
* GRM will switch from Cosworth to Ferrari engines in Season 2.
* Daniel Roberts will be entering a team in the top class along with a GP3 team in Season 2 under the name of Astro Racing. They will be replacing the outgoing SIC and have confirmed Max Chilton and Jarno Trulli as their drivers and Nyck de Vries, Alexander Albon and Nirei Fukuzumi as their test driver. They also confirmed along with Bud Light Lime Motorsport, El Dorado Racing, Red Bull Audi and Scuderia Racing that they will be using Bridgestone tyres.
* Monster Grand Prix announced that they would be retaining Mercedes engines for Season 2.
* MOrange Orange Racing will switch from Lamborghini engines to Season 1 BMW engines in Season 2.
* Walmsley Grand Prix will be making their in the IFMC top class replacing the outgoing GB Racing. This as a result of GB Racing pulling out meant that Button, Bird and Lancaster would be released. Later that day it was announced that Jenson Button and Mark Webber would be their drivers with Heikki Kovalainen their test driver. Later they announced they would be running Bridgestone tyres and would be the first team to run a Mugen-Honda engine.

## In-Season changes

* After Catalunya 1, Astro Racing released Jarno Trulli from the team on good terms. Astro Racing later confirmed that Daniil Kvyat will replace Jarno at the team after Etihad Racing decided to sell him to get him on the grid for S2. Etihad later confirmed that their GP3 driver Lance Stroll would replacing Daniil as test driver at Etihad Racing.
* At the European Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton suffered an injury as a result of a crash he had with Fernando Alonso. Red Bull Audi decided after the race that he would be replaced for Catalunya by reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi.
* After the European Grand Prix, Astro Racing pulled out with immediate effect after the boss wanted to focus purely on IFMC GP3 and felt the top class was way too much of a commitment. This meant Max Chilton and Daniil Kvyat were released from their contracts. On the 11th November 2016, it was confirmed that Suomi Grand Prix, who were meant to debut in Season 3, would replace them for the remainder of the season. The team would take Daniil Kvyat from Astro and former MOrange Orange Racing driver Juan Pablo Montoya. Their GP3 drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Niko Kari were confirmed as their test drivers. The team would run the Bridgestone tyres and the same chassis that Astro Racing used before they pulled out, however would use Lamborghini engines instead of Porsche engines
* Kevin Magnussen was handed a race ban for Belgium for taking out Esteban Ocon at the German Grand Prix as Esteban was entering the pits. His replacement for Belgium was test driver and S1 Monster Grand Prix driver Robin Frijns. Frijns ended up racing for the team for the rest of the season after a good performace in Belgium which as a result meant Kevin Magnussen left the team and moved to IFMC GP3 for the last 2 weekends of their championship.
* Esteban Ocon received a race ban for causing multiple incidents in Italy and was replaced in France by Martini Motorsport GP2 driver Carlos Sainz, Jr.
* Valtteri Bottas received a race ban via the team's request for causing an accident with team mate Sergio Perez in Italy and was replaced in France by Cold North Racing GP3 driver, former Smit Racing Incorporated driver and fellow Finnish driver Kimi Räikkönen.

## Calendar

* The calendar went for some changes due to tracks originally scheduled, crashing.

## Results

* Lewis Hamilton initially won the Belgian Grand Prix but was deducted to 9th for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso
* Esteban Ocon initially won the Italian Grand Prix but was later disqualified for causing multiple incidents during the race with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

## Drivers Championship

Points are awarded to the top eight classified finishers using the following structure: