that in 2012 the GP2 and GP2 Asia Series would combine to make a single, longer GP2 series. GP2 Series and role Progression to Formula One Current Formula One drivers that have graduated from the GP2 series include Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly (who triumphed in the 2016 staging amongst various others). Lewis Hamilton stepping straight into the McLaren team and Nico Rosberg, Nico Hülkenberg, Pastor Maldonado and Kazuki Nakajima going straight to Williams have particularly highlighted how F1 teams take GP2 seriously, and Hamilton's Formula One World Championship title in only his second year in F1 is probably the strongest example of the series creating highly competitive racers. By the end of the 2016 season, nine of the twelve (GP2) champions so far had been able to secure a seat in Formula 1, a correlation of 75%. Race weekend On Friday, drivers had a 45-minute free practice session and a 30-minute qualifying session. The qualifying session decided the grid order for Saturday's race which had a length of 180 kilometres (112 miles). During Saturday's race, each driver had to make a pit stop in which at least two tyres have to be changed. On Sunday there was a sprint race of 120 kilometres (75 miles). The grid was decided by the Saturday result with top 8 being reversed, so the driver who finished 8th on Saturday started from pole position and the winner started from 8th place. Point system 2005–2011 Pole for Saturday races: 2 points Fastest lap: 1 point in each race (with one exception: in the 2005 season, it was 2 points for each race). Driver recording fastest lap has to drive 90% of race laps. As of 2006 season must the driver must now also start the race from his allocated grid position and as of 2008 must finish in the top ten of the race to be eligible for the fastest lap point. With this points system, the most points anyone could score in one round is 20 by claiming pole position, winning both races with the fastest lap in each race. This feat was only been achieved twice; by Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr. in the 9th round of the 2006 season in Hungary and by German Nico Hülkenberg in the 5th round of the 2009 season in Germany. 2012–2016 From the 2012 season the GP2 series changed its scoring system. Feature races ran with