Leading GP2 trio set for team switches in 2017

Norman Nato, Jordan King and Luca Ghiotto are the key players in the driver market now that leading teams Prema Racing, Racing Engineering and ART Grand Prix are all full.

While Prema and Racing Engineering have already declared their line-ups, ART has yet to announce what is widely expected to be a squad consisting of Honda protege Nobuharu Matsushita and GP3 Series runner-up Alexander Albon.

Ghiotto was widely expected before Christmas to switch to Arden International to partner Sean Gelael, but recent developments have pushed Nato into the frame as the most likely to join Gelael in what would be his return to the British team – the Frenchman drove for Arden in 2015 before switching to Racing Engineering last year.

King, who was also with Racing Engineering in 2016, has been courted strongly by MP Motorsport, with which he had two very encouraging days in the post-season Abu Dhabi test.

But now the Briton is reportedly moving further into contention for the Russian Time seat alongside Artem Markelov.

If King does move to Russian Time, that could leave Ghiotto – who has also been linked to the team – as the big loser.

The Italian had an impressive rookie season in GP2 last year with Trident, but is understood to be short on budget for 2017.