Your basket is currently empty!
Category: F2
-
Piastri takes superb maiden win; Jehan Daruvala misses podium
Sakhir, 26 March 2021: Reigning Formula 3 champion Oscar Piastri became the second rookie winner in as many races this season, completing a superb last-lap overtake on UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou, to win a frenetic Sprint Race 2 in Sakhir. The Chinese driver also fell foul to a last gasp move from Christian Lundgaard, dropping to third on an all-Alpine Academy podium. Jehan Daruvala finished P4. He will now start the Feature Race at P6 on Sunday at 16.20hours.
It initially looked as though Zhou was set to pull off his second win in Formula 2, after boldly starting on softs, before two late Safety Cars turned the race on its head and allowed a number of the field to switch to soft Pirellis themselves. Zhou was then left to struggle to the line on heavily degraded tyres, just about holding on to third.
Piastri and Lundgaard were amongst those to change rubber, taking advantage of a late problem for Jüri Vips, who dropped out of contention, having previously looked to be Zhou’s biggest threat. Meanwhile, Red Bull junior Jehan Daruvala just missed out on a second podium of Round 1, taking fourth.
The superb late battle took away from some incredible performances in behind as Richard Verschoor finished fifth, having started 22nd, and Théo Pourchaire sealed sixth, having started 19th.
Marino Sato and Matteo Nannini both started out of the top ten but finished in eight and ninth, behind David Beckmann.
AS IT HAPPENED
After his Qualifying disqualification, Vips said he just wanted to keep things clean in the second race of the day. Starting from reverse grid pole, the Hitech racer managed to do that at the start, darting into the distance with Lirim Zendeli in tow, as those behind them got tangled up.
Robert Shwartzman and Dan Ticktum were the unlucky pairing. The duo came to blows in their attempts to rise up the order and were both out of the race by the end of Turn 1.
All of the excitement brought out a Safety Car, meaning that Vips needed to nail a second getaway. The Hitech racer shrugged off the challenge and scrambled back off into the distance. Zendeli’s restart wasn’t quite as strong and it cost him P2, as Zhou launched down the side of him and into second.
The Virtuosi racer was on a mission, homing in on Vips and coolly dispatching of the Hitech racer in the same lap to steal first. Meanwhile, things went from bad to worse for Zendeli, as he was clipped by Lundgaard and suffered a puncture. The ART racer was handed a 10s-time penalty for the offence, which he served in the pits in the latter stages of the race.
Having lost the lead, Vips then found himself in a battle with his race-winning teammate Liam Lawson, who had climbed an incredible seven places to third. Keeping an eye on their battle was Felipe Drugovich, who’d put on a brilliant recovery himself, rising 12 places to fourth.
Rivalling the Brazilian for most positions gained were Marcus Armstrong and Pourchaire, the Kiwi climbing 13 places to P7 and the Frenchman up to ninth from 19th.
Lundgaard began to gain on Drugovich in fourth, which prompted the Virtuosi man to step up his chase of Lawson, sparking a three-way brawl that ended with Lawson facing the wrong way and out of the race. The Safety Car returned to clear up the mess, triggering a mass exodus of the track as a handful of drivers all dived into the pits to swap the hard Pirellis for a set of softs.
Zhou wasn’t amongst those to pit and still held the lead when the Safety Car headed back in, followed by Drugovich, Armstrong and Bent Viscaal, with the latter trio still on the hards. All four had Vips breathing down their necks from P5 on fresh soft.
All four went on the defensive at the restart and Viscaal very briefly snuck into second, but the Dutchman was too early on the breaks at Turn 1 and fell back down to P5. Vips dove into P2 at the exit and was followed through by Piastri, another who had swapped boots.
Things didn’t calm down, as a third Safety Car was required when Alessio Deledda stopped on track and retired. Nursing heavily degraded hards, Zhou’s chances of holding onto first seemed slim, yet he just about clung on at the restart, as Vips was too busy defending from Piastri.
The Australian was handed a straight shot of Zhou when Vips slowed and plummeted out of the top 10 – or so he thought. Lundgaard appeared and threw himself into the all-Alpine junior battle for P1.
The Alpine trio went three wide on the final lap and Piastri just about edged ahead, before Lundgaard daringly launched down the outside, though the move wouldn’t stick, as ART man over pushed and ran wide.
Lundgaard recovered and held onto second on track, although he didn’t appear on the podium. He had served his time penalty in the latter stages of the race, and with much happening in the pitlane and on the track, the FIA needed time to confirm whether the Dane had taken his time penalty in a proper manner. The confirmation came after the podium ceremony, and since the ART driver served it correctly, his P2 result was reinstated.
Piastri now leads the Drivers’ Championship on 21 points, with Daruvala one point behind in second. Lundgaard and Zhou are tied in third on 16 points, with Lawson in fifth. PREMA lead the Teams’ standings on 29 points, ahead of Carlin on 21 and ART on 20. Virtuosi are fourth with 16 and Hitech fifth with 15
KEY QUOTE – OSCAR PIASTRI (PREMA RACING)
“The second race in Bahrain and it was a crazy one. We came out on top, so I want to give a massive thanks to PREMA. It was the right strategy call from the team to go onto softs.
“I am just riding the high at the minute, second race, first win. We struggled a bit at the beginning, but I couldn’t be happier with the result and we will go again tomorrow.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Zhou will line up on pole ahead of Lundgaard in the Feature Race on Sunday at 4.20pm Indian time (13.50am local time).
-
Liam Lawson holds off Jehan Daruvala for maiden F2 win
Sakhir, 27 March 2021: Hitech Grand Prix’s Liam Lawson drove like a seasoned pro on his Formula 2 debut, brushing off a stern challenge from second year Jehan Daruvala to take the opening win of season in Sprint Race 1 at Sakhir. Charouz Racing System rookie David Beckmann hung onto third to complete a youthful podium.
Scampering ahead of Théo Pourchaire at the start, Lawson spent the majority of the race in a to-and-fro with his former Formula 3 rival, before seeing the ART Grand Prix driver retire. This handed the Kiwi a more experienced challenger, as Daruvala – up from fifth – lined up behind him. However, the Carlin driver had no answer to his Red Bull academy teammates’ defensive masterclass and was forced to settle for second.
Impressively leaping from 11th to fifth at the start, Robert Shwarztman had a podium in his sights when Pourchaire retired and handed him fourth, but the PREMA’s attack was stalled by his teammate, Oscar Piastri. The reigning F3 champion had jumped ahead of Christian Lundgaard and kept Shwartzman occupied in the closing laps, before eventually settling for fifth.
UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou – who will begin Sunday’s Feature Race on pole – got his weekend off to a solid start, rising to seventh, ahead of Dan Ticktum. MP Motorsport’s Lirim Zendeli and Lawson’s Hitech teammate, Jüri Vips, completed the top 10.
AS IT HAPPENED
Lawson nailed his first race start in F2, launching from third to first off the line and making the most of a sluggish getaway from Pourchaire. The reverse polesitter briefly dropped down to third at the first corner, but managed to claw his way back ahead of Beckmann and into P2.
Title-favourite Shwarztman endured a difficult return to the track on Friday, as mechanical troubles left him unable to set a laptime in the second run of Qualifying and had him starting back in 11th. Determined to make amends, the Russian gallantly flung his PREMA up to fifth inside of the opening lap.
A daring move from Ticktum failed to come off in the opening lap as the Carlin driver attempted a double overtake down the inside of Felipe Drugovich and Richard Verschoor, but clipped the back of the MP Motorsport and spun it backwards.
Ticktum somehow got away unscathed, but Drugovich was caught up in the collision and suffered damage. The Brazilian was forced into the pits for repairs and plummeted to last. Ticktum was later handed a 5s penalty for his troubles and fell to P8.
Two further retirements in the opening five laps decreased the field to 19, as Marcus Armstrong pulled over onto the gravel with mechanical issues. The Kiwi’s retirement also spelled the end for Ralph Boschung, who tagged the back of the slowing DAMS and spun off.
Pourchaire was keeping up with Lawson at the front, remaining within 2s of the Hitech driver, but Beckmann was struggling to hold on to third behind him. He locked up and momentarily went skidding off track, flinging dirt into the pathway of those immediately behind him.
The Charouz managed to return to the track, but the mistake cost him precious grip and handed an opportunity to Daruvala behind him. The Carlin took a hit of DRS and passed the German around the outside of Turn 4.
The Red Bull junior was then handed another position as Pourchaire lost power and fell out of the points. The Frenchman attempted to keep his ART going, but eventually conceded his race was run and pulled over.
Daruvala’s experience was beginning to show. The Carlin racer’s tyres were in better shape than Lawson’s and he had eaten into the gap between the two of them. With two laps to go, Lawson was just about clinging on. Their battle continued into the final lap, but Daruvala just couldn’t find any way past and crossed the line in second.
There was little change behind them, though Piastri had managed to tussle ahead of Lundgaard for fifth place, directly behind his teammate Shwartzman. The Australian started to harry the back of the PREMA and chanced his arm with a brave move down the left, but was forced to back off as he ran out of space, allowing Shwartzman to hold onto fourth. The duo’s battle allowed Beckmann to retain the final podium spot.
THE KEY QUOTE – LIAM LAWSON (HITECH GRAND PRIX)
“That was pretty awesome. Starting third, I had a pretty good start and led from that moment onwards. I had massive pressure from Jehan (Daruvala) towards the end of the race and learned a lot. I’m excited to get into the night race later today.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Lawson’s Hitech teammate Vips will start from reverse grid pole, ahead of MP’s Zendeli later today in Sprint Race 2 at 10.40pm IST (7.40pm local time).
-
Flash: Jehan Daruvala begins the F2 season with a podium
Sakhir, 27 March 2021: Red Bull Junior and ace Indian racer Jehan Daruvala began the season with a podium winning the second place in the inaugural Sprint Race at the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir here on Saturday.
The fifth FIA F2 season will comprise a total of eight rounds, all support events of the Formula 1 World Championship.
The 22-year-old, Jehan Daruvala started on P5 and did some consistent laps before making a move to take P3 on Lap 11. Daruvala puts pressure on Beckmann, going all the way around the outside of the Charouz driver in Turn 4 and claimed P3. Later, at the halfway mark rookie Lawson was on P1 followed by another rookie Pourchaire, who started on pole. Beckman was behind Daruvala.
By Lap 16, Daruvala was pushing Lawson and by Lap 18 the Indian closed the gap to 0.7 seconds and the rookie was fighting to mainain his P1 and the Carling driver had to be content with a P2. Even on the Lap 20, both the Red Bull drivers posted 1:59.9s battling for P1 but Liam Lawson held on to take a creditable win on his debut. The Indian who is doing another season of F2, neverthless began the season on a bright note unlike last year, where despite good qualifying results he had to battle his own car and had a terrible season. Only after the change of engine, did he find the fortunes, and he closed the season with his first F2 victory.
Following a change to the Sporting Regulations, the new season will see three races per round – the previous total was two – forming a 24-race season. There will be no changes to the Friday sessions, with one Free Practice session of 45 minutes and one Qualifying session of 30 minutes.
Two sprint races will take place on Saturday and will both consist of 120 kilometres or 45 minutes, whichever comes first.
The Feature Race will now take place on Sunday morning ahead of the Formula 1 Grand Prix. It will be still be one hour long or 170 kilometres (whichever comes first) and will keep a compulsory pit stop, in which all four tyres must be changed. Unless the driver has used wet-weather tyres during the Feature Race, they must use at least one set of each specification of dry-weather tyres during the Feature Race.
The Feature race will be on Sunday.
-
Zhou takes pole; Jehan Daruvala to start on P7
Sakhir, 26 March 2021: Guanyu Zhou took the first pole position of the season for the second year in a row, going fastest in Sakhir to take the first points of the new campaign during a dramatic final few minutes of the Formula 2 World Championship Race 1 qualifying session. The UNI-Virtuosi man stole first from ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard by 0.003s on his final tour of the Bahrain International Circuit, with his teammate Felipe Drugovich finishing third.
Lundgaard didn’t make the top 10 in Free Practice, but was straight on the pace in Qualifying, putting in two purple first sectors to leap to the top of the time screen with an early benchmark of 1:43.628.
A late wobble in the final sector meant the Dane’s benchmark was beatable, and Drugovich managed to find the extra bit of time to do just that. The UNI-Virtuosi racer was fastest in Free Practice on the hard tyre and appeared equally as comfortable on the softer compound, stealing P1 by three tenths.
Drugovich’s teammate Zhou started 2020 on pole and was looking for the same outcome one season on. The Alpine junior was the only driver without a time on the board when the field fed back into the pits for a change of rubber, having boldly requested to run in the gap. He didn’t disappoint, bettering his teammate’s lap by 0.022s to replace him in first place.
No sooner had the cars returned to the track, were they having to head back into the pits. The field had just completed their preparation lap when Robert Shwarztman came to a halt down the pit straight and brought out a red flag. The stranded PREMA was swiftly cleared off the track, but just five minutes remained to get a time on the board.
Knowing time was of the essence, Lundgaard flew back out of the traps and got to work regaining control of the session. The Dane gave posted three purple laps, and the nailed the tricky final corner that let him down before, to take first from Zhou.
Amongst the first to get another time on the board, Lundgaard headed back into the pits to await his fate, knowing his tyres were cooked. The ART Man watched on as Ticktum failed and ended up in fourth. The Briton set two green sectors, but got stuck in traffic around the final corner. Jüri Vips and Richard Verschoor both missed out as well, settling for fifth and sixth.
Zhou and Drugovich both beat the chequered flag to give themselves one last shot at beating Lundgaard’s provisional pole time of 1:42.851.
Setting a personal best first sector and a fastest overall second sector, Zhou’s final laptime was better than Lundgaard’s by the finest of margins, knocking off his Alpine academy teammate by three thousandths of a second. Meanwhile, Drugovich’s final tour wasn’t quite as strong and the Brazilian ended up in third, behind Lundgaard.
Further back, Jehan Daruvala managed to take seventh, ahead of reigning Formula 3 champion Oscar Piastri, with Liam Lawson in ninth.
Finishing 10th on his debut, David Beckmann will start Sprint Race 1 from reverse grid pole on Saturday at 1.25pm (local time).
-
Jehan Daruvala post second fastest time in the afternoon
Sakhir, 9 March 2021: Red Bull Junior driver and ace Indian star Jehan Daruvala of Carlin team finished in the top-two in the afternoon session clocking the second fastest time on the second day of the F2 test here on Tuesday. He put in a very useful 71 laps in both the sessions together to get mileage in the 2021 car.
ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard continued his strong start to pre-season testing, following up second place on Day 1 with the fastest time on Day 2. The Alpine junior set the quickest lap of the tests so far in the morning session, his time of 1:41.697 more than three tenths faster than Trident rookie Bent Viscaal in second.
MORNING
Lundgaard’s name was a familiar presence at the top of the timesheets in the morning as the ART ace kicked into gear and swiftly set the fastest of the opening laps. The Dane’s time of 1:43.514 was just the start as he later cemented his position in P1 with the only sub-1m 42s lap of the morning.
There was a brief stoppage between those two laps as Alessio Deledda was forced to pull over at the final corner with mechanical issues. When things got back underway, Théo Pourchaire managed to climb as high as third, before falling to seventh as he begun a programme of long runs.
Fellow rookie Viscaal managed one better than his former Formula 3 rival, sneaking into second behind Lundgaard towards the midway point of the session. The Dutchman is desperate to impress those at Trident, in the hope of extending his current one-round deal at the Italian side, and did his chances no harm with a solid stint, lapping at 1:42.697.
Marcus Armstrong was looking more at home with DAMS on the second morning, bettering his P9 finish on Monday morning by breaking into the top three, just one hundredth off the marker for P2. The Kiwi’s Ferrari junior rival Robert Shwarztman was in and amongst it himself, breaking into the top five for the first time this pre-season.
Two of Red Bull’s hopes for the 2021 season, Liam Lawson and Jüri Vips, both made the top 10 with Hitech Grand Prix, sandwiching Shwarztman in fourth and sixth. Roy Nissany, Oscar Piastri and Marino Sato completed the top 10 as the drivers headed in for lunch.
AFTERNOON
With a number of teams getting in a qualifying simulation during the morning session, attention was focused on longer-runs and data gathering in the afternoon. Just 13 cars headed out when the lights went green, with Guilherme Samaia running the fastest of these.
A red flag disrupted the running after Gianluca Petecof stopped at Turn 13, before action resumed and the remainder of the field headed out for a taste of the track. Times were still well below the morning, as Richard Verschoor set the standard at 1:45.018. The Dutchman did manage to improve with a lap of 1:44.051, before dropping down to seventh.
There were two further red flags during the afternoon, with Lawson and Guanyu Zhou both stopping on track. Both managed to get back out there, with Zhou recovering to finish third.
A flurry of final laps when saw Dan Ticktum take control of the timesheet, breaking the 1m 44s barrier to go first. His Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala followed suit, but couldn’t quite match the Briton’s effort, missing out on by just 0.003s.
Samaia found the time for a late lap to take him as high as fourth, ahead of Felipe Drugovich and Ralph Boschung. Petecof recovered from his earlier struggles to break into the top 10 and finish the afternoon in eighth, despite lapping just 10 times. Day 1’s top driver, David Beckmann finished ninth, as Bent Viscaal completed the top 10.
We’ll be back for Day 3 on Wednesday at 9am (local time).
2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – PRE-SEASON TESTS, DAY 2, MORNING SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:41.697 39 2 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:42.028 28 3 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:42.038 26 4 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:42.256 28 5 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:42.257 27 6 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:42.299 22 7 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:42.347 42 8 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:42.419 31 9 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:42.462 32 10 Marino Sato Trident 1:42.997 27 11 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:43.158 35 12 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:43.206 40 13 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:43.616 35 14 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:43.954 48 15 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:43.997 38 16 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:44.346 31 17 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:44.485 31 18 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:44.575 50 19 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:45.419 33 20 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:45.865 46 21 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:45.865 20 22 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:46.413 13 2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – PRE-SEASON TESTS, DAY 2, AFTERNOON SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:42.185 36 2 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:42.619 36 3 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:43.114 30 4 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:43.129 40 5 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:43.194 34 6 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:44.320 25 7 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:44.335 20 8 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:44.569 10 9 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:44.640 19 10 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:44.879 42 11 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:45.052 21 12 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:46.913 45 13 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:47.429 47 14 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:47.497 47 15 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:47.614 33 16 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:47.900 44 17 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:47.904 30 18 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:48.814 39 19 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:48.974 42 20 Marino Sato Trident 1:49.501 30 21 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:49.824 32 22 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:50.445 18 -
Jehan Daruvala begins with F2 pre-season test in third
Sakhir, 8 March 2021: Charouz Racing System rookie David Beckmann was a surprise name at the top of the standings on the opening day of the Formula 2 pre-season tests in Sakhir, beating out the more experience Christian Lundgaard in the afternoon session to top the table with a time of 1:42.844.
The two-time 2020 Formula 3 race winner looked right at home in the more powerful F2 machinery, also going faster than the morning’s top driver, Dan Ticktum.
MORNING
The grid were quick to set off onto the track for their first miles of 2021, but for the majority, it was only an installation lap as they headed back into the garage for further work on their cars. 10 did brave the windy and dusty conditions of the Bahrain International Circuit, led out by Ticktum.
There was an early red flag as Richard Verschoor came to a halt down the back straight in the leadup to Turn 14. The Dutchman’s stricken MP Motorsport machine was hauled back into the garage for a check-up, while his teammate, Lirim Zendeli, got to work setting the fastest time.
The 2020 F3 race winner got off to a sterling start, flashing round in 1:44.451 to top the opening laps of the season. The German’s time in P1 was short-lived, but he did manage to cap off a solid morning with a place in the top five, finishing fourth.
Zendeli’s 2020 rival, Liam Lawson, was another of the rookies to impress in the early stages, setting the first sub 1m 44s time of the day, which would end up being good enough for P2.
Experience did eventually come to the fore as Ticktum switched on the style towards the back end of the morning, beating Lawson’s time by sixth tenths to finish top, lapping at 1:43.021.
Ticktum’s Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala picked up where he left off last season, running towards the front of the field, though his time wasn’t quite good enough for first, as he settled for P3, seven tenths off the pace.
Three more rookies caught the eye in the morning, as Oscar Piastri, Bent Viscaal and Beckmann all earned themselves places in the top 10, finishing seventh, eighth and 10th. The familiar names of Guilherme Samaia and Marcus Armstrong also appeared towards the front, taking sixth and ninth.
AFTERNOON
MP were straight back on it when action resumed in the afternoon, Zendeli taking back his place at the top of the timesheets with a time of 1:45.010. Backed up by his teammate for the tests, Verschoor, the duo got their fast laps out of the way early doors before focusing on longer runs and dropping out of the top ten.
Reigning F3 champion Piastri made his first appearance at the top of the charts towards the halfway point of the afternoon. Like Zendeli, his attention then switched to race simulations and this saw him drop to P6.
Last season’s surprise package Felipe Drugovich had swapped MP Motorsport for 2020 title challengers UNI-Virtuosi and looked to be quickly getting used to his new machinery, briefly setting the quickest time, before falling to fourth.
Fresh from a two-round stint with HWA RACELAB at the end of last season, Théo Pourchaire was back with his F3 team, ART Grand Prix, and managed third in the afternoon. The Frenchman was beaten by his teammate Lundgaard, who showed his experience and went 0.063s quicker.
None of them could match Beckmann’s Charouz, with the German rookie roaring to first in the closing stages of the afternoon as the only driver to break the 1m 43s barrier on Day 1.
Hitech duo Jüri Vips and Liam Lawson both managed to break into the top ten in the afternoon, going fifth and eighth. Marino Sato snuck into seventh with Trident, while Viscaal and Guanyu Zhou completed the top ten, in ninth and tenth.
We’ll be back for Day 2 on Tuesday at 11.30 am IST (9am -local time).
2020 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – PRE-SEASON TESTS, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:43.021 14 2 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:43.621 17 3 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:43.761 15 4 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:44.095 35 5 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:44.143 16 6 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:44.332 31 7 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:44.346 8 8 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:44.408 19 9 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:44.480 13 10 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:44.529 31 11 Marino Sato Trident 1:44.620 15 12 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:44.706 25 13 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:44.859 38 14 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:44.880 21 15 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:45.038 19 16 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:45.060 18 17 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:45.471 18 18 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:45.486 26 19 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:45.496 24 20 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:46.362 27 21 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:48.816 28 22 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:58.546 7 2020 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – PRE-SEASON TESTS, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:42.844 19 2 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:43.534 32 3 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:43.570 36 4 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:43.871 28 5 Jüri Vips Hitech 1:44.079 18 6 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing . 21 7 Marino Sato Trident 1:44.279 38 8 Liam Lawson Hitech 1:44.280 24 9 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:44.314 40 10 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:44.322 28 11 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:44.331 34 12 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:44.581 23 13 Robert Swhartzman PREMA Racing 1:44.678 18 14 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:45.010 36 15 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:45.134 39 16 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:45.189 16 17 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:45.316 27 18 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:45.561 17 19 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:46.238 33 20 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:48.885 24 21 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:48.990 19 22 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:49.637 26 -
India’s F1 hope, Jehan Daruvala, to continue as Red Bull Junior
Milton Keynes (UK) /Fuschl am See (Austria), 15 Jan 2021: Red Bull Racing have confirmed the extension of their support to Jehan Daruvala in 2021. The Indian racing star created history last month, when he successfully culminated his maiden FIA Formula 2 Championship with a well-deserved victory. The 22 year old’s victory in his rookie season was preceded by a hard fought podium a week prior.
Importantly for Indian motorsport fans, a successful season would be the right opportunity for an F1 seat for the Indian. The Red Bull Junior program has been instrumental in producing some of the world’s best F1 racers over the years including, four-time World F1 Champion – Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and many others.
Jehan’s continuation in the Red Bull Junior Program was inevitable, given his stand out performances in arguably one of the most competitive F2 seasons ever. 16 different drivers were on the podium while 12 of them won a race. Jehan was also fastest overall in the official post season testing, besides finishing on top, in 2 out of the 3 days of testing.
Jehan will continue with Carlin for his second season. His excellent points haul in the last two rounds last season, helped Carlin rise to 3rd in the Team’s Championship.
Speaking about Jehan, Team Principal Trevor Carlin added, “We’re extremely pleased that we have the opportunity to carry on the great progress we have been making with Jehan and have another attack on the FIA F2 Championship. Jehan did a great job last season as an F2 rookie, to really show his true potential by the second half of the season. To finish the year off with a third place and then a win really confirms what we knew from the start. I expect Jehan to continue where he left off – challenging for wins from the outset in the new season.”
“I am very thankful to Red Bull for their continued faith in me. I’m extremely excited to be staying in F2 and with Carlin for 2021 as a Red Bull Junior. We made a lot of progress last year. It was great to end the season on such a high with my first F2 win and then back that up with front running pace in post-season testing.” said Jehan.
He added, “I’m extremely proud to be carrying Red Bull colours again this season and thank Dr Marko and my sponsors for their continued support and belief in me which I will be looking to repay from the very first race.”
The 2021 season kicks off in Bahrain on 26th March and will now have three races at each weekend. All eight weekends continue to be run concurrently with Formula 1, ending on 12th December in Abu Dhabi. Prior to the F2 campaign, Jehan will participate in the Asian F3 Championship for the all Indian team – Mumbai Falcons.
Indian motorsport fans have been tracking Jehan’s progress from a young age and have seen him achieve milestones never achieved by any other Indian in motorsport. Everyone is waiting for the start of the 2021 season hoping that Jehan will follow Narain and Karun to become only the 3rd Indian in Formula 1.
-
Historic Maiden F2 win for Jehan Daruvala
By David Bodapati
Bahrain, 6 Dec 2020: In an immensely proud moment for Indian sport, India’s F1 hope – Jehan Daruvala won the Formula 2 race at the Sakhir Grand Prix. A thrilling battle against F2 Champion, Mick Schumacher and Daniel Tictum saw the 22-year-old star emerge on top in the support race of the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Jehan had a good launch from 2nd on the grid and was up alongside pole sitter – Daniel Ticktum. Tictum squeezed Jehan on the inside which allowed Championship Leader Mick Schumacher to go around the outside of both of them. Eventually, Ticktum emerged in the lead, followed by Schumacher and Jehan in third. A few corners later Jehan made a good move to pass Schumacher and get into second.
A few laps later Schumacher passed Jehan, to relegate him to third. Jehan however did not give up. A thrilling battled ensued and eventually, Jehan got past Schumacher once again, to get back into second. Jehan then reeled off a series of quick laps to catch the race leader. However, Jehan was unable to overtake. The battle for the lead intensified as Ticktum seemed desperate to win the last race of the season. Jehan, however, kept his cool and kept up the pressure. His excellent racecraft forced the race leader to start making mistakes, but Jehan found it tough to get past.
Eventually with less than ten laps to go, Jehan made another fantastic move to get past Ticktum and grab the race lead. Thereafter Jehan drove well to slowly start opening up a gap to the cars behind. Jehan finally took the chequered flag to win his maiden FIA Formula 2 race. His Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda was second, over 3.5 seconds behind Jehan, while Ticktum was third.
Jehan Daruvala on his way to maiden F2 win on Sunday. Photo by James Gasperotti “Motorsport is pretty big in India. We obviously have a lot of people, so I have a big fanbase back home, and my goal at the end of the day is to do myself proud but also do my country proud and to prove to people from back home that even though we don’t have the same facilities and stuff that guys have in Europe, as long as you can work hard you can fight right at the sharp end of the grid.”, said an elated Jehan.
The Indian National Anthem being heard across the Bahrain International Circuit was the best possible way for Jehan to end his season first Formula 2 season. Mick Schumacher won the F2 championship.
-
Tsunoda takes 3rd win; Jehan Daruvala ends up 8th
Sakhir, 5 Dec 2020: Yuki Tsunoda took a brilliant third victory of the season from pole, but it wasn’t as simple as lights-to-flag, with the Carlin racer locked in a race-long dogfight with the entirety of the top five. Guanyu Zhou came out of that brawl in second, after a magnificent charge through the field from 11th, while Nikita Mazepin was forced to settle for third, despite leading for large parts of the afternoon.
Zhou’s efforts weren’t enough to prevent PREMA from sealing the Teams’ Title, as Robert Shwartzman finished fifth, behind Felipe Drugovich, confirming the Italian outfit as Champions with one race to go.
Tsunoda’s win may not have been enough to keep him in the Drivers’ Title fight, but the battle between Callum Ilott and Mick Schumacher for the crown will go down to the wire. The pair had started the day in ninth and 18th after a tough Qualifying session but recovered strongly to finish in sixth and seventh.
AS IT HAPPENED
Tsunoda initially got away without a hitch, but could then be seen adjusting his helmet heading into the first turn, allowing Mazepin the chance to steal the inside line. By the time they exited the first corner the Russian was in-front, while Tsunoda had fallen to P3 behind Shwarztman.
The second Carlin of Jehan Daruvala was sucked up by the pack and fell behind Artem Markelov who’d bombed off the line from P7. Title rivals Ilott and Schumacher only managed to make up a couple places, sitting seventh and 16th.
Starting on the prime tyre, Schumacher made up another few places in the opening 15 laps, getting up to P11 behind Marcus Armstrong, while Ilott dropped back to ninth ahead of his pitstop, appearing to struggle on the soft Pirellis.
Mazepin and Shwartzman pitted from the lead, handing first to Tsunoda, who remained out at the front. Ilott done the same as Schumacher launched ahead of Armstrong to put himself directly behind his title rival. The two wouldn’t get the chance to fight as Ilott finally opted to swap the softs for the hards and returned in 15th.
Mazepin and Shwartzman were on the charge, but couldn’t solely focus on getting through the pack as they had Tsunoda to contend with, the Carlin racer had pitted two laps later and possessed slightly fresher tyres.
Schumacher pitted from the lead on Lap 20, but his stop wasn’t the quickest and he returned in 13th behind Dan Ticktum. Mazepin, Shwartzman and Tsunoda were handed back the race lead, with Ilott up to fifth, in-front of Drugovich.
Tsunoda was given a shock as he attempted to pass Shwarztman ahead of the first turn. He’d flung his Carlin down the side of the PREMA, but Christian Lundgaard – a lap behind – appeared from the pits and Tsunoda needed lightning-fast reactions to evade the ART, diving back behind Shwarztman. Tsunoda had another attempt at Turn 4, easing past the Russian, who then lost a place to Drugovich as well.
There was movement in the race for the title as Schumacher bravely forced his way past both Dan Ticktum and Pedro Piquet for P8, while Ilott fell behind Guanyu Zhou.
Mazepin and Tsunoda were locked in battle for the lead. The two went back and forth, and it was the Carlin driver who eventually made the position stick, thanks to a brilliant late braking move. Having lost momentum, Mazepin was then at the mercy of Drugovich, before Zhou stunned the both of them and came out of nowhere to steal second in one fell swoop.
In the end, Tsunoda crossed the line with a 5.6s advantage over Zhou, with Mazepin retaining the final podium position. Drugovich settled for fourth ahead of Shwartzman. Ilott clinched sixth, directly in-front of his title rival, Schumacher, who’d made a late move on Daruvala. Ticktum and Piquet completed the top ten.
Schumacher retains a 14-point advantage heading into the final race of the season, sitting first on 213 points, ahead of Ilott on 199. Tsunoda is up to third on 186, with Mazepin fourth on 177 and Shwartzman fifth with 169.
PREMA are the new Teams’ Champions, finishing first with 382 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 342.5 and Hitech Grand Prix on 281. Carlin are fourth with 241 and ART Grand Prix fifth on 201.
KEY QUOTE – YUKI TSUNODA (CARLIN RACING)
“I am really, really happy with my result and I want to thank Carlin again. We’ve had really good pace this weekend, especially in the race, and I done my job.
“The start was really bad, but I trusted my driving and my tyre management. Both went well and I got P1 back, so I am really happy and looking forward to tomorrow.”
-
Tsunoda takes pole; Jehan Daruvala races to P3: F2
Sakhir, 4 Nov 2020: Yuki Tsunoda nabbed his fourth pole position in Formula 2, beating out Nikita Mazepin by a tenth of a second to keep his slim title chances alive heading into the final two races of the season. Tsunoda’s teammate Jehan Daruvala took third, with almost all of the top ten setting their best times early on.
The top racer in India currently and the country’s best prospect for F1, Jehan Daruvala, was quick but lost out by hundredth’s of a second but felt that the front-row lock-out for Carlin was possible. “I was kind of under-powered on the acceleration out of Turn 1, and I didn’t make the most of it. The next lap I found almost six or seven hundredths in the first sector, but the rears were done by then. I think pole was definitely a little bit out of reach, but a front row lock out for the team was possible,” the Mumbai-based star said.
Mick Schumacher’s chances of winning the title on Saturday took a battering, as the German racer collided with Roy Nissany at the end of the session, meaning that he will start from outside of the top ten for just the second time this season, all the way back in 18th. Things didn’t go much better for his main rival, Callum Ilott. The UNI-Virtuosi racer could only manage ninth, his second worst performance this year.
20 of the 22 cars were straight onto the Sakhir tarmac for Qualifying under the lights, with no one really knowing what to expect on the shortest lap on the 2020 F2 calendar. Christian Lundgaard leapt to P1 on the first set of flying laps, setting the standard at 1:03.798, before Tsunoda dived into second, with Mazepin third.
The Hitech Grand Prix man found more time on his next tour and stole provisional pole from the ART racer by breaking the 1m 3s barrier. Tsunoda, Daruvala and Felipe Drugovich all managed the same feat to go second, third and fourth.
PREMA had opted against sending their duo out straight away, but finally let them loose after the first set of flying laps, though neither of them was able to crack the top ten with their initial efforts.
Tsunoda had gone fastest in Free Practice and was impressing in the second session of the weekend as well. The Carlin driver needed the four points from pole to stand any chance of winning the Championship and managed to nick first from Mazepin by a tenth of a second.
The field dove into the pits for a fresh set of boots and returned in unison. Shwarztman enjoyed a much better time of things second time around, leaping to fourth, before a number of flying laps were spoiled as Luca Ghiotto spun off and came to a halt on the gravel trap, causing a red flag.
Action resumed with just four minutes on the clock and very little time to warm up the tyres, with two laps of the Bahrain outer track needed to truly get them up to temperature. Traffic also played a huge role, with all 22 cars attempting a push lap at the exact same time. This caused chaos as Schumacher attempted to weave his way through the pack to find the racing line.
It all ended in disaster as the German collided with the side of Nissany, which sent them both spinning and resulted in Nissany running over the back of Schumacher’s rear wing. Qualifying was red flagged and both drivers were out of the cars, with Schumacher down in 18th. Only a minute was left on the clock and the decision was taken not to restart, confirming Tsunoda on pole.
Mazepin followed up the announcement of his promotion into Formula 1 at HAAS with his joint-best starting position in F2, qualifying second. Tsunoda’s teammate Daruvala took third ahead of Shwarztman and Drugovich.
Lundgaard was sixth ahead of Artem Markelov, who scored his best qualifying position of the year. Dan Ticktum sealed eighth, ahead of Ilott and Louis Deletraz.
Schumacher will need one of his trademark strong starts if he is to clinch the title on Saturday, while Ilott will fancy his chances of slashing the PREMA driver’s advantage at the top of the standings. At the front, Tsunoda and Mazepin will be battling toe-to-toe to add to their tally of wins when the Feature Race begins at 3.10pm (local time).
