Charles Leclerc is already shining in F2 at Sakhir

The GP2 is dead, long live the F2! During the winter, the new owners of F1 decided to change the name of the F1 antechamber to improve the visibility of the discipline.

For the first time this season, the F2 was therefore the curtain-raiser for the F1 race, at the Sakhir circuit. The man of the weekend was undoubtedly Charles Leclerc. The 2016 GP3 champion was making his debut in the category, within Prema, the team that won the championship last year with Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi. The ambitions of the different parties could not have been greater.

The least we can say is that Ferrari’s protege did not miss his first appointment. The Monegasque was already sending a very clear message during qualifying, with a pole position by a colossal margin of over seven tenths on Nyck de Vries, nurtured for many years by McLaren.

During the first race, he was unable to win due to a complicated management of his tires in the Middle Eastern heatwave. He couldn’t resist Artem Markelov’s alternative strategy, who took advantage to overtake Norman Nato and the Prema driver towards the end of the race. The latter had to settle for a third place finish and therefore a first podium in his first race.

I’m sure Julio enjoyed our race from up there 🙂
Good first race of the season, P3, happy. Need to work to understand better the tyres👊#work pic.twitter.com/2NPa82fMa1
— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) 15 April 2017

But Charles Leclerc’s moment of glory came during the Sprint race. The new regulations now also provide freedom of choice regarding the tires used during this second race of the weekend. Starting fifth on the reversed grid, he was already in a position to be on the podium at the end of the first lap. He then had no trouble taking the lead and building a gap over the competition.

However, tire management came back to haunt the young driver and he indicated his desire to return to the pits for a tire change. This took place just eight laps before the end. The driver then found himself in 14th place, more than 20 seconds behind the leader. The bet seemed insane but was nevertheless successful.

Indeed, the driver was able to be almost one second faster per sector across the field! He was then able to overtake each of his competitors one by one. He dealt the final blow to Oliver Rowland and Luca Ghiotto on the very last lap and thus clinched his first victory in the discipline!

Logically, he already dominates the championship standings, with an eight-point lead over Artem Markelov and 16 over Renault development driver Oliver Rowland. He has already sent a very strong message to his competitors. He will truly be the man to beat this season.