Three new days of collective testing for F2 in Bahrain

Day 1: Wednesday, March 21

As expected, it was under a beautiful blue sky and temperatures above 20 degrees that the morning session of this first testing day started. As soon as the session opened, the first drivers on track were Roberto Merhi (MP Motorsport) with Jack Aitken (ART) and Santino Ferrucci (Trident). After an hour marked by numerous installation laps, it was Luca Ghiotto (Campos) who set the first fast lap time around the 44-minute mark.

This first session was marked by three red flags successively triggered by Alexander Albon (DAMS) stopped at turn 13, then by Arjun Maini (Trident) stopped on the main straight, and finally a third one caused by Nicholas Latifi (DAMS) 10 minutes before the end.

In the ranking at the end of the morning, Luca Ghiotto (Campos) remained in the lead ahead of Antonio Fuoco (Charouz), who had been the leader of the session for a long time, Louis Deletraz (Charouz), Maximilian Günther (Arden) and Artem Markelov (Russian Times).

After lunch break, the drivers took to the track under a temperature of 30°C. The first one to start was Jack Aitken (ART), closely followed by Arjun Maini (Trident) and George Russell in the other car from the Burgundy team. Note that the French team had not driven during the morning session.

Several drivers were exchanging the fastest lap until Louis Deletraz (Charouz) beat the fastest lap of the morning. But it was ultimately Nyck de Vries (Prema) who set the best time, with the Swiss driver finishing second ahead of Lando Norris (Carlin), Arjun Maini (Trident), and Antonio Fuoco (Charouz).

And that’s all for today! @nyckdevries ends the first day of running on top of the timesheets, so stay tuned for the report…#F2 pic.twitter.com/bSBGJFRqbv

— FIA Formula 2 (@FIA_F2) 21 mars 2018

Day 2: Thursday, March 22

It was under ideal track conditions that the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain began. This pushed the drivers to get out of the garages as quickly as possible. The first ones on track were Arjun Maini (Trident) and his teammate Santino Ferrucci (Trident), quickly followed by Louis Delétraz (Charouz).

The morning session was marked by two red flags, the first caused by Artem Markelov (Russian Times) spinning at turn 8 and the second by Alexander Albon (DAMS) stopping at the pit lane entry. At the halfway point of the session, the fastest driver was Arjun Maini (Trident) with a time below 1 minute 43, just ahead of Louis Delétraz (Charouz) who was 5 tenths of a second behind the Indian driver.

At the end of the session, Arjun Maini (Trident) was leading ahead of Jack Aitken (ART), Nyck de Vries (Prema), Luca Ghiotto (Campos), and Louis Delétraz (Charouz), who dropped back throughout the session.

As the track temperature had clearly increased, the first drivers appeared on the track for the afternoon session. The two quickest drivers to hit the track were Antonio Fuoco (Charouz) and his teammate Louis Delétraz. Most drivers focused on race pace laps.

This session was not marked by any red flags. Ralph Boschung (MP Motorsport) remained in the lead for a long time before Santino Ferrucci (Trident) displaced him with fifteen minutes to go.

In summary, the two aforementioned drivers were holding onto the top two positions ahead of Arjun Maini (Trident), Louis Delétraz (Charouz), and Lando Norris (Carlin).

And that’s day 2 done and dusted! @SantinoFerrucci tops the afternoon session, and @ArjunMaini_ got the fastest time of the day this morning for a @trident_team lock-out. Report coming soon… pic.twitter.com/KCRBywqWiZ

— FIA Formula 2 (@FIA_F2) 22 mars 2018

Day 3: Friday, March 23

The final morning session of these trials started under a still pleasant weather. The first three drivers on track were Roy Nissany (Campos) ahead of Alexander Albon (DAMS) and Nirei Fukuzumi (Arden). After one hour, Maximilian Günther (Arden) was the fastest after not having done much driving the day before. At that point in the session, he was ahead of Louis Delétraz (Charouz) and Tadasuke Makino (Russian Time).

The only red flag of the session came after two hours. It was triggered by Jack Aitken (ART) stopping…at turn 8! The rest of the session was mostly dedicated to race-paced laps.

This allowed Maximilian Günther (Arden) to stay ahead of Louis Delétraz (Charouz) and George Russell (ART). In fourth and fifth position, we find Jack Aitken (ART) and Sergio Sette Camara (Carlin).

The final session of these pre-season tests was finally starting under the sky of Bahrain. The fastest to hit the track were the two Campos drivers Luca Ghiotto and Roy Nissany.

After an hour of effort, the only driver able to challenge the fastest driver of the day Maximilian Günther (Arden) was Roberto Merhi (MP Motorsport). The majority of this final session saw drivers focusing on race simulations as well as pit stop training.

The last two red flags of this test session were raised for Artem Markelov (Russian Time) and Ralph Boschung (MP Motorsport).

About twenty minutes before the end, several drivers were improving their lap times in an attempt to take the lead. The two main threats turned out to be Antonio Fuoco (Charouz) and Nirei Fukuzumi (Arden).

In the end, this wave of improvements at the very end of the session allowed Maximilian Günther (Arden) to remain in the lead as he was in the morning. Ahead of his teammate Nirei Fukuzumi, Antonio Fuoco (Charouz), Sergio Sette Camara (Carlin) and Artem Markelov (Russian Times).

That’s all, folks! #F2 pre-season testing is officially over – @MAXGofficial ends the day quickest, as @Nirei_Fukuzumi tops the afternoon running pic.twitter.com/1tcllkzmUa

— FIA Formula 2 (@FIA_F2) 23 mars 2018