Sauber Junior Team by Charouz’s Louis Deletraz ended up quickest on first day of FIA Formula 2 (F2) Championship test in Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina.
Moving on from Carlin to Sauber Junior Team by Charouz, Deletraz was fastest on Day 1 of the Abu Dhabi F2 test at Yas Marina circuit with a 1m50.543s lap as he headed the ART Grand Prix rookie duo of Marcus Armstrong and Christian Lundgaard.
The test is only to run the young drivers rather than the tyres as Pirelli moves on to 18-inch from 2020 onward in F2. Prema’s Mick Schumacher was the third fastest with his morning time as Carlin newcomer Nikita Mazepin was fourth.
Guanyu Zhou stayed on with UN-Virtuosi Racing as he lined up fifth, while DAMS newcomer Sean Gelael was sixth with HWA Racelab and F2 returnee Artem Markelov was seventh. Behind them was Trident’s Luca Ghiotto in eighth.
The Italian will be moving out of F2 in 2020 but is helping the team to get the maximum fro the experience of Ghiotto. UNI Virtuosi Racing’s newcomer Callum Ilott ended up ninth with Sauber Junior Team by Charouz’s Pedro Piquet was 10th.
DAMS’ Daniel Ticktum was 11th as he missed on a Top 10 slot. In otherwise, it was a clean run for most part of the day apart from MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich and teammate Mahaver Raghunathan causing red flag after stopping on track.
Here’s the timing for both the F2 sessions:
2019 FIA F2 Championship – Post-season tests, Day 1, morning session
| DRIVER | TEAM | LAPTIME | LAPS | |
| 1 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Racing | 1:50.947 | 32 |
| 2 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz Racing System | 1:50.958 | 18 |
| 3 | Nikita Mazepin | Carlin | 1:51.034 | 22 |
| 4 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:51.178 | 26 |
| 5 | Sean Gelael | DAMS | 1:51.449 | 31 |
| 6 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1:51.570 | 27 |
| 7 | Callum Ilott | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:51.585 | 18 |
| 8 | Artem Markelov | BWT HWA RACELAB | 1:51.626 | 19 |
| 9 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | 1:51.692 | 28 |
| 10 | Niko Kari | Campos Racing | 1:51.963 | 28 |
| 11 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:52.021 | 33 |
| 12 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:52.077 | 32 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | 1:52.155 | 27 |
| 14 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1:52.281 | 30 |
| 15 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz Racing System | 1:52.448 | 32 |
| 16 | Marino Sato | Trident | 1:52.516 | 28 |
| 17 | Marcus Armstrong | ART Grand Prix | 1:52.653 | 22 |
| 18 | Giuliano Alesi | BWT HWA RACELAB | 1:52.721 | 23 |
| 19 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | MP Motorsport | 1:53.505 | 22 |
| 20 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos Racing | 1:53.540 | 19 |
2019 FIA F2 Championship – Post-season tests, Day 1, afternoon session
| DRIVER | TEAM | LAPTIME | LAPS | |
| 1 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz Racing System | 1:50.543 | 49 |
| 2 | Marcus Armstrong | ART Grand Prix | 1:50.798 | 28 |
| 3 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:50.923 | 28 |
| 4 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Racing | 1:50.966 | 28 |
| 5 | Artem Markelov | BWT HWA RACELAB | 1:51.523 | 26 |
| 6 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz Racing System | 1:51.685 | 33 |
| 7 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | 1:51.724 | 35 |
| 8 | Sean Gelael | DAMS | 1:51.840 | 39 |
| 9 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:51.977 | 28 |
| 10 | Giuliano Alesi | BWT HWA RACELAB | 1:52.091 | 35 |
| 11 | Niko Kari | Campos Racing | 1:52.117 | 25 |
| 12 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | MP Motorsport | 1:52.467 | 24 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:52.796 | 35 |
| 14 | Roy Nissany | Trident | 1:52.881 | 25 |
| 15 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos Racing | 1:54.082 | 15 |
| 16 | Nikita Mazepin | Carlin | 1:55.393 | 33 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | 1:55.786 | 33 |
| 18 | Callum Ilott | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:56.396 | 44 |
| 19 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1:56.629 | 22 |
| 20 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1:56.789 | 23 |
