Liam Lawson led Day 2 of Bahrain Test in FIA F2 side, while fellow Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar was fastest on the FIA F3 side.
F2:
MORNING
Vips had endured a stop-start opening day of testing but led a long-run focused morning session from start to finish on Day 2. The Estonian enjoyed a trouble-free opening stint and was the only driver to break the 1m 47s barrier, ending with a healthy 0.526s advantage over second-placed Verschoor.
The order remained consistent throughout the morning with six drivers totting up more than 40 laps each, including Enzo Fittipaldi, Calan Williams, Logan Sargeant and Frederik Vesti, who all made the top 10. There were three red flags during the session as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amaury Cordeel twice came to a stop on the track, firstly at Turn 8 and later at Turn 7.
DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa was the other stoppage, as he pulled up at Turn 2. The duo were the only drivers other than front two Vips and Verschoor to post fewer than 30 laps in the morning. Charouz pairing Bölükbaşı and Fittipaldi finished in third and fourth ahead of VAR’s Jake Hughes and Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung.
Williams, Sargeant and Vesti completed more than 128 laps between them and ended the morning in seventh, eighth and ninth. PREMA Racing’s Dennis Hauger rounded out the top 10.
AFTERNOON
Several drivers strapped on fresh boots for the afternoon as they aimed to lay down some fast times, but the session was interrupted early on as Marcus Armstrong’s Hitech clipped the barriers at Turn 8. When the session resumed, MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich posted the fastest time of the day so far with a 1:42.907. The Brazilian managed to find a further six tenths later on, which placed him eighth at the flag.
Carlin’s new-look line-up both took further chunks out of the quickest time as Sargeant dropped it down to 1:42.144, less than a tenth better than Lawson. Boschung briefly replaced them at the top of the table, but Lawson reacted by breaking the 1m 42s barrier for the first time this week.
Making his maiden appearance in the top five, Pourchaire matched Boschung to the thousandth, although classified third as the Swiss had completed his lap first. Sargeant had fallen to fourth at the flag, just over half a second slower than his teammate. Virtuosi duo Jack Doohan and Marino Sato finished in fifth and sixth, just 0.030s apart.
In seventh was Vesti, who finished ahead of Drugovich. Jehan Daruvala and Verschoor completed the top 10, while Cem Bolukbaşı drove the most laps, setting 34.
https://twitter.com/Formula2/status/1499446489113927686?s=20&t=t4WD3nepkIRR8wHE8skRpQ
F3:
MORNING
The second morning began in scorching heat, but that didn’t stop the field from heading onto the circuit at the first opportunity. Martins set the benchmark at 1:47.602 ahead of Edgar in the early stages before a series of long runs. Martins remained up front for the majority of the session, but his time was eventually eclipsed by Red Bull-backed Hadjar, who went 0.086s quicker. That bumped Martins down to P2 and the Trident of Edgar down to third.
ART rookie Gregoire Saucy – who dominated post-season testing in Valencia last year – put in the most laps on the morning of Day 2, completing 45 runs overall. After missing Day 1 due to an inconclusive Covid test, Juan Manuel Correa was cleared to hit the track on Wednesday and the ART racer wasted little time, putting himself in the top five and setting the joint-second most laps, with 43.
Trident’s Zane Maloney beat MP Motorsport’s Alex Smolyar to sixth as Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan made the top 10 for the first time in Sakhir, placing eighth. PREMA Racing’s Jak Crawford and Jenzer Motorsport’s William Alatalo completed the top 10, who were all separated by less than half a second.
AFTERNOON
The afternoon saw a mixture of long runs and fast laps as the session began in hot conditions but cooled as the day wore on. The leader switched several times in the opening hour before László Tóth settled into first place with a steady time of 1:50.540. Francesco Pizzi knocked his Charouz teammate off the top of the table when the laptimes began to tumble, but he didn’t remain there for long, as Van Amersfoort’s Franco Colapinto and PREMA’s Olli Bearman each enjoyed spells in first, although both fell out of the top 10 in the final half an hour.
Hadjar continued his promising Day 2 form by breaking the 1m 49s barrier, but it was Martins who took control of the session, dropping a 1:48.250 to jump up to the top of the leaderboard. Stanek dove between the two of them for second place, just over a tenth behind Martins. Saucy took fourth, ahead of Smolyar, Kaylen Frederick and Caio Collet.
Edgar was the busiest man in the afternoon, completing 43 laps before a minor collision between Ido Cohen and Correa brought out a Red Flag and ended the session prematurely. During his 43 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit, Edgar managed to set the eighth fastest time of the afternoon, finishing ahead of O’Sullivan and Kush Maini.
https://twitter.com/FIAFormula3/status/1499418070267441164?s=20&t=t4WD3nepkIRR8wHE8skRpQ
Here’s how Bahrain F2 and F3 Test’s Day 1 panned out
[Note: The above is as per the press release with no edits made]