2021 Bahrain Test

2021 Bahrain Test
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Test Information
Date	8 - 10 March 2021
Circuit	Bahrain International Circuit
Location	Sakhir, Southern Governorate, Bahrain
Lap length	5.412 km (3.363 mi)
Fastest Lap
Driver	Christian Lundgaard
Time	Day	Laps
1:41.697	2	218
Testing Guide
Previous 2020 Bahrain Post-Season Test		Next 2021 Barcelona Test

The 2021 Bahrain Test, otherwise known as the 2021 Bahrain Pre-Season Test, was the first and only pre-season test ahead of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Southern Governorate, Bahrain. The test would see several drivers make their official debuts for their teams, Pirelli debut a new hard tyre compound, as well as serve as a first taste of F2 equipment for Gianluca Petecof and Alessio Deledda.

Christian Lundgaard would set the pace overall during the test, recording the fastest lap of the test on the second day, a 1:41.697 at the wheel of the #9 ART. The first day, in contrast, had been topped by David Beckmann in the #14 Charouz, the German youth recording a 1:42.844, while the third day was topped by the #17 DAMS of Marcus Armstrong after he recorded a 1:42.173.

In terms of distance it was Guilherme Samaia who went furthest, completing 227 laps of the Bahraini circuit across the three days, the equivalent of covering 1228.524 km (763.369 mi). ART, meanwhile, were the team to cover the most distance, Lundgaard and new teammate Théo Pourchaire completing 444 laps for a combined distance of 2402.928 km (1493.110 mi).

Background

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, which caused numerous countries to enforce travel restrictions and quarantines, it was announced that pre-season testing for the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship would be staged at the Bahrain International Circuit, which was to also host the first round of the season. The test itself would be held over three days on 8 - 10 March, two weeks before the opening round at the end of March. Furthermore, the test would be held on the full Sakhir circuit rather than the "Outer-circuit" that debuted in 2020, with all eleven teams attending the test.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Bahrain Test is displayed below:

2021 Bahrain Test Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Days
1	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Racing	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
2	Oscar Piastri	Prema Racing	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
3	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
4	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
5	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
6	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
7	Liam Lawson	Hitech Grand Prix	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
8	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
9	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
10	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
11	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
12	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
14	David Beckmann	Charouz Racing System	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
15	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
17	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
20	Gianluca Petecof	Campos Racing	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
21	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
22	Matteo Nannini	HWA Racelab	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
23	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
24	Bent Viscaal	Trident	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
25	Marino Sato	Trident	Dallara	F2 2018	Mecachrome 3.4L V6t	All
Source:

Day One

The opening day of the test would be on 8 March 2021, with the day split into two-three hour sessions, split by a one hour lunch break. While weather conditions were ideal for running, despite being staged in the day rather than at night as the 2020 Bahrain Tests had been, the circuit itself was covered in sand, meaning it would have to be "cleaned" by the F2 field before any representative times could be recorded. There would, however, be no restrictions on what teams could spend their time doing, barring the limited number of tyres available to each driver.

Report

The session opened with the entire 22 car field leaving the pitlane at the start of the session, although all of the drivers would only complete a single installation lap before immediately returning to the pits. After a brief lull ten drivers would return to the circuit and begin lapping the circuit, only for Richard Verschoor to cause the first red flag of the day, having stopped on the back straight. Once the #11 MP Motorsport was cleared the session resumed, with Verschoor's teammate Lirim Zendeli going out to set the early pace, a 1:44.451.

Zendeli's opening effort would swiftly be beaten, however, as fellow rookie and F3 rival Liam Lawson became the first driver to dip into the 1:43.000s, which would stand as the fastest effort through to the final hour of the morning session. Indeed, it was only when relative F2 veteran Dan Ticktum wound himself up that Lawson's time was beaten, with the Brit storming to the front of the field with a 1:43.021, six tenths faster than Lawson. At the other end of the field, meanwhile, there would be a notable lack of running from Prema Racing, with Robert Shwartzman and Oscar Piastri only completing seven and eight laps respectively, with Shwartzman last overall and fifteen seconds slower than Ticktum.

After the lunch break the test day resumed, with Zendeli again opting to be the first driver to record a time, a 1:45.010, which teammate Verschoor would come close to matching a few moments later. Piastri then swept to the top of the table before being displaced by Felipe Drugovich, with the majority of the field completing pseudo-qualifying runs in the first hour of the afternoon session. Indeed, after an opening barrage the field settled into long runs and race simulations, with a lot of attention placed on the new Pirelli hard tyre across the board.

Indeed, it was only in the final minutes of the session that teams would switch focus back to the soft tyres, with a barrage of new flying laps recorded in the closing moments. ART Grand Prix duo Théo Pourchaire and Christian Lundgaard would leap into the top three, the Dane edging out his new teammate by 0.063s, before both were beaten by David Beckmann, who set the fastest time of the day with a 1:42.844. Other big movers would be Hitech Grand Prix duo Lawson and Jüri Vips, who both broke into the top ten, Marino Sato and Bent Viscaal in the two Tridents, and Guanyu Zhou in the #3 UNI-Virtuosi.

Results

Below is the full result from the first day of the 2021 Bahrain Test:

2021 Bahrain Test Day One Times
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Time		Gap
					S1	S2
1st	14	David Beckmann	Charouz Racing System	50	1:44.529	1:42.844	—
2nd	5	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	38	1:43.021	1:48.885	+0.177s
3rd	9	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	53	1:44.880	1:43.534	+0.690s
4th	10	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	55	1:45.038	1:43.570	+0.726s
5th	7	Liam Lawson	Hitech Grand Prix	41	1:43.621	1:44.280	+0.777s
6th	6	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	41	1:43.761	1:49.637	+0.917s
7th	4	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	53	1:44.706	1:43.871	+1.027s
8th	2	Oscar Piastri	Prema Racing	29	1:44.346	1:44.088	+1.244s
9th	12	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	71	1:44.095	1:45.010	+1.251s
10th	8	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	34	1:44.143	1:44.314	+1.299s
11th	25	Marino Sato	Trident	53	1:44.620	1:44.279	+1.435s
12th	24	Bent Viscaal	Trident	59	1:44.408	1:44.314	+1.470s
13th	3	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	46	1:45.060	1:44.322	+1.478s
14th	17	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	47	1:44.480	1:44.331	+1.487s
15th	15	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	47	1:44.332	1:45.189	+1.488s
16th	16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	41	1:45.471	1:44.581	+1.737s
17th	1	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Racing	25	1:58.546	1:44.678	+1.834s
18th	11	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	74	1:44.859	1:45.134	+2.015s
19th	22	Matteo Nannini	HWA Racelab	53	1:45.486	1:45.316	+2.472s
20th	21	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	41	1:45.496	1:45.561	+2.652s
21st	20	Gianluca Petecof	Campos Racing	60	1:46.362	1:46.238	+3.394s
22nd	23	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	47	1:48.816	1:48.990	+5.972s
Source:

• Bold indicates a drivers fastest time during the test-day.
• Purple indicates the fastest driver in each session.

Day Two

The second day of the test was staged on 9 March 2021, with conditions remaining dry and windy around the desert based circuit, resulting in more sand being blown onto the circuit. Likewise, there was freedom in what programmes the teams and drivers could run as on day one, with the teams still restricted to their allocation of tyres for the entire test.

Report

The start of day two's running would be rather more rapid then day one, with a number of drivers venturing out onto the circuit and straight into two or three lap runs. Christian Lundgaard was one of those to venture out early, with the Dane going on to dictate the early pace, initially setting a 1:43.514. The first runs were then ended by an issue for Alessio Deledda, who was forced to pull the #23 HWA off at the final corner resulting in a red flag.

When the session resumed it was Lundgaard who again lit up the timing screen, the Dane dipping into the 1:42.000s, with teammate Théo Pourchaire briefly going second before being displaced by Bent Viscaal. Marcus Armstrong would also displace the Frenchman before the halfway point in the session, claiming third, before the field settled down into long-runs ahead of the lunch break. Another flurry of quali-sims would follow towards the end of the three hour session, with Lundgaard improving again to claim a 1:41.697, the first sub-1:42.000 lap of the test.

The afternoon session would see a near universal focus on long-running, with thirteen drivers immediately heading onto the circuit, headed by Guilherme Samaia. Samaia would go on to dictate the early pace as drivers settled into full race simulations, only for their plans to be disrupted when Gianluca Petecof stopped at turn thirteen. After the Brazilian's #20 Campos was dragged clear the session resumed, with Richard Verschoor moving to the top of the standings as the long-runs continued.

There would, however, be further disruptions during the afternoon, with Guanyu Zhou and Liam Lawson causing two quick-fire red flags when they stopped on track in the second hour. Regardless, teams would still commit to completing race simulations until the final minutes of the final hour, when drivers began heading back out on soft tyres. Dan Ticktum set the pace in the late barrage, becoming the first driver of the session to dip into the 1:43.000s, with Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala falling just 0.003s shy in second before Ticktum improved again to a 1:42.185.

Results

Below is the full result from the second day of the 2021 Bahrain Test:

2021 Bahrain Test Day Two Times
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Time		Gap
					S1	S2
1st	9	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	84	1:41.697	1:46.913	—
2nd	24	Bent Viscaal	Trident	70	1:42.028	1:44.879	+0.331s
3rd	17	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	70	1:42.038	1:47.900	+0.341s
4th	5	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	71	1:43.158	1:42.185	+0.488s
5th	7	Liam Lawson	Hitech Grand Prix	67	1:42.256	1:48.814	+0.559s
6th	1	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Racing	60	1:42.257	1:47.614	+0.560s
7th	8	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	69	1:42.299	1:47.497	+0.602s
8th	10	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	89	1:42.347	1:47.429	+0.650s
9th	16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	73	1:42.419	1:48.974	+0.722s
10th	2	Oscar Piastri	Prema Racing	64	1:42.462	1:49.824	+0.765s
11th	6	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	71	1:43.616	1:42.619	+0.922s
12th	25	Marino Sato	Trident	57	1:42.997	1:49.501	+1.300s
13th	3	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	68	1:43.997	1:43.114	+1.417s
14th	15	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	90	1:44.575	1:43.129	+1.432s
15th	4	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	80	1:45.865	1:43.194	+1.497s
16th	21	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	65	1:43.206	1:44.320	+1.509s
17th	14	David Beckmann	Charouz Racing System	67	1:43.954	1:44.640	+2.257s
18th	11	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	51	1:44.485	1:44.335	+2.638s
19th	12	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	52	1:44.346	1:45.052	+2.649s
20th	20	Gianluca Petecof	Campos Racing	43	1:45.419	1:44.569	+2.872s
21st	22	Matteo Nannini	HWA Racelab	38	1:45.865	1:50.445	+4.168s
22nd	23	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	43	1:46.413	1:47.900	+4.716s
Source:

• Bold indicates a drivers fastest time during the test-day.
• Purple indicates the fastest driver in each session.

Day Three

The third and final day of the 2021 Bahrain Test was staged on 10 March, with six hours of running scheduled, split across two three hour sessions split by a lunch break. Furthermore, as with the other two days there would be no limit on tyre use, barring the tyre limit set for the entire three day test.

Report

The final morning session of the test would see almost the entire field venture out onto the circuit as soon as the pit lane opened, with almost everyone using fresh soft tyres. The following minutes would see a barrage of quali-sims completed by the drivers, with Jüri Vips ending up at the head of the timesheet after the first volley with a 1:42.224. Liam Lawson then toppled his teammate in the second barrage, albeit by just 0.006s, before Marcus Armstrong went fastest with a 1:42.173 as the quali-sims came to a conclusion.

After that the session rather settled down, with some drivers and teams focusing on race simulations, while others tried out quali-sims on used rubber. As a result there would be no major changes to the overall order, with those on race sims instead focusing on running the hard tyre once again. In terms of distance it was David Beckmann who completed the most laps, 48 in total, while Lawson as one of the drivers to focus on quali-sims completed the fewest with thirteen.

With fresh tyres at a premium at the start of the final session of a three day test there was little surprise that only a handful of cars ventured out of the pits at the start of the afternoon session, with Lirim Zendeli leading a small quartet out. The empty track would hence allow the #12 MP Motorsport to dictate the pace, although his effort of 1:47.305 clearly indicated that he was on high fuel despite using soft tyres. Indeed, all 22 drivers would opt to complete race simulations and long runs in the afternoon session, with the average pace of the field settling in the 1:48.000s.

It was only in the final hour, when drivers switched onto newer tyres to simulate a mid-race pitstop, that times began to drop again, although only a handful would beat Zendeli's early benchmark. Ralph Boschung was the first of those to beat Zendli and would end the afternoon fastest, recording a 1:44.905 after a late switch to used softs, with Robert Shwartzman settling into second with a 1:47.146. Gianluca Petecof then claimed second with a 1:45.547, with the rest of the field winding up still behind Zendeli's early benchmark come the end of the day.

Results

Below is the full result from the third day of the 2021 Bahrain Test:

2021 Bahrain Test Day Three Times
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Time		Gap
					S1	S2
1st	17	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	83	1:42.173	1:47.891	—
2nd	7	Liam Lawson	Hitech Grand Prix	52	1:42.218	1:47.409	+0.045s
3rd	8	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	75	1:42.224	1:48.332	+0.051s
4th	3	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	97	1:42.246	1:48.446	+0.073s
5th	12	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	82	1:42.356	1:47.307	+0.183s
6th	1	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Racing	73	1:42.359	1:47.146	+0.186s
7th	21	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	82	1:42.427	1:44.905	+0.254s
8th	11	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	81	1:42.522	1:47.598	+0.349s
9th	2	Oscar Piastri	Prema Racing	75	1:42.527	1:47.326	+0.354s
10th	4	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	88	1:42.570	1:48.613	+0.397s
11th	14	David Beckmann	Charouz Racing System	82	1:42.587	1:50.048	+0.414s
12th	16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	85	1:42.590	1:46.104	+0.417s
13th	10	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	82	1:42.595	1:47.426	+0.422s
14th	9	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	81	1:42.674	1:48.487	+0.501s
15th	24	Bent Viscaal	Trident	75	1:42.815	1:48.630	+0.642s
16th	25	Marino Sato	Trident	84	1:42.920	1:48.926	+0.747s
17th	22	Matteo Nannini	HWA Racelab	70	1:43.159	1:47.893	+0.986s
18th	20	Gianluca Petecof	Campos Racing	79	1:43.219	1:45.537	+1.046s
19th	15	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	90	1:43.283	1:47.698	+1.110s
20th	5	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	88	1:43.496	1:47.965	+1.323s
21st	6	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	85	1:43.585	1:48.128	+1.412s
22nd	23	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	72	1:45.076	1:48.456	+2.903s
Source:

• Bold indicates a drivers fastest time during the test-day.
• Purple indicates the fastest driver in each session.

Combined Results

Outlined below are the combined best laps and final lap tallies of all participants in the 2021 Bahrain Test:

2021 Bahrain Test Combined Results
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1st	9	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	218	1:41.697	—
2nd	24	Bent Viscaal	Trident	204	1:42.028	+0.331s
3rd	17	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	200	1:42.038	+0.341s
4th	5	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	197	1:42.185	+0.488s
5th	7	Liam Lawson	Hitech Grand Prix	160	1:42.218	+0.521s
6th	8	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	178	1:42.224	+0.527s
7th	3	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	211	1:42.234	+0.537s
8th	1	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Racing	158	1:42.257	+0.560s
9th	10	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	226	1:42.347	+0.650s
10th	12	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	205	1:42.356	+0.659s
11th	16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	199	1:42.419	+0.722s
12th	20	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	188	1:42.427	+0.730s
13th	2	Oscar Piastri	Prema Racing	168	1:42.462	+0.765s
14th	11	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	209	1:42.522	+0.825s
15th	4	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	221	1:42.570	+0.873s
16th	14	David Beckmann	Charouz Racing System	198	1:42.587	+0.890s
17th	6	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	197	1:42.619	+0.922s
18th	25	Marino Sato	Trident	184	1:42.920	+1.223s
19th	15	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	227	1:43.129	+1.432s
20th	22	Matteo Nannini	HWA Racelab	161	1:43.159	+1.462s
21st	21	Gianluca Petecof	Campos Racing	182	1:43.219	+1.522s
22nd	23	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	162	1:45.076	+3.379s
Source:

References

Images and Videos:

References:

2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship
Entrants
ART Grand Prix • Campos Racing • Carlin • Charouz Racing System • DAMS • Hitech Grand Prix • HWA Racelab • MP Motorsport • Prema Racing • Trident • UNI-Virtuosi Racing
Manufacturers/Tyres
Dallara • Mecachrome • Pirelli
Car/engine
Dallara F2 2018 • Mecachrome V634T 3.4l V6t
Drivers
1 Robert Shwartzman • 2 Oscar Piastri • 3 Guanyu Zhou • 4 Felipe Drugovich • 5 Dan Ticktum • 6 Jehan Daruvala • 7 Liam Lawson • 8 Jüri Vips • 9 Christian Lundgaard • 10 Théo Pourchaire • 11 Richard Verschoor; Jack Doohan • 12 Lirim Zendeli; Clément Novalak • 14 David Beckmann; Enzo Fittipaldi; Richard Verschoor • 15 Guilherme Samaia • 16 Roy Nissany • 17 Marcus Armstrong • 20 Gianluca Petecof; Matteo Nannini; David Beckmann; Olli Caldwell • 21 Ralph Boschung • 22 Matteo Nannini; Jack Aitken; Jake Hughes; Logan Sargeant • 23 Alessio Deledda • 24 Bent Viscaal • 25 Marino Sato
Races
Bahrain Sprint 1 • Bahrain Sprint 2 • Bahrain Feature • Monaco Sprint 1 • Monaco Sprint 2 • Monaco Feature • Baku Sprint 1 • Baku Sprint 2 • Baku Feature • Silverstone Sprint 1 • Silverstone Sprint 2 • Silverstone Feature • Monza Sprint 1 • Monza Sprint 2 • Monza Feature • Sochi Sprint • Sochi Feature • Jeddah Sprint 1 • Jeddah Sprint 2 • Jeddah Feature • Yas Marina Sprint 1 • Yas Marina Sprint 2 • Yas Marina Feature
Cancelled Races
2021 Sochi Sprint Race 2
Tests
2020 Bahrain Post-Season Test • 2021 Bahrain Test • 2021 Barcelona Test • 2021 Yas Marina Test
Related Content
2020 • 2022 • Formula One • FIA Formula 3 Championship