Roundup of Formula Two’s in-season test which was held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, this weekend.
Having conducted just one pre-season test before last month’s thrilling opening round in Bahrain in which Liam Lawson, Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou all clinched victory, this test offered an opportunity for all drivers to further familiarise themselves with their cars.
Containing 11 separate red flags and three different fastest drivers across all three days of testing, here is a full in-depth roundup of how F2’s 2021 in-season test unfolded.
Day One
Following a slow start to the morning as fog lingered across the circuit, Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala brought out an early red flag, before Piastri followed suit a short time later before the first hour was completed.
Soon after Piastri’s car was cleared, Christian Lundgaard ventured out and quickly hit the ground running, as he posted a series of rapid laps which eventually fell to a 1m 29.594 to top day one as the top seven overall times were posted before the lunch break.
Amidst a late flurry of low fuel fliers, Felipe Drugovich went second fastest ahead of Hitech GP’s Juri Vips and Lawson, with Lirim Zendeli, Zhou and Marcus Armstrong rounding out the top seven.
The afternoon session saw a number of drivers focus on race simulations – despite F2 not racing in Spain this season – whilst Zendeli suffered a wide moment clipping the barrier, before Roy Nissany crashed at Turn Nine to cause a red flag.
Lundgaard eventually finished the afternoon session on top but just four drivers failed to improve on their best lap time from the morning session, as Richard Verschoor went eighth quickest overall ahead of Theo Pourchaire by just 0.002s.
Further down the order, Bent Viscaal and Marino Sato finished 15th and 16 respectively after setting the exact same lap time of 1m 30.727 during the morning session.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
| 1 | Christian Lundgaard | ART GP | 1m 29.594 | am |
| 2 | Felipe Drugovich | Virtuosi | + 0.178 | am |
| 3 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.394 | am |
| 4 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.412 | am |
| 5 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | + 0.484 | am |
| 6 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | + 0.489 | am |
| 7 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | + 0.564 | am |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.571 | pm |
| 9 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.573 | pm |
| 10 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.665 | am |
| 11 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.831 | am |
| 12 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | + 1.004 | am |
| 13 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | + 1.080 | am |
| 14 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 1.129 | am |
| 15 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | + 1.133 | am |
| 16 | Marino Sato | Trident | + 1.133 | am |
| 17 | David Beckmann | Charouz | + 1.230 | pm |
| 18 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos | + 1.288 | am |
| 19 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | + 1.359 | am |
| 20 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | + 1.711 | am |
| 21 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | + 1.841 | am |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA Racelab | + 5.035 | pm |
Day Two
Unlike the foggy conditions of the opening morning, teams were instead greeted with bright sunshine with Campos’ Ralph Boschung setting the initial early pace until Roy Nissany spun his DAMS car into the gravel at turn three to bring out a brief red flag.
Once the session resumed, several teams opted for low fuel qualifying simulations with Drugovich set to finish quickest, until Verschoor posted a day-topping 1m 28.280 ahead of Boschung who slotted his Campos into second as 0.264s split the top three.
Several teams thereafter decided to focus on long runs throughout the afternoon session, despite the race simulations being disrupted on three occasions with Alessio Deledda spinning at turns 12 and 1, whilst Robert Shwartzman stopped at turn three.
Charouz however were the only team in which both drivers improved on their lap times from the morning session, as David Beckmann topped the afternoon running with a 1m 29.384 to put him 19th quickest overall for the day.
Teammate, Guilherme Samaia had to settle for the second quickest time of the afternoon and 0.126s off Beckmann, as the Brazilian was only 20th quickest in the overall classification.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
| 1 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1m 28.280 | am |
| 2 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.194 | am |
| 3 | Felipe Drugovich | Virtuosi | + 0.264 | am |
| 4 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | + 0.390 | am |
| 5 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | + 0.395 | am |
| 6 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.418 | am |
| 7 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.486 | am |
| 8 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | + 0.521 | am |
| 9 | Christian Lundgaard | ART GP | + 0.525 | am |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.530 | am |
| 11 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.592 | am |
| 12 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | + 0.600 | am |
| 13 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | + 0.604 | am |
| 14 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos | + 0.649 | am |
| 15 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | + 0.732 | am |
| 16 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.779 | am |
| 17 | Marino Sato | Trident | + 0.895 | am |
| 18 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | + 0.980 | am |
| 19 | David Beckmann | Charouz | + 1.104 | pm |
| 20 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | + 1.230 | pm |
| 21 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | + 2.575 | am |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA Racelab | + 4.441 | am |
Day Three
Dark clouds greeted drivers on the final day with everyone opting to venture out early to bank some data across both hard and medium tyre compounds, before Deledda caused a red flag after spinning at turn one.
Once the session resumed, Drugovich posted a 1m 27.945 on medium tyres to top the day, as everyone squeezed in one last qualifying simulation, which saw Piastri, Lundgaard, Lawson and Vips round out the top five.
Drugovich and Piastri’s lap times also ensured that they finished this test overall as the two quickest drivers across the entire weekend, with Verschoor setting the third fastest lap of 1m 28.280 as he topped day two.
Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala brought the morning session to a premature end at turn 11 whilst rain briefly fell across the circuit.
Conditions however improved for the afternoon session as many drivers focused on gathering a variety of data, as Lawson and Verschoor brought out three separate red flags.
Lawson caused two of those stoppages after tagging the wall at turn five early in the session, before eventually grinding to a halt with 15 minutes left between turns eight and nine.
Verschoor meanwhile stopped at turn seven during the session as Trident’s Bent Viscaal topped the afternoon session with a 1m 30.280.
HWA Racelab’s Matteo Nannini was the only driver to improve on his morning time in the afternoon session, which left him 21st overall.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich | Virtuosi | 1m 27.945 | am |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | + 0.160 | am |
| 3 | Christian Lundgaard | ART GP | + 0.340 | am |
| 4 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.477 | am |
| 5 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.488 | am |
| 6 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.539 | am |
| 7 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | + 0.546 | am |
| 8 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | + 0.791 | am |
| 9 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | + 0.792 | am |
| 10 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | + 0.810 | am |
| 11 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.961 | am |
| 12 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 1.027 | am |
| 13 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos | + 1.028 | am |
| 14 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 1.047 | am |
| 15 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | + 1.048 | am |
| 16 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | + 1.087 | am |
| 17 | Marino Sato | Trident | + 1.237 | am |
| 18 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | + 1.733 | am |
| 19 | David Beckmann | Charouz | + 1.799 | am |
| 20 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | + 2.221 | am |
| 21 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | + 2.401 | pm |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA Racelab | + 4.151 | am |
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