Roundup of the 2021 F2 Post-Season Test in Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi as teams explored new driver line-ups and focused on preparing for next season.
With only six drivers sticking with their teams from this season throughout the three-day test, there were a lot of experimenting as teams adapted to returning drivers who previously drove for the team in lower categories or new drivers altogether.
Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) meanwhile made their bow in the series in this test as the Dutch outfit replaced HWA Racelab in F2, as they ran Jake Hughes and Amaury Cordeel in the first two days before Cem Bolukbasi replaced Hughes for the final day.
Jehan Daruvala, Felipe Drugovich and Jack Doohan up front dominated all three days with Daruvala setting the overall quickest time for PREMA, as we bring a full roundup of all three days of running.
Day One
With cool temperatures greeting the F2 paddock for the opening day of the 2021 Post-Season Test, Felipe Drugovich was quickly on the pace with 1m 35.577 as he returned to MP Motorsport after spending the season with UNI-Virtuosi.
Clement Novalak, Cordeel, Frederick Vesti and Theo Pourchaire all caused stoppages in the morning session, although only Pourchaire finished Day One amongst the ten fastest overall drivers as he posted the fourth quickest lap time of the day during the afternoon session.
Red Bull juniors, Juri Vips and Dennis Hauger meanwhile collided during the morning session as nobody managed to better Drugovich’s early pace-setting lap time heading into the lunch break.
The afternoon session in contrast saw more running despite early separate red flags to remove Cordeel and Vesti’s stricken VAR and ART GP cars.
On track, Olli Caldwell set the initial pace of 1m 40.217 which was swiftly bettered by Daruvala who was briefly then displaced by Vesti, only to reclaim top spot then find himself demoted by Drugovich and Pourchaire.
Daruvala eventually posted 1m 35.435 to top the opening day ahead of Drugovich who had failed to improve on his morning effort, as Jack Doohan finished third ahead of Pourchaire.
VAR meanwhile finished 11th fastest with Hughes on their opening day as a F2 team whilst Cordeel was 22nd and slowest of all 22 drivers who ran on the opening day of this three-day test.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
| 1 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | 1m 35.435 | PM |
| 2 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | + 0.142 | AM |
| 3 | Jack Doohan | UNI-Virtuosi | + 0.416 | PM |
| 4 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.546 | PM |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.773 | AM |
| 6 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.905 | PM |
| 7 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 1.136 | AM |
| 8 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 1.164 | AM |
| 9 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 1.208 | AM |
| 10 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 1.270 | PM |
| 11 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 1.273 | AM |
| 12 | Marino Sato | UNI-Virtuosi | + 1.283 | AM |
| 13 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 1.298 | AM |
| 14 | Juan Manuel Correa | Charouz | + 1.451 | PM |
| 15 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 1.477 | PM |
| 16 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 1.525 | PM |
| 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 1.583 | AM |
| 18 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 1.596 | PM |
| 19 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 1.634 | AM |
| 20 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | + 1.638 | PM |
| 21 | Teppei Natori | Trident | + 1.952 | AM |
| 22 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 3.452 | AM |
Day Two
With hot conditions again greeting the paddock in the morning session, Drugovich, Doohan and Daruvala quickly settled into their competitive fight at the top of the time sheets after Caldwell had been the first driver to venture out on track.
There however were five red flag periods in the morning session after stoppages for; Vesti, Juan Manuel Correa, Guilherme Samaia, Ayumu Iwasa and Logan Sargeant.
Up front, Drugovich set the pace with 1m 35.663 but was able to find 0.049s to set a day-topping 1m 35.614 ahead of Doohan as six of the top seven times were registered in the morning session, with Sargeant finishing third overall after setting his quickest lap in the afternoon session.
Daruvala, Pourchaire, Lawson, and Vips rounded out the top seven after setting their quickest times in the morning session, as Marcus Armstrong and Dennis Hauger improved to eighth and ninth overall with their fastest laps in the afternoon session ahead of Hughes.
After the lunch break, a majority of drivers focused on data gathering despite Vesti again causing a red flag, with Hughes and Teppei Natori also proceeding to cause stoppages in the afternoon as Sargeant topped the afternoon session with 1m 36.155 to go third quickest overall.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1m 35.614 | AM |
| 2 | Jack Doohan | UNI-Virtuosi | + 0.465 | AM |
| 3 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 0.541 | PM |
| 4 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 0.614 | AM |
| 5 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.644 | AM |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.657 | AM |
| 7 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.715 | AM |
| 8 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.766 | PM |
| 9 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.812 | PM |
| 10 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 0.851 | AM |
| 11 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.937 | AM |
| 12 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.998 | AM |
| 13 | Juan Manuel Correa | Charouz | + 1.073 | PM |
| 14 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 1.106 | AM |
| 15 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | + 1.250 | PM |
| 16 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 1.256 | AM |
| 17 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 1.263 | AM |
| 18 | Marino Sato | UNI-Virtuosi | + 1.386 | PM |
| 19 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 1.480 | PM |
| 20 | Teppei Natori | Trident | + 1.536 | PM |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 1.866 | PM |
| 22 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 2.052 | AM |
Day Three
With much cooler conditions for the final day of on-track F2 action in 2021, it was Doohan and Drugovich who quickly set the pace in a largely quiet yet busy session focused on various short and long run programming across the grid.
Doohan eventually emerged quickest with 1m 36.110 which was only 0.029s quicker than Drugovich with Campos’ Ralph Boschung third-fastest as everyone but Jehan Daruvala and Bolukbasi set their quickest times in the morning session.
Daruvala finished seventh quickest overall after finishing second in the afternoon session behind Drugovich which saw just two stoppages, after Boschung and Vesti both grinded to a halt out on track with separate issues.
Bolukbasi meanwhile had replaced Hughes at VAR but could only finish slowest in 22nd position and 1.708s off the pace.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
| 1 | Jack Doohan | UNI-Virtuosi | 1m 36.110 | AM |
| 2 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | + 0.029 | AM |
| 3 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.093 | AM |
| 4 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.132 | AM |
| 5 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 0.160 | AM |
| 6 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.305 | AM |
| 7 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 0.347 | PM |
| 8 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.382 | AM |
| 9 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.440 | AM |
| 10 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.462 | AM |
| 11 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 0.503 | AM |
| 12 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 0.531 | AM |
| 13 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.564 | AM |
| 14 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.585 | AM |
| 15 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 0.606 | AM |
| 16 | Marino Sato | Trident | + 0.670 | AM |
| 17 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 0.674 | AM |
| 18 | Juan Manuel Correa | Charouz | + 0.735 | AM |
| 19 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 0.904 | AM |
| 20 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | + 1.278 | AM |
| 21 | Teppei Natori | Trident | + 1.534 | AM |
| 22 | Cem Bolukbasi | VAR | + 1.708 | PM |
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