2022 F2 Pre-Season Test Roundup

Roundup of F2’s pre-season test at Bahrain International Circuit ahead of the 2022 season. 

Three packed days of running saw returning drivers adapt to new teams or consolidating their preparations with current teams, whilst six rookies adapted to machinery as well as their new teams.

Eventually, all three days saw three different classification toppers as a sandstorm brought an early finish to the final day of testing.

 

Day One

A quiet start to the opening day saw the entire field focus on adapting to being back within the cockpit but lap times soon began to fall, as every driver at their own pace got back into the swing of both single lap and long run pace.

Juri Vips however caused two red flags during the morning session as Campos’ Olli Caldwell also grinded to a halt on track in a third separate stoppage, whilst Carlin’s Liam Lawson topped the morning session ahead of Felipe Drugovich and Logan Sargeant.

The afternoon session saw drivers continuing to find their feeling within their cars as Drugovich set the initial pace, before Vips caused his third red flag of the day with Cem Bolukbasi eventually adding a overall fifth stoppage.

Once the session was able to properly resume without disruption, Lawson shot to the top of the timesheet as drivers began to deliver Qualifying simulations, of which PREMA’s Jehan Daruvala emerged fastest with 1m 42.074 ahead of Trident’s Calan Williams.

2021 F3 champion, Dennis Hauger rounded out the top three as everyone but Bolukbasi set their fastest overall times in the afternoon session on the opening day.

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Session
1	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA	1m 42.074	pm
2	Calan Williams	Trident	+ 0.516	pm
3	Dennis Hauger	PREMA	+ 0.528	pm
4	Liam Lawson	Carlin	+ 1.404	pm
5	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	+ 1.409	pm
6	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	+ 1.516	pm
7	Marcus Armstrong	Hitech GP	+ 1.803	pm
8	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz	+ 1.872	pm
9	Juri Vips	Hitech GP	+ 1.872	pm
10	Roy Nissany	DAMS	+ 1.929	pm
11	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 2.058	pm
12	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 2.082	pm
13	Marino Sato	Virtuosi	+ 2.138	pm
14	Jake Hughes	VAR	+ 2.197	pm
15	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	+ 2.215	pm
16	Olli Caldwell	Campos	+ 2.369	pm
17	Frederik Vesti	ART GP	+ 2.383	pm
18	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 2.424	pm
19	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	+ 2.465	pm
20	Richard Verschoor	Trident	+ 2.704	pm
21	Amaury Cordeel	VAR	+ 3.570	pm
22	Cem Bolukbasi	Charouz	+ 5.351	am

 

Day Two

A relatively quiet morning session saw the entire field focus on race simulations and long run pace which was largely dominated by Juri Vips, who topped the early session with a 1m 46.705, which was 0.526s quicker than Trident’s Richard Verschoor in second place.

There however were three separate stoppages of which two red flags were caused by Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Amaury Cordeel who stopped at turns eight and seven respectively, whilst Ayumu Iwasa was the other driver to cause a red flag as he grinded to a halt at Turn Two.

The afternoon session which focused on qualifying simulations however saw early disruption, as Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong crashed at Turn Eight with the New Zealander ultimately finishing last overall.

Up front, Drugovich initially set the early pace but the Carlin duo of Logan Sargeant and Lawson soon lowered the benchmark lap time, with Lawson eventually posting a chart-topping 1m 41.623 as Ralph Boschung and Theo Pourchaire eventually rounded out the top three.

Sargeant ultimately finished fourth ahead of Jack Doohan, Marino Sato, Frederik Vesti, Felipe Drugovich, Daruvala and Richard Verschoor.

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Session
1	Liam Lawson	Carlin	1m 41.623	pm
2	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 0.473	pm
3	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 0.473	pm
4	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	+ 0.510	pm
5	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 0.521	pm
6	Marino Sato	Virtuosi	+ 0.551	pm
7	Frederik Vesti	ART GP	+ 0.551	pm
8	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	+ 0.650	pm
9	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA	+ 0.663	pm
10	Richard Verschoor	Trident	+ 0.674	pm
11	Jake Hughes	VAR	+ 0.860	pm
12	Amaury Cordeel	VAR	+ 0.939	pm
13	Juri Vips	Hitech GP	+ 0.942	pm
14	Dennis Hauger	PREMA	+ 0.989	pm
15	Cem Bolukbasi	Charouz	+ 1.106	pm
16	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz	+ 1.116	pm
17	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	+ 1.368	pm
18	Calan Williams	Trident	+ 1.377	pm
19	Roy Nissany	DAMS	+ 1.460	pm
20	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	+ 1.661	pm
21	Olli Caldwell	Campos	+ 2.031	pm
22	Marcus Armstrong	Hitech GP	+ 8.209	am

 

Day Three

A busy final morning of pre-season testing saw every team focused on maximising their race simulation data with plenty of long runs, which were dominated by MP Motorsport’s Drugovich and Clement Novalak who finished first and second respectively.

Drugovich finished fastest with 1m 44.911 with Novalak a further 0.972s behind and the only driver to get within a second of the Brazilian’s best lap time, as Juri Vips rounded out the top three ahead of Lawson and Sargeant.

The only red flag was caused was Ayumu Iwasa before a sandstorm swept in during F3’s final afternoon session, which meant that F2 drivers didn’t get a final afternoon run in ahead of the opening round in a fortnight’s time.

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Session
1	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	1m 44.911	am
2	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	+ 0.972	am
3	Juri Vips	Hitech GP	+ 1.067	am
4	Liam Lawson	Carlin	+ 1.203	am
5	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	+ 1.850	am
6	Roy Nissany	DAMS	+ 1.880	am
7	Dennis Hauger	PREMA	+ 2.068	am
8	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 2.324	am
9	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 2.466	am
10	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	+ 2.554	am
11	Jake Hughes	VAR	+ 2.587	am
12	Frederik Vesti	ART GP	+ 2.679	am
13	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 2.889	am
14	Amaury Cordeel	VAR	+ 3.033	am
15	Jehan Daruvala	DAMS	+ 3.081	am
16	Marino Sato	Virtuosi	+ 3.435	am
17	Calan Williams	Trident	+ 3.545	am
18	Olli Caldwell	Campos	+ 3.894	am
19	Richard Verschoor	Trident	+ 3.896	am
20	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz	+ 4173	am
21	Cem Bolukbasi	Charouz	+ 4.608	am
22	Marcus Armstrong	Hitech GP	+ 4.928	am