Roundup of the season-opening round of the 2022 Formula 2 season in Bahrain which delivered high-octane drama across the weekend.
With a mixture of returning and new drivers plus format changes, the new F2 season certainly looked unpredictable which led to plenty of twists and turns throughout the opening weekend.
The more experienced drivers eventually reigned supreme in the end so here is a roundup of a dramatic opening round.
Practice
Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Amaury Cordeel was the first driver to hit the track ahead of Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi, although it would be MP Motorsport’s Clement Novalak who set the initial pace until VAR’s Jake Hughes proceeded to set the pace in the opening half of the session.
At the halfway mark of the session, Hughes led with 1m 45.244 ahead of Liam Lawson and Olli Caldwell but Lawson snatched top spot in the 28th minute by 0.028 seconds from Hughes, only for Marcus Armstrong to go quickest two minutes later with 1m 44.901.
Daruvala one minute later went 0.063s quicker but Felipe Drugovich snatched the fastest lap to top the timesheet with 1m 44.484 in the 38th minute.
DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa and Roy Nissany left it super later as they launched up the order to second and third at the checkered flag, ahead of Novalak which denied MP Motorsport an one-two finish in Practice with Armstrong rounding out the top five.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1m 44.484 |
| 2 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.195 |
| 3 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.270 |
| 4 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 0.285 |
| 5 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.349 |
| 6 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 0.354 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.402 |
| 8 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 0.628 |
| 9 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 0.757 |
| 10 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 0.760 |
| 11 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.886 |
| 12 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.930 |
| 13 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.992 |
| 14 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 1.064 |
| 15 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 1.361 |
| 16 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 1.563 |
| 17 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 1.716 |
| 18 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 1.740 |
| 19 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 1.909 |
| 20 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | + 2.266 |
| 21 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 2.358 |
| 22 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | + 3.421 |
Qualifying
Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi and Cem Bolukbasi were first out on track but the red flag was swiftly waved after Iwasa spun out at Turn Two less than a minute into the Qualifying session, which meant a six-minute red flag stoppage.
Once the session resumed, Hughes dominated the opening runs to set a benchmark 1m 41.121 ahead of Drugovich and Ralph Boschung at the halfway point.
PREMA’s Jehan Daruvala and Dennis Hauger both ran their opening runs in the gap which left them fifth and 13th respectively, whilst Doohan opted for a mid-session flier as he posted 1m 40.542 to ultimately seal pole position.
A mixture of drivers managed to improve on their second and final runs whilst others failed to do so, meaning that Theo Pourchaire clinched second ahead of Juri Vips, Logan Sargeant, Boschung, Lawson and Daruvala ahead of Hughes who failed to improved as he ended up eighth quickest.
Richard Verschoor and Felipe Drugovich rounded out the top ten with the latter securing reverse-pole position for the Sprint Race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 1m 40.542 |
| 2 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.141 |
| 3 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.213 |
| 4 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 0.218 |
| 5 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.458 |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.558 |
| 7 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 0.573 |
| 8 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 0.579 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.636 |
| 10 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | + 0.668 |
| 11 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.676 |
| 12 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 0.771 |
| 13 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.812 |
| 14 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | + 0.832 |
| 15 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.967 |
| 16 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 0.987 |
| 17 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | + 1.210 |
| 18 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 1.323 |
| 19 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 1.541 |
| 20 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | + 1.547 |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 2.338 |
| 22 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | No Time |
Sprint Race
At lights out, reverse pole-sitter Drugovich got a sluggish start which enabled to Verschoor to breeze away into the lead from Daruvala and Boschung who got past the PREMA driver for second into Turn 5 as Hughes, Lawson and Drugovich rounded out the top six.
Hughes however struggled to find pace in his VAR and quickly started to find himself passed by several cars including Marcus Armstrong at the start of Lap Three, only for Hughes to then cause the first Safety Car period as he spun Armstrong out of the race at Turn 8.
Once the race resumed on Lap Six, Verschoor sprinted away to victory unchallenged with a controlled drive from Boschung, whilst Pourchaire was forced to retire at the start of the following lap with a mechanical failure.
The order soon afterwards stabilised as Hughes became the final retirement from the race after suffering race-ending damage in a collision on Lap 15,
Up front, Daruvala bided his time in third place behind Boschung but was able to pass the Swiss driver on Lap 16 for second, only to lose the position a lap later at Turn 6 before regaining the position on Lap 18 with an outside move at Turn 4.
Lawson then forced his way past Boschung at the first corner of Lap 21 to round out the podium in third, as Boschung settled for fourth ahead of Drugovich, Sargeant and Vips who completed the top seven.
DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa meanwhile quietly flew under the radar as he battled from 22nd and last on the grid to clinch the final point in eighth place ahead of Hauger who scrapped hard on the cusp of the top ten throughout the race.
Verschoor’s victory also marked the first time that Trident has won in the modern F2 era and as well as their first win in the second-tier of motorsport since clinching victory in 2016 Malaysian Sprint with Luca Ghiotto.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 23 | 43m 34.983 |
| 2 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | 23 | + 1.853 |
| 3 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 23 | + 4.975 |
| 4 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 23 | + 6.981 |
| 5 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 8.801 |
| 6 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 23 | + 9.263 |
| 7 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 23 | + 13.350 |
| 8 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 23 | + 15.749 |
| 9 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 23 | + 17.665 |
| 10 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 23 | + 21.472 |
| 11 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 23 | + 22.902 |
| 12 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 23 | + 26.574 |
| 13 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 23 | + 27.490 |
| 14 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | 23 | + 31.921 |
| 15 | Calan Williams | Trident | 23 | + 49.959 |
| 16 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 23 | + 50.640 |
| 17 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | 23 | + 52.671 |
| 18 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 78.205 |
| 19 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | 22 | Engine |
| RET | Jake Hughes | VAR | 14 | Collision |
| RET | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 6 | Mechanical |
| RET | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 2 | Collision |
Feature Race
Foreshadowing an eventful race, Hauger failed to get off the line and had to be wheeled back to the pit-lane, where he eventually started the race.
Once the lights went out, Doohan and Pourchaire both got wheelspin on the start which enabled Vips and Boschung to leap up into the lead from third and fifth on grid respectively.
The Safety Car however was soon called out after Frederik Vesti was spun out at Turn 1 on the second lap as Vips held his lead from Boschung, ahead of the restart on Lap Five as he bolted away to leave Boschung to get swallowed up by the chasing pack.
Those on the soft tyres unexpectedly managed to make the tyres last longer than expected, which forced those on the hard tyres to unexpectedly pit early as Felipe Drugovich triggered a quick flurry of stops after he pitted on Lap 10.
Up front, Vips led Doohan who had passed Boschung on Lap Five until the pair pitted at end of laps 13 and 14 respectively with both suffering pit-stop dramas.
Vips dropped to 12th after his stop due to an issue with the front left tyre but Doohan’s race unravelled a lap later as he exited the pit lane, only for the Australian driver to have his front wing badly clipped by Pourchaire at the first corner and force two further pit stops.
Up front, Iwasa who had started last on the grid on soft tyres found himself in the lead from Lap 16 for three laps until he pitted at end of Lap 18, which gifted the lead to Pourchaire who controlled the race from Lawson and a rapidly charging Vips who passed Drugovich on Lap 25.
Verschoor however threw one final twist as he spun out at Turn 1 on Lap 27 after contact with Enzo Fittipaldi, which triggered a late Safety Car.
Williams and Hauger consequently decided to pit and gamble on less-worn tyres only for both drivers to suffer front-left tyre failures within the wheel nuts, which caused the tyres to roll off down the pitlane with Williams stopping right in the middle of the pit lane after leaving his box.
The Safety Car eventually pitted at the end of Lap 30 but the timing clock had ran out which meant a final lap decider, with Pourchaire clinging on to win from Lawson and Vips, as Boschung and Armstrong demoted Drugovich to sixth.
Sargeant, Nissany, Hughes and Doohan rounded out the top ten points finishers as Iwasa dropped down the order to finish 16th, ahead of Olli Caldwell who was a lap down after receiving multiple penalties for exceeding track limits.
Pourchaire therefore left Bahrain as the championship leader ahead of Lawson by a single point as the two title favourites look set for a season-long battle.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 31 | 1h 1m 54.454 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 31 | + 0.925 |
| 3 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 31 | + 1.714 |
| 4 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 31 | + 3.863 |
| 5 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 31 | + 4.606 |
| 6 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 31 | + 5.722 |
| 7 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 31 | + 6.539 |
| 8 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 31 | + 7.256 |
| 9 | Jake Hughes | VAR | 31 | + 8.008 |
| 10 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 31 | + 8.854 |
| 11 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 31 | + 10.074 |
| 12 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 31 | + 11.353 |
| 13 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | 31 | + 12.704 |
| 14 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | 31 | + 14.361 |
| 15 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | 31 | + 15.965 |
| 16 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 31 | + 31.170 |
| 17 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | 30 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Calan Williams | Trident | 27 | Tyre |
| RET | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 27 | Tyre |
| RET | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 26 | Spin |
| RET | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 14 | Mechanical |
| RET | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 1 | Spin |
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