Roundup of the opening round of 2023 F2 season in Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit.
With a strong mixture of returning and rookie drivers on the grid, this season promised to have the ingredients of a thriller and the opening round certainly delivered despite one driver quickly dominating proceedings on the opening weekend.
Now, here is a roundup of all the action across the first round of 2023 F2 season.
Practice
Campos’ Ralph Boschung and Kush Maini were first out on track as the pit exit lit green but it was PHM Racing’s Roy Nissany who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 48.538 in the sixth minute.
Boschung eight minutes later posted 1m 46.849 to go top but was displaced by Maini, Fittipaldi and Maloney, as last season’s F3 vice-champion moved top of timesheet.
Fittipaldi though soon encountered a mechanical issue which forced him to stop at Turn 2 which brought out the red flag in the 17th minute, although the session resumed five minutes later.
Boschung on his latest flier after the restart posted 1m 25.824 in the 26th minute to return to the top of the timesheet but was displaced a minute later by ART GP’s Theo Pourchaire who posted 1m 45.267 to go fastest.
Pourchaire however found a further 0.003 seconds four minutes later to cement his place at the top of the timesheet in an ART GP one-two as 2022 F2 champion – Victor Martins finished second ahead of DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc.
The session though was brought to a premature end with five minutes left as Boschung stopped just beyond the pit exit with a mechanical issue.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 1m 45.264 |
| 2 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.055 |
| 3 | Arthur Leclec | DAMS | + 0.099 |
| 4 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | + 0.369 |
| 5 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.403 |
| 6 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | + 0.531 |
| 7 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.560 |
| 8 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.703 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | + 0.743 |
| 10 | Kush Maini | Campos | + 0.774 |
| 11 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | + 0.856 |
| 12 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | + 0.880 |
| 13 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 0.914 |
| 14 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | + 0.942 |
| 15 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | + 1.003 |
| 16 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 1.079 |
| 17 | Clement Novalak | Trident | + 1.086 |
| 18 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | + 1.114 |
| 19 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 1.231 |
| 20 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 1.290 |
| 21 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | + 1.452 |
| 22 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | + 1.452 |
Qualifying
Just like in Practice, Boschung and Maini were first out on track, and it was Boschung in the sixth minute who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 42.010 ahead of Maini.
Pourchaire two minutes later though continued to blitz the field as he produced a 1m 41.530 to put himself on provisional pole position, ahead of Boschung, Dennis Hauger, Maini and Jack Doohan.
Martins and Leclerc though managed to put themselves third and fourth at the halfway mark following the second round of flying laps in the opening runs.
Doohan meanwhile opted to run early for his second run which lifted him to fourth but nobody could stop Pourchaire who posted 1m 40.903 in the 26th minute to secure pole by 0.751s, albeit from Martins in an ART GP front row lockout.
Richard Verschoor surprisingly snatched third ahead of Hauger, Frederik Vesti, Maini, Ayumu Iwasa, Leclerc, Roman Stanek and Boschung, with the latter securing reverse pole for the Sprint Race.
Post-session, Vesti received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Leclerc at Turn 4, which meant that the PREMA driver was dropped to ninth on the reverse grid.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 1m 40.903 |
| 2 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.751 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | + 0.900 |
| 4 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.928 |
| 5 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | + 0.994 |
| 6 | Kush Maini | Campos | + 1.024 |
| 7 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 1.031 |
| 8 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | + 1.070 |
| 9 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 1.085 |
| 10 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 1.107 |
| 11 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | + 1.114 |
| 12 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 1.123 |
| 13 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | + 1.146 |
| 14 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | + 1.189 |
| 15 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | + 1.189 |
| 16 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | + 1.206 |
| 17 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 1.209 |
| 18 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | + 1.282 |
| 19 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 1.331 |
| 20 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | + 1.590 |
| 21 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | + 1.599 |
| 22 | Clement Novalak | Trident | + 1.667 |
Sprint Race
Pre-race, Benavides stalled as he left the grid on the formation lap which meant that he had to start last after he failed to get away before Novalak had passed him.
At lights out, Boschung made a clean start to lead Leclerc and Iwasa whilst Martins charged from eighth on the grid up to fourth by the end of the opening lap.
Martins though wasn’t the only ART GP driver on the charge as Pourchaire passed a fast-starting Jehan Daruvala plus Roman Stanek on the second lap to climb to sixth.
Martins meanwhile passed Leclerc on Lap 3 to move up to third whilst Pourchaire battled past Hauger into Turn 6 on the same lap, before he passed Leclerc two laps later to set up a tense duel with his teammate as both drivers tried to chase down the top two.
Isack Hadjar and Leclerc though were hit with 10s stop-go penalties on Lap Five for start procedure infringements made by their mechanics.
Iwasa meanwhile struggled badly to keep pace with Boschung whilst managing his own tyre degradation and was soon caught by Martins, who passed him into Turn 1 on Lap 9 but the two-time race winner regained second at Turn 4 and almost replicated that move again on Lap 13.
Martins though clung on to snatch second and prevent Iwasa from reclaiming second as he left the Japanese driver to fend off Pourchaire, who wasn’t able to carve his way through unlike Hauger who passed him into Turn 1 on Lap 14 before passing Iwasa a lap later.
Up front, Boschung calmly sprinted away to a comfortable maiden F2 race victory after many years of budget frustration and a neck injury which kept him out of several races last season.
Martins’ quick start however eventually caught up with him as he eventually was passed by Hauger on the penultimate lap for second, which meant that the rookie finished his first F2 race in third ahead of Iwasa, Pourchaire, Daruvala, Manini and Fittipaldi who rounded out the top eight.
Several drivers though gambled on a pit stop mid-race in hope of high tyre degradation which ultimately didn’t materialise, whilst Leclerc recovered from his stop-go penalty to finish 12th on the road.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 23 | 41m 50.597 |
| 2 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 10.848 |
| 3 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 23 | + 16.162 |
| 4 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 23 | + 24.494 |
| 5 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 23 | + 29.709 |
| 6 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 30.901 |
| 7 | Kush Maini | Campos | 23 | + 41.541 |
| 8 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | 23 | + 43.065 |
| 9 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | 23 | + 44.135 |
| 10 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | 23 | + 48.540 |
| 11 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 23 | + 49.251 |
| 12 | Arthur Leclerc | Hitech GP | 23 | + 50.164 |
| 13 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 23 | + 50.625 |
| 14 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | 23 | + 52.283 |
| 15 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 23 | + 53.752 |
| 16 | Clement Novalak | Trident | 23 | + 54.607 |
| 17 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | 23 | + 54.645 |
| 18 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | 23 | + 64.486 |
| 19 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | 23 | + 68.768 |
| 20 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | 23 | + 73.323 |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | 23 | + 73.800 |
| 22 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | 21 | Mechanical |
Feature Race
On the formation lap, Virtuosi’s Amaury Cordeel stalled so had to start from the pit lane but at lights out, Pourchaire got a clean start unchallenged as Maini launched from sixth to second after Martins got bogged down on the start.
Martins’ struggles eventually led to chaos at Turn 4 as Vesti spun Verschoor which caused several cars to tangle, with Stanek left stranded between Turns 6 and 7 whilst Martins and Vesti retired in the pits as the Safety Car was deployed.
Post-race, stewards adjudged Vesti at fault for the opening lap incident and handed him a five-place grid penalty for the next race.
Racing resumed on lap 4 with Pourchaire leading Maini, Boschung and Bearman but Boschung quickly claimed second as the fastest soft-tyre runner, yet was unable to pass Pourchaire for the lead.
Those who started on the hard tyres though began to struggle with tyre degradation unexpectedly and were forced to pit before those who started on soft tyres, which meant that Boschung claimed the lead on lap 13 once Pourchaire pitted.
Pourchaire though reclaimed the lead from Verschoor who was yet to make a legal mandatory stop on Lap 15, from which he cruised to victory from Boschung.
Bearman meanwhile ran a comfortable fourth either side of the pit-stop window but he soon began to struggle with his tyre wear, unaware that Maloney was on a charge from 18th on the grid – although he found himself just inside the top ten after the opening lap chaos.
Maloney though had the better tyre management in the second half of the race as he cleared Fittipaldi for eighth on Lap 22, from which he quickly carved his way to fourth by the end of Lap 27 before he seized third on the penultimate lap to complete a stunning drive.
Maini finished fourth ahead of Verschoor who came through from last at end of the opening lap to finish fifth, in front of Leclerc, Isack Hadjar, Iwasa, Fittipaldi and Manuel Correa who gained his first point since returning to F2 at end of last season.
Pourchaire leads the championship with 32 points but Boschung sits just four points behind in second as Maloney, Maini and Verschoor round out the top five.
F2 will next be in action in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on weekend of 17-19 March.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 32 | 1h 01m 10.926 |
| 2 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 32 | + 19.666 |
| 3 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | 32 | + 31.587 |
| 4 | Kush Maini | Campos | 32 | + 38.789 |
| 5 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | 32 | + 43.082 |
| 6 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | 32 | + 44.342 |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | 32 | + 46.456 |
| 8 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 32 | + 50.815 |
| 9 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | 32 | + 51.396 |
| 10 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | 32 | + 51.837 |
| 11 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | 32 | + 52.939 |
| 12 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | 32 | + 53.329 |
| 13 | Clement Novalak | Trident | 32 | + 53.953 |
| 14 | Ollie Bearman | PREMA | 32 | + 59.739 |
| 15 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | 32 | + 60.968 |
| 16 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 32 | + 65.204 |
| 17 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | 32 | + 66.463 |
| 18 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | 32 | + 93.235 |
| RET | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 17 | Collision |
| RET | Victor Martins | ART GP | 1 | Collision |
| RET | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | 1 | Collision |
| RET | Roman Stanek | Trident | 0 | Collision |
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