Who will it be?
For most drivers Bahrain was the second round of the F2 season, for a couple of others it was BIG F1 TIME! Otherwise known as that time of the year when the F1 teams have to put a rookie driver in for a practice session. The lucky chosen were Dino Beganovic driving for Ferrari and Luke Browning driving for Williams. I’m sure fellow Williams Academy driver Victor Martins didn’t jealously watch on from the side at all.
Although not driving in F1, Sebastián Montoya was also celebrating this weekend as he turned 20 years old. He apparently got a new livery for his birthday and was so excited to use it he put it on straight away for free practice and didn’t take it off all weekend.
Practice: Will it be Martí?
Despite having driven a million laps around Bahrain in an F2 car at both the pre-season and the mid-season test, thankfully for the viewers there were still some people willing to get out there and drive around a bit more. The first half of the session was thrilling. First, Ritomo Miyata locked up a bit, then Arvid Lindblad, then Leonardo Fornaroli. Pepe Martí went fastest.
The second half of the session was thrilling. First, Browning had a small lock up, then Beganovic managed an even smaller lock up, then Cian Shields managed an equally tiny lock up. Martí remained fastest.
As the final minutes ticked down on the clock, Amaury Cordeel parked a few millimeters outside of the box designated for practice starts, while Martí remained fastest.
There was just time for Browning to get all squirrelly and Oliver Goethe and Richard Verschoor to get all fast before the chequered flag flew. Goethe was fastest, Verschoor second and Martí dropped down to third.
Qualifying: Will it be Martins or Fornaroli?
Qualifying was much like Practice, only with fewer lock ups and more fast laps. Martins put in the first suggestion for a pole-position time, then Fornaroli countered with a time that was half a second faster. That seemed like too much for everyone else, so they all went into the pits to think before going again.
They soon all headed back out to try once more, except Kush Maini whose car wouldn’t start. Two very stressed looking mechanics bustled round while 21 cars streamed past them. They eventually got him going and he joined the back of the queue, behind Martins and Fornaroli as they repeated their battle over pole. Martins going another half a second faster and then Fornaroli going even faster. No one else got a look in. The session ended with Fornaroli on pole, Martins second and Browning third.
Sprint Race: It definitely won’t be Dunne
The reverse grid for the Sprint Race meant that Joshua Dürksen was starting on pole, Beganovic second and Rafael Villagómez third. Villagómez claimed to be confident, while the others seemed a bit less sure, but having a strong start and being in clean air appeared to be important.
The top three all managed to keep their positions at the start, while Martins ploughed through some polystyrene marker boards, Max Esterson somehow damaged his front wing and Montoya took his birthday livery for a literal spin, courtesy of Cordeel knocking into him. The Safety Car headed out while marshals recovered Montoya’s car and Cordeel received a ten-second time penalty.
As most prepared for the restart by warming their tyres, Campos opted for a more psychological route, with sixth-place Martí’s engineer warning him to look out for Alex Dunne (fifth) who might be feisty. Martí wasn’t worried though, not because of his massive confidence but because he had seen Dunne in other formulae, “I know how he races”. Ominous.
The restart went generally smoothly, which apparently led to Martí letting down his Dunne-guard because he didn’t seem prepared to be shoved off track during an attempted overtake. Martí went past anyway, track or no track, and everyone debated whether any of that was legal until Dunne took the place back and we all pretended that everything was fine.
Up front, things were also exciting as Verschoor flew by Villagómez to take third place and Beganovic battled his way past Dürksen for the lead. Dürksen tried to battle back but couldn’t, resolving to wait until Beganovic had wrecked his tyres, “I think, I’ll get him at the end,” he told his team. Meanwhile Dunne “YEEHAW-ed” his way past Villagómez (who presumably was feeling less confident at this point) for fourth place behind Beganovic, Dürksen and Verschoor.
Not yeehaw-ing was Esterson, who had come to a stop, resulting in the Safety Car being deployed once more. Cue most of the drivers who weren’t in the points positions pitting for fast new tyres, hoping to be able to speed through the field in the final laps, while the rest struggled on their old, worn tyres. The mix of old and new tyres, combined with a Safety Car restart, created a situation that can only be described with one word: stressful. Not for Dürksen, however, whose prophecy was about to be realised as he used the restart to power past Beganovic and retake the lead. Somewhat more chaotically behind them, Verschoor and Dunne almost hit each, before Browning and Dunne did hit each other. Honestly, who had any idea what was going on, apart from Browning who declared, “I got demolished by Dunne”.
The whirlwind of everything that occurred behind the top trio of Dürksen, Beganovic and Verschoor, meant that somehow Martí had jumped up to fourth, Villagómez was in fifth, Dunne dropped down to sixth and Browning was behind in seventh. This wasn’t to last, however, as ALL the overtaking then happened. Both Browning and Lindblad passed Dunne, while Gabriele Minì, Jak Crawford and Goethe went three-wide, all clunking against each other and wobbling about while somehow avoiding what physics would suggest should have been a massive crash. Beganovic also decided to take the side-by-side approach with Dürksen and, after three corners of looking like they surely also must crash, Dürksen established his position as leader of the race. Verschoor took this same moment to try to barge past Beganovic, but Martí had even bigger ideas and overtook them both, leaving Dürksen in the lead, Martí second, Verschoor third and Beganovic suddenly down in fourth.
On the last lap, Martí went for a dive to get past Dürksen. He succeeded. At the same time, Dunne also seemed to go for some kind of less successful lunge, running into the back of Miyata, breaking his own front wing and then almost careering into the side of Fornaroli in another physics-defying near miss. However, there was no time to dwell on that because Martí was crossed the finishing line, victorious after starting in 11th place, while Verschoor passed Dürksen at the last minute to take second, leaving Dürksen third. Not that it mattered much as Dürksen was disqualified from the race because his Diffusor Strake 1 was 2mm below the tolerance specified in Article 3.4.2 of the F2 regulations. This outrageous cheating promoted Beganovic to third.
Feature Race: It is Dunne!
The top-three seemed to be taking a relatively laid-back approach to the Feature Race, with pole-sitter Fornaroli saying that he would just try his best, second-place Martins focussing on staying calm, and third-place Browning just looking to collect points for his championship campaign. Staying calm was more easily said than done, perhaps, as they went three-wide into the first corner. Fornaroli kept his lead, but wheel-spin for Martins and harder, slower tyres for Browning meant that it was Dunne and Villagómez who now completed the top three. Martins was down to sixth, while Browning had to sit in 10th, waiting for his alternative tyre strategy to come to him.
Things didn’t get much calmer as it was soon four-wide and overtaking everywhere. Those at the front weren’t spared the drama as, after a few laps, Dunne passed Fornaroli for the lead of the race, while Martí and Martins passed Villagómez to take third and fourth. As everyone battled on, it was soon also time for pit stops, just to add to the general confusion about who was where and why. Martins opted for an earlier stop than those around him, a move that seemed to pay off as he eventually found himself ahead of Martí and Fornaroli, just behind Dunne.
Pit-stop strategy was also paying off for Browning, who was now on the softer, faster tyres than everyone else and catching up to the front runners. First he passed Martí, then Fornaroli, then Martins, leaving only Dunne to attempt to hunt down for the win, although he was eight seconds further up the road so it would be a struggle. Martins was also in a struggle, as Fornaroli was trying to take away third place. They fought. Fornaroli won and Martí also took advantage of the situation, with both of them passing Martins in the closing laps. Martí then preceded to push Fornaroli all the way to the end of the race, but it was Fornaroli who finished third, behind second-place Browning and winner Dunne.
Who will it be? We have to wait another seven months to find out
Fornaroli is continuing his old form of not bothering to win races but just consistently scoring points and working his way to the top of the championship (26 points). Dunne and Browning are close behind on 25 points, while fourth place goes to to Martí (23 points). Last week’s championship leader Dürksen is now down to eighth. What a rollercoaster. With that being the end of F2 in Bahrain, there’s only a few days to wait for the next round in Saudi Arabia!