Mick Schumacher ends first F2 testing on top

Mick Schumacher
Mick Schumacher

Mick Schumacher set the quickest laptime of today’s – and previous days’ – session: the PREMA Racing ace set a laptime of 1:24.028 this morning to top the timesheet by two tenths over Jack Aitken. Jordan King was quickest in the afternoon session with MP Motorsport.

As soon as the pitlane opened on the third day of the FIA Formula 2 pre-season testing at Jerez de la Frontera, the cars leapt onto the track. Still on top form, Nyck de Vries set the early pace, quickly breaking the 1m25 barrier, whilst Schumacher featured in P2 in a 1:25.327.

The German went top with a laptime already fastest than de Vries’ best in Spain so far. Schumacher further improved by almost 3 tenths on his next push lap to clock in a time of 1:24.277.

But Deletraz also bettered and lapped the track in a 1:24.247 to demote Schumacher. The PREMA racer however was not done yet: he reclaimed the top spot with a time 2 tenths faster than the Swiss’ from Carlin.

Just minutes before the first hour was done and dusted, the proceedings were briefly halted after Sean Gelael stopped between Turns 4 and 5. A second red flag period occurred a few minutes after the re-start courtesy of Nikita Mazepin who span and went wide at Turn 1.

The track went back to green and Aitken found some extra pace to slot into P2 behind Schumacher and ahead of Deletraz. The red flag was waved a third and final time after the German span and stopped on track before the final corner.

The remainder of the session was studious as the teams focused on long runs with Juan Manuel Correa completing the most lap (59) at the checkered flag. Behind the top 3, Nicholas Latifi, de Vries, Dorian Boccolacci, Alesi, Luca Ghiotto, Gelael and Richard Verschoor rounded up the Top 10.

Jordon King fastest in afternoon
Jordon King fastest in afternoon

After a one hour break, the action resumed. With a laptime of 1:25.710, Antonio Fuoco sat pretty at the top of the timesheet for the grand majority of the afternoon session. His Trident’s teammate Alesi moved up to P2 (+0.002s) as the field concentrated on short/long runs and pit stop practice.

The running was halted three times throughout the course of the three-hour session: first, after Correa and Aitken stopped simultaneously at two different corners of the track. Mazepin brought out a second red flag after he stopped between Turns 4 and 5. Finally, there was a last interruption for good measures with 30 minutes left on the clock after Alesi stopped at Turn 8.

In the dying minutes, King – who could not run on Day 2 whilst his MP team was still repairing damages on his car following a mechanical failure, stole the top spot with a laptime of 1:25.706. Fuoco and Alesi were relegated to second and third respectively. At the flag, Deletraz was fourth ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita, de Vries, Ghiotto, Tatiana Calderon, Aitken and Latifi.

This concluded the first pre-season tests at Jerez. The paddock will gather again next week in Barcelona on March 5-6-7 for the second and final test days before Round 1.

FIA Formula 2 Jerez de la Frontera Test – Day 3 Morning Session

Pos

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:24.028

34

2

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:24.240

43

3

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:24.247

41

4

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:24.294

43

5

Nyck de Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:24.357

39

6

Dorian Boccolacci

Campos Racing

1:24.263

54

7

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:24.401

58

8

Luca Ghiotto

UNI Virtuosi

1:24.516

41

9

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:24.528

41

10

Richard Verschoor

MP Motorsport

1:24.638

29

11

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:24.753

22

12

Guanyu Zhou

UNI Virtuosi

1:24.776

47

13

Sergio Sette Camâra

DAMS

1:24.853

39

14

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:24.924

55

15

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:25.020

59

16

Antonio Fuoco

Trident

1:25.023

25

17

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

1:25.176

28

18

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:25.257

42

19

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:25.262

28

20

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:26.036

39


FIA Formula 2 Jerez de la Frontera Test – Day 3 Afternoon Session

Pos

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

1:25.706

27

2

Antonio Fuoco

Trident

1:25.710

36

3

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:25.712

44

4

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:27.880

52

5

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:28.108

50

6

Nyck de Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:28.268

63

7

Luca Ghiotto

UNI Virtuosi

1:28.303

41

8

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:28.539

52

9

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:28.863

48

10

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:28.884

55

11

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:28.897

52

12

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:29.044

54

13

Guanyu Zhou

UNI Virtuosi

1:29.290

54

14

Richard Verschoor

MP Motorsport

1:29.384

33

15

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:29.395

62

16

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:29.416

53

17

Sergio Sette Camâra

DAMS

1:29.516

45

18

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

'1:29.519

48

19

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:29.762

19

20

Dorian Boccolacci

Campos Racing

1:30.638

49