De Vries fastest on Day 1 in Bahrain

Nyck de Vries
Nyck de Vries

Nyck de Vries opened the second FIA Formula 2 Championship pre-season test at Sakhir, Bahrain with the fastest time, as the PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing driver set a 1:43.785 to head the first day’s timing boards ahead of Charouz Racing System’s Louis Deletraz and Campos Vexatec Racing driver Luca Ghiotto.

The morning session began in warm conditions – rising as high as 27 degrees Celsius – and the field was led onto the circuit by MP Motorsport’s Roberto Merhi, with Jack Aitken (ART Grand Prix) and Santino Ferrucci (Trident) just behind as the circuit went live. The teams spent the first hour logging installation laps, until Ghiotto set the first flying lap in the 1m44s boundary.

The Italian then bested his time by 0.7 seconds after the halfway point of the session, putting him out of reach from countryman Antonio Fuoco (Charouz), which remained the benchmark throughout the remainder of the morning having been set on medium compound tires.

The second half of the session was considerably more stop-start than the first, a red flag for Alexander Albon’s stranded DAMS car at turn 13 preceded another stoppage for Trident’s Arjun Maini who stopped on the start/finish straight with half an hour remaining on the clock.

Nicholas Latifi (DAMS) brought a final stoppage ten minutes before the end, leaving Ghiotto’s time unchallenged at the close of the session. Fuoco beat teammate Deletraz to second, as Maximilian Gunther (BWT Arden) grabbed fourth ahead of RUSSIAN TIME’s Artem Markelov. Arden’s Nirei Fukuzumi was sixth, as Albon and Maini were seventh and eighth respectively. De Vries and Roy Nissany (Campos) were ninth and tenth.

An even warmer afternoon greeted the competitors with temperatures approaching 30°c. ART, having gone without setting any flying laps in the morning, took to the circuit first with Aitken, as Maini and George Russell – also of ART – joined him on track in the early stages.

Markelov brought out the only red flag of the afternoon, coming to a halt at Turn 8 before managing to get going again. Merhi topped the timesheets after the opening runs, but the first hour ended with Albon having taken the advantage ahead of Fuoco by under a tenth of a second. Deletraz then took the advantage, beating the morning’s best time to go quickest overall with the first sub-1m44s lap of the test.

There was little change at the top for a long period of time, save for Fuoco’s return to second, but a flurry of activity in the final hour brought Maini and the Carlins of Lando Norris and Sergio Sette Camara towards the top.

Deletraz’s time looked to be unassailable, before De Vries beat the Swiss driver’s time by two tenths to go quickest overall in the final ten minutes of running. Norris claimed third ahead of Maini, as Fuoco hung onto fifth from Ralph Boschung (MP Motorsport). Ghiotto edged Günther and Sette Camara for seventh, as Aitken completed the top 10.

Tomorrow’s session will commence from 9am local time until 12pm, before returning at 2pm for the afternoon session, finishing at 5pm.

FIA Formula 2 Bahrain Test – Day 1 Morning Session

Pos

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1

Luca Ghiotto

Campos Vexatec Racing

1:44.042

28

2

Antonio Fuoco

Charouz Racing System

1:44.435

12

3

Louis Deletraz

Charouz Racing System

1:44.549

17

4

Maximilian Gunther

BWT Arden

1:44.603

23

5

Artem Markelov

RUSSIAN TIME

1:44.657

14

6

Nirei Fukuzumi

BWT Arden

1:44.711

25

7

Alexander Albon

DAMS

1:44.868

12

8

Arjun Maini

Trident

1:44.919

14

9

Nyck De Vries

PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing

1:44.944

27

10

Roy Nissany

Campos Vexatec Racing

1:45.022

24

11

Lando Norris

Carlin

1:45.087

24

12

Ralph Boschung

MP Motorsport

1:45.214

14

13

Sergio Sette Camara

Carlin

1:45.225

25

14

Tadasuke Makino

RUSSIAN TIME

1:45.369

16

15

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:45.600

18

16

Roberto Merhi

MP Motorsport

1:45.800

16

17

Sean Gelael

PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing

1:45.920

26

18

Santino Ferrucci

Trident

1:45.935

21

19

George Russell

ART Grand Prix

2:20.779

29

20

Jack Aitken

ART Grand Prix

2:28.722

27

FIA Formula 2 Bahrain Test – Day 1 Afternoon Session

Pos

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1

Nyck de Vries

PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing

1:43.785

21

2

Louis Deletraz

Charouz Racing System

1:43.905

24

3

Lando Norris

Carlin

1;44.051

26

4

Arjun Maini

Trident

1:44.115

27

5

Antonio Fuoco

Charouz Racing System

1:44.202

19

6

Ralph Boschung

MP Motorsport

1:44.327

20

7

Luca Ghiotto

Campos Vexatec Racing

1:44.363

19

8

Maximilian Gunther

BWT Arden

1:44.410

30

9

Sergio Sette Camara

Carlin

1:44.444

25

10

Jack Aitken

ART Grand Prix

1:44.448

42

11

George Russell

ART Grand Prix

1:44.505

36

12

Tadasuke Makino

RUSSIAN TIME

1:44.637

23

13

Artem Markelov

RUSSIAN TIME

1:44.644

21

14

Sean Gelael

PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing

1:44.683

22

15

Roberto Merhi

MP Motorsport

1:44.806

25

16

Santino Ferrucci

Trident

1:44.820

24

17

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:45.893

22

18

Roy Nissany

Campos Vexatec Racing

1:45.923

21

19

Alexander Albon

DAMS

1:46.217

28

20

Nirei Fukuzumi

BWT Arden

1:49.230

28