FIA F2: 5 Things we Learned from Bahrain

An action-packed opening round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship saw drama left, right and centre as the new 3-race-format made its debut at the Bahrain International Circuit. Here’s 5 things we learned as we reflect back on an amazing weekend. 

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STRATEGY IS KEY

The new tyre compounds introduced by Pirelli for this year had mixed reviews at best from the drivers during testing, with Robert Shwarztman labelling the new hard compound as “much more complicated” than the previous years.

It was clear to see at Bahrain that several drivers were struggling with the new rubber and the degradation, but it was also apparent that the time difference between the soft and hard tyres is significant. The second sprint race showed this to the extreme, when a late safety car led to a few drivers gambling onto the softs and charging through the old-hard-shod field, eventual race winner Oscar Piastri being one of them.

The feature race essentially just doubled down on the strategy front, with Guanyu Zhou holding on for victory after going against the norm and starting on the hards. It would appear that aggressive strategies and gambles pay off well with these new tyres, so we could be seeing teams really pushing the envelope over the course of the season – but it all depends on how well the drivers can manage the degradation, as it’s a rather steep drop off, and once you’ve gone over the cliff, there’s no pulling it back.

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3 RACES: HATED BY TEAMS, LOVED BY FANS?

The introduction of a second sprint race and a new qualifying system for it certainly caused a stir among the paddock. Aiming to cut costs by having less rounds in the championship but the same number of races, the new qualifying system – which bizarrely reverses the top 10 for the first sprint race – had caused controversy, and doubts were surrounding the format in general, with driver fatigue from an extra race and the higher number of spare parts each team would have to bring being at the front of everybody’s mind.

However, the fan perspective was a little different, as we were presented with three fantastic races, all of them going down to the wire. The race one reversed grid added some flavour to the occasion, with a few drivers well out of position come the chequered flag, and the extra action was much appreciated – who doesn’t love more racing? It is only the first race, and the new format is yet to be tested on other types of track, but time will tell if this was a one off or if Formula 2 has struck gold.

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INSTANT IMPACT

Both races on Saturday were won by rookie drivers, Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri, recent graduates from Formula 3. The haul of fresh blood into F2 certainly isn’t a weak bunch – Piastri took the F3 title last year, while Lawson came home in 5^th with two wins. They’re also joined by vice champion Theo Pourchaire, who many are touting to be the next F1 superstar, as well as David Beckmann, Lirim Zendeli, Richard Verschoor and Bent Viscaal, all of which were inside the top 15 of the 2020 F3 championship.

All of these drivers put in phenomenal performances, with Piastri in contention for a feature race win until he span with a few laps remaining, and Pourchair putting in a fantastic comeback drive after a mechanical failure in race one. Lawson also took a debut win and a brilliant feature race podium but suffered from the chaos of race 2 when he was spun out.

Several drivers suffered a similar fate throughout the weekend, so the results are ultimately not what they could have been (also looking at Juri Vips here, who seemed to get penalised for just existing), so some drivers definitely ended up with better or worse results than they deserved after the drama. With that being said…

RIDICULOUS GRID

Alex Jacques essentially summed this up while commentating over the qualifying for the event – “we’re going to see an incredible driver finish 10^th in the championship.” He’s not wrong.

This is easily the strongest grid we’ve ever seen in the Formula 2 era. The already mentioned F3 graduates outperformed their debut expectations by quite some margin, and couple that with the already established front runners of the series and you’ve got one incredible talent pool all vying for a seat at the top. Indeed, some of the old guard had issues – Robert Shwartzmann had an absolute nightmare weekend, the Prema driver breaking down in qualifying before being involved in incidents throughout the races – but overall, it was a solid round for most of the drivers.

Guanyu Zhou drove commandingly all weekend, grasping the pole from Christian Lungaard before taking his maiden feature race win and a race two podium. Dan Ticktum was also a highlight in the feature race, storming through to 2^nd  in the final few laps. Those who are in their second or third season in the championship will now have maximum experience with the car and tracks and will definitely be looking to fight for wins at the very least, and Bahrain was more than enough evidence that they have the ability to do so.

LOOKING FORWARD

Although it’s already been mentioned that this is the first round, and we don’t know how well this format will work at other tracks, it must still be said that the first round has sent the excitement levels for the season skyrocketing. The shaken up calendar was always going to intrigue, especially with 4 street circuits being visited, but with the hyper competitive grid compiled with the great racing we witnessed, the shake up in strategy and the seemingly never-ending drama, fans have begun to froth at the mouth with anticipation.

Furthermore, many of the teams looked incredibly close – the usual Prema advantage seemed to be absent, with Carlin, Hitech, UNI-Virtuosi and ART all looking very quick. If advantages have been found in the off season by some teams, closing the gap to the top, it will bring the racing even closer over the remainder of the year.

Rest assured, this is a season to be excited for.