Richard Verschoor has taken his second victory in Formula 2, and Trident’s first victory at this level since 2016, after leading every lap of the sprint race.
Felipe Drugovich started the race on pole, having qualified tenth yesterday. However, he made a poor getaway and fell to sixth within the first few turns. Verschoor, who started alongside him on the front row, immediately grabbed the lead and held it for the first lap.Ralph Boschung also had a good launch, claiming second place, and stayed with Verschoor over the opening laps. Drugovich began his recovery on the second lap, overtaking Jake Hughes, the pair briefly running wheel-to-wheel.
Hughes slipped down the order until, on lap five, he was overtaken by Marcus Armstrong for tenth. Hughes clipped Armstrong’s rear and sent the Hitech car spinning around on track, triggering a safety car period and forcing Armstrong to retire from the race.
Behind the safety car, Drugovich observed Theo Pourchaire’s car ahead of him leaking oil. When the race restarted at the end of lap six, Verschoor was able to hold the lead, while Pourchaire fell down the order dramatically, dropping to last.
Drugovich took advantage, overtaking Pourchaire and then Jack Doohan ahead of him to take fifth. Pourchaire retired in the pits on lap seven, while Verschoor set a new fastest lap, extending a modest lead of just over a second ahead of Boschung.
Juri Vips pulled off an incredibly late lunge against Doohan into turn one at the start of lap 13. Both drivers had DRS but Vips out-braked Doohan and managed to claim sixth. Meanwhile, ahead of them Drugovich and Lawson continued to battle for fourth.
Daruvala made a move on Boschung down the pit straight, claiming second place just seconds before a Virtual Safety Car period was called. Clement Novalak collided with Hughes, Novalak losing parts of his front wing, forcing the MP Motorsport driver into the pits but not a retirement. Hughes’ race, however, was ended by the contact. Novalak, already relegated to the rear of the race, was subsequently handed a 10-second time penalty for the contact.
The Virtual Safety Car period ended on lap 17. Verschoor got away from Daruvala and Boschung as the two renewed their battle over second place. They went side-by-side through turn four and Boschung emerged ahead. However, Daruvala switched them back the following lap, reclaiming second while Verschoor extended his lead over them to two seconds.
Boschung found himself defending against Lawson, but was unable to hold onto the final podium place. Further back, Ayumu Iwasa, who had started last, was able to take eighth place and move into the points on the penultimate lap.
Verschoor took the chequered flag first, followed by Daruvala and Lawson. There was a yellow flag shown on the final lap, as Olli Caldwell’s Campos retired from the race before being able to see the finish line.
Verschoor now leads the championship, ahead of tomorrow’s feature race, for which Doohan has pole position.
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Formula 2 Bahrain race one results
| Position | Car | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Richard Verschoor |
| 2 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala |
| 3 | 5 | Liam Lawson |
| 4 | 15 | Ralph Boschung |
| 5 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich |
| 6 | 6 | Logan Sargeant |
| 7 | 8 | Juri Vips |
| 8 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa |
| 9 | 1 | Dennis Hauger |
| 10 | 3 | Jack Doohan |
| 11 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi |
| 12 | 16 | Roy Nissany |
| 13 | 9 | Frederik Vesti |
| 14 | 23 | Cem Bolukbasi |
| 15 | 21 | Calan Williams |
| 16 | 4 | Marino Sato |
| 17 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel |
| 18 | 12 | Clement Novalak |
| DNF | 14 | Olli Caldwell |
| DNF | 24 | Jake Hughes |
| 21 | 10 | Theo Pourchaire |
| DNF | 7 | Marcus Armstrong |
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Formula 2
- Bortoleto clinches F2 title as Hadjar stalls and Duerksen wins finale
- Aron hit with double penalty for team’s illegal DRS modification, Hadjar gains a point
- Marti wins sprint race as Bortoleto extends points lead ahead of finale
- Martins beats title rivals Bortoleto, Aron and Hadjar to Yas Marina pole
- Bortoleto’s lead down to half a point as penalty hands win to Aron in Losail
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
19th March 2022, 18:07
Must admit I did not expect Iwasa in the DAMS fo charge up from 22nd to 8th in his first F2 race. He might well have a higher ceiling than Hauger and Lawson.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
19th March 2022, 18:25
…And to think that Verschoor had no drive up until two weeks ago.
RandomMallard
19th March 2022, 21:34
Congrats to Verschoor and to Trident. Great to see them back at the top after a very tough few years.
DeeDooDooDoo
20th March 2022, 3:35
I only caught the highlights, Doohan was running as high as 6th (seemed to lose that position in a fair fight late mid race, I thought his tyres might have been going off). Does anyone know if he dropped down to get race 2 pole.