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  • Dual in the desert Bahrain

    What a race…

    Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports

    After what seemed like an unusually long winter Formula 1 is back with a bang in the desert.

    After winter testing, three practice sessions and qualifying all that we knew for sure was the grid had indeed tightened up, especially for the top two teams in Mercedes and Red Bull.

    Max Verstappen had taken pole position from Lewis Hamilton by just under four tenths of a second with the sister Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in third and Charles Leclerc in fourth.

    Even sitting thousands of miles away the anticipation at the start was palpable.

    The instillation lap did nothing to calm the nerves as Checo Perez loses power initialising a second instal lap.

    He did manage to power up the ailing Red Bull but had to start from the pit lane.

    Five red lights go out and we’re away for the Bahrain Grand Prix and indeed the start of the 2021 season. Unsurprisingly to many fans the number two Haas crashes out at turn one and his race ends before it can even start, leaving Mick Schumacher the sole Haas driver as the safety car is deployed.

    Leclerc had managed to snatch third from Bottas before the safety car was deployed! Sainz lost out at the start and is down in P10, with Alonso and Stroll both gaining a position from him.

    Verstappen leads the pack away from Hamilton who is left to defend from Leclerc into turn one.

    Bottas takes third place back as we settle into a familiar pattern.

    Verstappen pulls out a small lead of just under two seconds.

    Further down the pack Sergio Perez starts to haul the Red bull through the field.

    Mercedes are first to blink and try the undercut, putting the hard tyres on and it looks like a great decision as Red bull stays out as Lewis starts pumping in purple sectors and is the fastest man on track.

    Verstappen’s in at last! And goes from mediums to mediums, he will have to stop again. He exits the pits nearly seven seconds behind Hamilton!

    The top three are Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas. Further down the field Vettel and Alonso are fighting it out for P8!

    Max is putting in the strong laps now on tyres ten laps newer than Hamilton’s. He closes to within two seconds or so, as Mercedes once again throws the dice and pull Lewis in for a new set of hard boots.

    He exits the pits in third behinds Bottas in second and Max in first.

    Bottas stops but there’s a problem with the front left! It’s a 10.9s stop and he comes out behind Leclerc in P5

    Verstappen pits for hards and is stationary for an incredible 1.9 seconds and leaves himself 8.7s to make up to Hamilton in the final 17 laps.

    Hamilton’s trying to keep his tyres going until the end, andy it’s falling back into Verstappen’s hands as he starts to take chunks off Lewis.

    Verstappen is eating into Hamilton’s lead like its an open buffet. Half a second out in the middle sector alone, and he can see the Mercedes on the straights now.

    Hamilton brakes another record this time for the most laps led in F1 with 5,112!

    Vettel and Ocon have come together. Both have got going again, but Vettel has some damage to his front wing. Looks like Sebs fault but that’s one for the stewards to decide.

    Max is like a lion hunting down his prey with only the odd back marker to hold him back, Lewis locks up and goes wide at Turn ten! He keeps the lead but Verstappen is just a second behind now and within DRS range.

    Lap 52 and Hamilton only has half a second over Verstappen as he tries around the outside of Turn one but Hamilton holds him off!

    Down to Turn four and Verstappen goes around the outside again, and this time he takes the lead!

    Max Is immediately told by his team to give the place back as he’s left the circuit whilst taking the position, if he doesn’t do it a penalty could be costly.

    Verstappen’s loses grip in Hamilton’s wake but he’s now out of DRS range on the start finish straight.

    Bottas stops for a new set of tyres as he attempts to grab the extra point for fastest lap.

    Hamilton starts the final lap and Verstappen is back within DRS range, no matter how well Max has driven this weekend he just can’t get passed the exuberant Hamilton who takes the win from Verstappen and Bottas.

    Norris, Perez, Ricardo and Yuki Tsunoda all make impressive debuts, Alonso and Seb looked good and should improve as we get further into the season.

    Mick Schumacher had a quiet race finishing last but that’s all that can be expected in the under developed Haas.

    HAM

    VER

    BOT

    NOR

    PER

    LEC

    RIC

    SAI

    TSU

    STR

    RAI

    GIO

    OCO

    RUS

    VET

    MSC

    DNF: GAS, LAT, ALO, MAZ

  • F2 Sakhir: Zhou storms to victory in frantic feature race

    F2 Sakhir: Zhou storms to victory in frantic feature race

    Guanyu Zhou took the final win of Formula 2’s Sakhir weekend, in a feature race dominated by changing tyre performance and a dramatic late collision for title hopeful Oscar Piastri.

    Zhou started the race from pole, but it was anything but an easy drive from the front for the Alpine junior. He was slow away off the line and lost the lead to Christian Lundgaard at Turn 1, then dropped to third behind teammate Felipe Drugovich at Turn 4.

    After a brief safety car in the early laps when Roy Nissany was spun out by Robert Shwartzman, Zhou then found himself under pressure from Piastri. The Prema driver, who had started on softs as opposed to Zhou’s hard tyres, picked off Zhou for third on lap 4 and set off after Drugovich and Lundgaard, while Zhou lost another position to Marcus Armstrong on lap 8.

    Christian Lundgaard, ART (Joe Portlock, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA Formula 2)

    By lap 12 Piastri had passed Drugovich and closed within half a second of Lundgaard, before overtaking the ART for the lead at the start of the following lap. By then the pit window was open and Lundgaard become the first to stop for hards at the end of lap 13, followed by Drugovich on lap 14 and Piastri himself on lap 16. Meanwhile, Zhou made his stop for soft tyres on the alternate strategy on lap 15, and came out of the pits just behind Drugovich.

    Another safety car was deployed in the middle of the pit phase when Gianluca Petecof’s cockpit fire extinguisher went off and forced him to retire. The timing of this second safety car benefited Armstrong and Richard Verschoor, who had been shuffled to the head of the field and were able to stop while the pack was slowed down. Armstrong came out of the pits still in the lead, while Verschoor emerged in third between Piastri and Lundgaard.

    At the restart on lap 19 however Armstrong immediately fell back, as Piastri and Verschoor both passed him for first and second respectively. Lundgaard also struggled for pace and lost fourth to Drugovich at Turn 4, then fifth to Zhou at Turn 10. Drugovich and Zhou then toppled Armstrong from third on lap 20, before Zhou overtook his teammate for the podium position a lap later.

    Felipe Drugovich, UNI-Virtuosi (Bryn Lennon, Getty Images / FIA Formula 2)

    As Zhou returned to the podium positions, Verschoor took the lead from Piastri on lap 20 and set about building a two-second gap as his softs had more initial pace than Piastri’s hards. That pace deficit allowed Zhou — as well as Dan Ticktum and Liam Lawson, who were also charging through on softs — to close up to Piastri and challenge him for second.

    Zhou took the position from Piastri on lap 23 and started reeling in Verschoor, who was struggling as his softs then started losing grip. But despite being on the same compound, Zhou was able to keep his tyres in better condition than the MP Motorsport ahead and he took the lead of the race at Turn 4 on lap 28.

    As Zhou then leaped clear in the lead, Ticktum started challenging Piastri for third as the Prema couldn’t find pace on the hard tyres. After being rebuffed at the inside of Turn 1 and the outside of Turn 4 on lap 29, Ticktum was much closer at the start of lap 30. He pulled to the inside and got momentarily ahead, before the two cars made contact and Piastri was spun into a stall and out of the race.

    Ticktum continued on in third, and after a brief virtual safety car to recover Piastri he improved to second with a pass on Verschoor. Lawson also overtook Verschoor on the final lap to take his second podium finish of the weekend.

    Dan Ticktum, Carlin (Clive Mason, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA Formula 2)

    Verschoor was able to hold onto fourth at the flag ahead of Armstrong and Jehan Daruvala. Shwartzman recovered from a drive-through penalty for hitting Nissany at the start to take seventh and the fastest lap, while Theo Pourchaire, Drugovich and Matteo Nannini rounded out the final points positions.

    Zhou now leaves Bahrain in the lead of the championship by 11 points from Liam Lawson, and Piastri drops to fourth behind Daruvala. Carlin now lead the teams’ standings on 47 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi (43) and Prema (37).

    Formula 2 returns on 20–23 May in support of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.

  • Stunning pole for Lowes in Moto2 Qualifying from Qatar

    Sam Lowes lived up to his billing as favourite for pole position with a stunning performance in qualifying in Qatar. The Brit is aiming to take control of the championship as early as possible after missing out on the 2020 title through injury.

    Marco Bezzecchi, Moto2 race, European MotoGP, 08 November 2020. Picture courtesy of Triumph

    Lowes will be joined on the front row by rookie Raul Fernandez who was on pole six times last year in Moto3 on his way to fourth in the standings. Dutch rider Bo Bendsneyder will start third which is a huge improvement on his 2020 form when he only scored points in four races (one of which was Qatar).

    Sky Racing Team VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi is tipped as a challenger to Lowes this year and will start from the head of row two alongside American Joe Roberts and Australian Remy Gardner. British rider Jake Dixon will start seventh after running as high as second at one point and was lucky that contact from his Petronas teammate Xavi Vierge didn’t cause a fall.

    Fabio Di Giannantonio came through Q1 and qualified eighth and with Jorge Navarro ninth.

    Both Simone Corsi and Marcos Ramirez will be sore tonight after heavy falls but both riders walked away from their falls in Q1.

    1 – Sam Lowes – GBR – Marc VDS

    2 – Raul Fernandez – SPA – Red Bull Ajo KTM

    3 – Bo Bendsneyder – NED – Pertamina SAG

    4 – Marco Bezzecchi – ITA – Sky Racing VR46

    5 – Joe Roberts – USA – Italtrans Racing

    6 – Remy Gardner – AUS – Red Bull Ajo KTM

    7 – Jake Dixon – GBR – Petronas Sprinta

    8 – Fabio Di Giannantonio – ITA – Federal Oil Gresini

    9 – Jorge Navarro – SPA – MB Conveyors Speed Up

    10 – Celestino Vietti – ITA – Sky Racing VR46

    11 – Nicolo Bulega – ITA – Federal Oil Gresini

    12 – Aron Canet – SPA – Inde Aspar Team

  • Double Delight for Petronas Sprinta in Moto3 Qualifying from Qatar

    Petronas Sprinta Racing were delighted with their qualifying efforts as both riders will start on the front row on Sunday. Darryn Binder took pole position after coming through Q1 in first place while teammate John McPhee took third place with his last lap of Q2.

    Into the first corner, of the 2020 Jerez Moto3 GP. Image courtesy of Polarity Photo/KTM

    Binder’s time of 2’04.075 is a new record for Moto3 at a race weekend and the South African will look to make the most of his second ever pole tomorrow. Brit McPhee was hampered by a Leopard Racing bike on his penultimate lap but still made third place, just 0.079 seconds ahead of fourth place.

    Sixteen-year-old rookie Izan Guevara was the surprise of both Q1 and Q2. The Spaniard came through the first session in second place behind Binder and finished second again in Q2, closing the gap from 0.6 seconds to 0.2 seconds in the sessions. It was a fantastic start for the Aspar Gas Gas team on their Moto3 debut.

    The second row will see Spaniards Jeremy Alcoba and Jaume Masia joined by Japan’s Kaito Toba. Row three will see Gabriel Rodrigo, Sergio Garcia and Riccardo Rossi.

    Romano Fenati came through Q1 in third place only to miss setting a time in Q2 by leaving the pit lane too late to set a time. Tatsuki Suzuki had already made the same mistake in Q1 and will start last, behind new teammate Lorenzo Fellon.

    1 – Darryn Binder – RSA – Petronas Sprinta Honda

    2 – Izan Guevara – SPA – Aspar Gas Gas

    3 – John McPhee – GBR – Petronas Sprinta Honda

    4 – Jeremy Alcoba – SPA – Indonesian Racing Gresini Honda

    5 – Jaume Masia – SPA – Red Bull Ajo KTM

    6 – Kaito Toba – JAP – CIP Green Power KTM

    7 – Gabriel Rodrigo – ARG – Indonesian Racing Gresini Honda

    8 – Sergio Garcia – SPA – Aspar Gas Gas

    9 – Riccardo Rossi – ITA – BOE Owlride KTM

    10 – Nico Antonelli – ITA – Avintia Esponsorama KTM

    11 – Pedro Acosta – SPA – Red Bull Ajo KTM

    12 – Jason Dupasquier – SUI – CarXpert PruestelGP KTM

  • Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix Qualifying

    Qualifying for the Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix was dominated by Ducati and Yamaha, who between them occupied the first seven places on the grid.

    Fabio Quartararo, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Picture courtesy of YamahaRacing.com

    Francesco Bagnaia was the star of the day as he beat both factory Yamaha riders, the satellite Yamaha of Valentino Rossi and his own Ducati teammate Jack Miller to pole position with a fantastic late lap. It is the first pole in the 24-year-old’s MotoGP career but on this performance, it won’t be his last.

    Factory Yamaha riders Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales had a great battle for the front row and will hope their race pace is just as good tomorrow. Rossi will start his first race for a non-factory team in twenty years from fourth place which is probably better than he would have expected after free practice. He is joined on the second row by the Ducatis of Jack Miller and Johann Zarco.

    Fabio Quartararo, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Picture courtesy of YamahaRacing.com
    Fabio Quartararo, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Picture courtesy of YamahaRacing.com

    Franco Morbidelli heads row three with Aleix Espargaro impressing for Aprilia in eighth place and apparently having good race pace for tomorrow. Alex Rins completes the third row after a rather average qualifying overall.

    Reigning champion Joan Mir fared even worse than his teammate and had to come through Q1 to get to his place on row four.

    Taka Nakagami also came through Q1 and finished as top Honda rider in 11th place, just ahead of factory rider Pol Espargaro.

     

    1 – Francesco Bagnaia – ITA – Ducati

    2 – Fabio Quartararo – FRA – Yamaha

    3 – Maverick Vinales – SPA – Yamaha

    4 – Valentino Rossi – ITA – Yamaha

    5 – Jack Miller – AUS – Ducati

    6 – Johann Zarco – FRA – Ducati

    7 – Franco Morbidelli – ITA – Yamaha

    8 – Aleix Espargaro – SPA – Aprilia

    9 – Alex Rins – SPA – Suzuki

    10 – Joan Mir – SPA – Suzuki

    11 – Taka Nakagami – JAP – Honda

    12 – Pol Espargaro – SPA – Honda

  • F2 Sakhir: Piastri snatches last lap sprint race win from Zhou

    F2 Sakhir: Piastri snatches last lap sprint race win from Zhou

    Prema’s Oscar Piastri became Formula 2’s second rookie winner in as many races after a strategy gamble and a hectic race helped him to overhaul Guanyu Zhou on the final lap.

    The race started with an incident at the first corner. As Juri Vips led away Lirim Zendelli and Zhou from pole, Robert Shwartzman hit Dan Ticktum at Turn 1 as he challenged for fourth place. Ticktum spun out and Shwartzman pulled over with terminal damage, and the safety car was deployed for the opening lap.

    When the safety car pulled in at the end of lap 3, Zhou immediately took second from Zendelli. Once ahead, Zhou then started reeling in Vips, setting the fastest lap at the end of lap 4 and taking the lead from the Hitech on the following lap at Turn 4.

    Guanyu Zhou, UNI-Virtuosi (Clive Mason, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA Formula 2)

    Meanwhile, Liam Lawson and Felipe Drugovich joined the podium battle. After moving past Piastri and Christian Lundgaard for fourth and fifth respectively at the restart, the pair then demoted Zendelli to fifth on lap 5 with Lawson ahead moving into the podium positions. Zendelli’s race then took another hit, as contact from Lundgaard at Turn 1 left the German with a puncture and dropped him to the back of the field.

    At the front of the field, Zhou continued to stretch out a gap over Vips, and was running 2.5 seconds clear by lap 11. Behind them, Lawson and Drugovich were much closer in the battle for third, and on lap 15 Drugovich made a move to the inside of Turn 1. Lawson managed to hold off the Brazilian, but they were both passed instead by Lundgaard. Lawson and Drugovich continued battling through the next couple of corners, until they made contact at Turn 4 and Lawson was spun out of the race.

    The safety car was deployed again while Lawson’s car was recovered, and Vips, Lundgaard and Piastri all took the opportunity to gamble on a switch to soft tyres. Despite dropping down the order, the trio had an immediate pace advantage over the rest of the field on hards or worn softs when the race resumed on lap 18.

    After carving back through the field on the first green flag lap, Vips, Piastri and Lundgaard were back up to second, third and fourth respectively by the end of lap 19, and Vips had the gap to Zhou down to a second.

    Juri Vips, Hitech (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

    But Vips’ hard work came undone just a few laps later when he lost power and started dropping through the field. Piastri assumed second and the pursuit of Zhou, and at the start of the final lap he and Lundgaard both lunged past their fellow Alpine junior at Turn 1.

    As Zhou battled to repass Lundgaard, Piastri was free to pull away in the lead and take his first Formula 2 victory. Lundgaard finished second on the road, but a ten-second penalty for his collision with Zendelli dropped him back to ninth. Zhou therefore finished second, and Jehan Daruvala scored his second podium of the weekend in third.

    Richard Verschoor finished fourth for MP Motorsport, ahead of Theo Pourchaire, David Beckmann, Marino Sato and Matteo Nannini.

    UPDATE: Lundgaard’s second place finish was reinstated following the race, after the FIA confirmed he had already served his 10 second penalty during his pit stop. The updated result means that Zhou drops to third and Daruvala fourth, and Nannini loses his point as he drops to ninth,.

  • Max Verstappen lights up Bahrain, taking a thrilling pole position in the desert

    Max Verstappen lights up Bahrain, taking a thrilling pole position in the desert

    Max Verstappen shone under the lights to take the first pole position of the season, his first back-to-back pole in his career.

    What looked to be a dramatic showdown between Mercedes and Red Bull did not disappoint, both teams swapping places at the top of the time sheets all session.

    After running wide on the penultimate corner in (Q1), a piece of carbon fibre came loose on Verstappen’s car, causing doubt as to whether the car would suffer as a result.

    However, the Flying Dutchman took the fastest time by almost four tenths of a second, clinching pole and will also have the advantage of starting on the mediums, having set his fastest time on the compounds in (Q2).

    Max Verstappen is the first non-Mercedes driver to take pole on F1’s opening weekend since Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

    Lewis Hamilton had to eventually settle for second alongside Valterri Bottas who starts third.

    Interestingly, if Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas finish on the podium together, they will be tie the record for most appearances on the podium as a trio (14), currently held by Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel.

    The other superstars of qualifying were Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly who qualified in fourth and fifth respectively. Importantly, the Alpha Tauri driver will start the race on the medium tyres giving him a massive advantage on a track known for high degradation. Additionally, the Scuderia will see this as a sign of improvement and a turn of fortune for the coming season.

    Courtesy of Alpha Tauri

    Daniel Ricciardo impressed on his first outing in McLaren in sixth, outqualifying his teammate Lando Norris in seventh. Carlos Sainz, who set the fastest time of (Q2) failed to improve on his first run and will line up in eight.

    Fernando Alonso reached (Q3) for the first time since Monaco ’18 – a fantastic achievement for the returning two-time world champion. Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon failed to escape (Q1) in 16th. Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin rounded out the top ten.

    Sergio Perez failed to reach (Q3) and will start in 11th, but importantly with a free tyre choice for tomorrow’s race. Other notable mentions should include an improved Alfa Romeo who finished a respectable twelfth with Antonio Giovinazzi and 12th with Kimi Raikkonen 14th.

    Sebastian Vettel had a difficult first outing for his new team Aston Martin going out in 18th place, Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda, the 20-year-old at his first F1 meeting put in a good run with 13th for AlphaTauri. George Russell was 15th for Williams, with his teammate Nicholas Latifi 17th.

    Mick Schumacher, the 22-year-old son of seven-time world champion Michael, acquitted himself well on his F1 debut, keeping it clean in a very uncompetitive Haas. He was in 19th place, beating teammate Nikita Mazepin into 20th, who brought out multiple yellow flags in (Q1).

  • F2 Sakhir: Lawson dominates sprint race on debut

    F2 Sakhir: Lawson dominates sprint race on debut

    Hitech’s Liam Lawson opened his rookie Formula 2 season with a dominant win in the first Bahrain sprint race, holding the lead throughout after taking it at the start.

    Lawson got a rapid start from third on the grid to get past fellow rookies David Beckmann and Theo Pourchaire, who started first. Pourchaire briefly dropped down to third behind Beckmann, but recovered by the end of the lap to retake second place. Just behind them, Jehan Daruvala jumped Oscar Piastri for fourth.

    Jehan Daruvala, Carlin (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

    Lawson’s attempt to break clear of DRS range from Pourchaire was briefly halted on lap 3, when Marcus Armstrong’s DAMS stopped on track to bring out the virtual safety car. But by lap 6, Lawson pulled a second clear of Pourchaire for the first time and went on to build a gap in clean air.

    As Pourchaire dropped back from the lead, he started coming under pressure from Daruvala, who’d passed Beckmann for third on lap 11. But on lap 13 Pourchaire suddenly slowed with a mechanical problem, gifting Daruvala second as he dropped out of the points and eventually stopped on track.

    Now in pursuit of the lead, Daruvala looked to have much better tyres than Lawson. On his first lap in second, Daruvala took half a second out of the lead as his rival struggled for grip. Lawson then had a big lock up on lap 17, which brought Daruvala to within half a second of the Hitech.

    But despite being in DRS range, Daruvala was ultimately unable to get close enough to Lawson to make a move for the lead. Lawson held on to win by 0.7 seconds over Daruvala, with Beckmann taking third on his F2 debut.

    David Beckmann, Charouz (Joe Portlock, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / courtesy of FIA Formula 2)

    Robert Shwartzman took fourth ahead of Piastri, after battling through the field from his starting position of 11th. Christian Lundgaard and Guanyu Zhou were sixth and seventh, and Dan Ticktum took the final point in eighth after being demoted by a time penalty for spinning around Richard Verschoor early on.

    Lirim Zendelli finished ninth but took two points for the fastest lap, and Juri Vips finished tenth to start on pole for the second sprint race.

  • F2 Bahrain preview: New season, new format, same goal

    F2 Bahrain preview: New season, new format, same goal

    The Formula 2 grid will take to the track this weekend in Bahrain, for the opening round of the 2021 championship.

    It only feels like yesterday that Mick Schumacher was crowned the 2020 F2 champion, but a lot has changed since the series left Bahrain last December. For starters, there’s a new race weekend format for the teams and drivers to get their heads around this year.

    Instead of a Saturday feature race and Sunday sprint race, the F2 weekend will now feature three races — two sprint events on Saturday, and a feature before Sunday’s F1 Grand Prix. Friday qualifying will still determine the feature race grid, while the first sprint race grid will be set by reversing the top ten from qualifying. The starting positions for the second sprint race will then be a reverse of the first race’s top ten finishers.

    Robert Shwartzman, Prema (Courtesy of Prema Racing)

    The weekend format might be different though, but for the eleven drivers returning to F2 this year, the goal of winning the championship and reaching F1 remains the same. And of those drivers, Robert Shwartzman is going to come to Bahrain with the most expectation on his shoulders.

    In his rookie season last year, Shwartzman took the most wins of the field, helped Prema to the teams’ title, and was in championship contention himself for most of the season. He’s already proven he’s quick in Bahrain — one of his four wins last year came in the sprint race there — so Shwartzman will be the one with the target on his back in the opening round.

    But there are plenty more drivers from the class of 2020 who will be out to prove this weekend that it’s not all about Shwartzman. Jehan Daruvala and Dan Ticktum have a great chance of opening the year with a win, as their Carlin team had rapid pace in Bahrain last year. Watch out for Marcus Armstrong too, who was also quick here last year and is starting a new partnership with DAMS.

    And lastly, Felipe Drugovich will be a driver with plenty of attention on him in the opening round. After being one of last year’s revelations, the Brazilian has earned himself a move to UNI-Virtuosi alongside Guanyu Zhou and the perfect chance to prove he can challenge the likes of Shwartzman for the title.

    Dan Ticktum, Carlin (Michael Regan, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / Courtesy of FIA Formula 2)

    But while the returning field is strong, they’ll have a real fight on their hands to keep ahead of an equally impressive crop of rookies.

    One of those new faces will be the 2020 Formula 3 champion and Alpine F1 junior Oscar Piastri. Coming into F2 with Prema, Piastri is expected to be a natural title contender this year — and if his F3 days are anything to go by, he won’t be taking any time at all to get his campaign underway.

    Piastri isn’t the only rookie looking to impress an F1 academy, though. Hitech is fielding an all-Red Bull junior lineup this year with Juri Vips and Liam Lawson, both of whom were consistently rapid in pre-season testing.

    A lot of the spotlight will fall on Vips after he made his F2 debut last year substituting for Sean Gelael in four rounds, and scored a podium at Mugello. But Lawson is no slouch either — he was a multiple race winner with Hitech in F3 last year, and is every bit as quick as Vips.

    And then there’s Theo Pourchaire. Like Vips, Sauber F1 junior Pourchaire made his F2 debut in a handful of rounds last year — including Bahrain — before a full campaign for 2021. He came within three points of snatching the F3 title away from Piastri last year and has been widely tipped as a future F1 star. Driving for ART this year, he’ll be with a team capable of challenging for podiums and wins right from the off.

    But as Drugovich showed last year, it’s not just the F1 juniors to watch for. Between Formula Regional European champion Gianluca Petecof, F3 race winners Lirim Zendelli, David Beckmann and Bent Viscaal, and F3 podium finishers Richard Verschoor and Matteo Nannini, there are plenty of lightning-fast rookies coming in under the radar this weekend.

    Liam Lawson, Hitech (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

  • The longest season in F1 history begins: Bahrain Grand Prix Preview

    The longest season in F1 history begins: Bahrain Grand Prix Preview

    For the second year running, Albert Park in Melbourne finds itself unable to host the Formula One curtain-raiser, so instead the circus rolls back to the scene of the pre-season test – the 5.4 kilometre Sakhir International Circuit.

    The venue played host to two races at the back end of last year, meaning that F1 has spent a lot of time here over the course of the last three months, but this now is set to be our last visit to Bahrain for at least a year.

    Just as the two races last year, there is a sense of anticipation that this year’s edition will be an exhilarating one to watch.

    Red Bull and Max Verstappen looked exceptional in pre-season testing, while Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton looked decidedly average, leading many to believe that we have a title fight on our hands this season.

    Mercedes believe the impressive Red Bull and Max Verstappen are the favourites this year – Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

    Conversely, however, Mercedes have a history of “sandbagging” in testing – take 2019 for example – so exactly how much validity Red Bull’s title credentials have will be revealed when the cars are properly unleashed for the first time in qualifying on Saturday, but the outlook is certainly positive for Red Bull. Let’s not forget of course that Red Bull’s new driver Sergio Perez won the second of the two races last year for Racing Point.

    While Mercedes did not look brilliant in testing, they are expected to show a lot more pace this weekend – Courtesy of Mercedes Media

    Looking further down the grid, the midfield yet again promises to be a dramatic one. Fernando Alonso’s new-look Alpine team sport an eye-catching new engine cover, and they hope to achieve an equally flamboyant championship finish, but they face stiff competition from McLaren, Ferrari and potentially Aston Martin for what has become a coveted third spot.

    Alonso’s return not only coincides with Renault’s transformation to Alpine, but also Racing Point’s re-brand as Aston Martin. They looked shaky in the test in Bahrain, with Sebastian Vettel completing the second-lowest tally of laps last weekend.

    Fernando Alonso makes his much-anticipated debut for Alpine this weekend – Courtesy of Alpine Racing Media

    Bahrain will be the first of 23 races in 2021, but this calendar has already been adversely affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, so just how this year will shape up remains to be seen.

    One thing that is certain for now, though, is that Sakhir will play host to its third F1 race in four months this weekend, and we can get the long-awaited 2021 season underway