Finally a feature race for Formula 2 ! As Melbourne was cancelled due to the rain, this first race turned out to be epic, with strategy at the centre of it. Alexander Dunne takes a win for the first time since GB3.
Once more Formula 2 did not disappoint. With a very strong grid, no accidents occurred and a very strategic race could take place, where overcut, undercut and normal strategies all worked. This 200th race in Formula 2 history served as a great showcase of the category for newcomers.
Battles at the start
At the start, only nine drivers were on soft tyres, with the others being on hard tyres. Victor Martins, second on the grid, got off to a bad start and found himself sixth even before Turn 1. Drivers are hungry as a four wide in Turn 2 takes place, but it’s clean even though Luke Browning was out of the track limit. A battle between John Bennett and Gabriele Minì is on, and the Italian driver is slightly pushed off track in the fight for P15. Leonardo Fornaroli has a great start and keeps the lead with a 1.2 sec lead in lap 3. Alexander Dunne also has a great start and takes second place. As Sebastián Montoya is the only driver on soft tyres outside of the top 10, he tries to take some places but it’s not working well for him. Victor Martins passes Roman Staněk for the P5, as the Invicta driver seems to be struggling for pace. Joseph Marìa Martì, who started P11, has a magnificent start and finds himself battling for the last place on the podium against Rafael Villagomez. On lap 7, all Martì, Martins and Dunne passed their opponents thanks to the DRS, so Alexander Dunne took the lead of the race. A battle with six drivers for the P10 is happening and a small mistake from one of them could be very costly.
The pitstop that could change evrything
John Bennett is the first driver to go into the pit, which is unusual as he was on hard tyres. Gabriele Minì also pits for soft tyres with twenty laps to go. Victor Martins is the first driver on soft tyres to pit, he goes out in P17. A problem in the pit for Joshua Dürksen with his right rear tyre made him lose a big amount of time. The leader Alexander Dunne pits on lap 17, it makes him go back in second place. Sebastián Montoya takes a 5-second penalty for speeding into the pitlane. With ten laps remaining, Luke Browning passes Victor Martins as he is on soft tyres. The Frenchman lets him pass to save his tyres and have an opportunity towards the end of the race. John Bennett tries to attack Joshua Dürksen for P9 but ends up losing two places to Staněk and Goethe. With fresher tyres, Arvid Lindblad passes three drivers for the last place in the points, while Leonardo Fornaroli starts to attack Victor Martins for the third place. The opportunity for Victor Martins never came and he lost a lot of places with very used tyres
A happy ending
On the last lap, Pepe Martì tries to overtake Leonardo Fornaroli for the podium and they make contact, thankfully without any consequences. It was close at the finish line but the Invicta driver keeps his P3. Alexander Dunne wins the Bahrain Grand Prix with a 8.244-second margin. Luke Browning and Leonardo Fornaroli complete the podium.