Nyck de Vries and the Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing team led the way on the opening day of the final FIA Formula 2 pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit on Wednesday.
De Vries, part of the McLaren F1 Team’s junior programme, set the pace in the afternoon session with a best time of 1:43.785s, with only Louis Delétraz from the Charouz Racing System team the only other driver to dip beneath the 1:44s mark.
Luca Ghiotto had set the best time of the morning session, although the Campos Vexatec Racing driver’s lap of 1:44.042s was only good enough for third place overall, while Lando Norris’ 1:44.051s in the afternoon left him fourth fastest for Carlin.
Arjun Maini jumped up the order in the afternoon as well to finish fifth for Trident, while Antonio Fuoco ended sixth in the second Charouz car despite improving on his morning time when he was second fastest behind Ghiotto.
Ralph Boschung ended seventh for MP Motorsport ahead of BWT Arden’s Maximilian Günther, while Sergio Sette Câmara of Carlin and Jack Aitken of ART Grand Prix completed the top ten, just ahead of George Russell.
Maini was one of three drivers to bring out red flags in the morning session when he stopped on the start/finish straight, with DAMS duo Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi also causing the session to be halted as marshals recovered their Dallara’s.
There was only one red flag in the afternoon session when Artem Markelov stopped his Russian Time machine at turn eight, although he was able to get going again.
Day two gets underway at 9am local time on Thursday.
Bahrain International Circuit Test Day 1 Result
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