On the first day of the FIA Formula 2 Championship post-season test In Abu Dhabi, it was Charouz Racing’s Louis Delétraz who topped the timing sheets with a last-minute flyer, five seconds faster than any other time he had set in the afternoon session.
Delétraz not only topped the timesheets but also completed the most laps in the afternoon with 49 laps chalked up. He has taken Callum Ilott’s seat for this test as the Brit drives for UNI-Virtuosi. He was next on the lap count with 44.
The Swiss driver made the switch from 2019 team Carlin to Charouz with relative ease although his fastest time of a 1:50:543 was almost a second slower than the pole lap set by Sérgio Sette Câmara.
He headed ART Grand Prix duo Marcus Armstrong and Christian Lundgaard by 0.255s as they made the step up from FIA Formula 3 to F2.
Morning session pace-setter Mick Schumacher was fourth overall ahead of Artem Markelov who showed that he hadn’t lost that edge after a year of sporadic racing in 2019.
Red flags hindered both morning and afternoon sessions with Armstrong being one of those to bring the running to a brief halt when he stopped on track in the morning. Mahaveer Raghunathan, Felipe Drugovich and Guilherme Samaia also caused stoppages.
Recently announced DAMS driver Dan Ticktum was an impressive seventh on his first day as an F2 driver.
There are a further two days of testing to come from Abu Dhabi as many drivers are competing to earn themselves a seat for the 2020 season.
2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship – Post-season tests, Day 1, morning session
DRIVER | TEAM | LAPTIME | LAPS | |
1 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Racing | 1:50.947 | 32 |
2 | Louis Delétraz | Charouz Racing System | 1:50.958 | 18 |
3 | Nikita Mazepin | Carlin | 1:51.034 | 22 |
4 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:51.178 | 26 |
5 | Sean Gelael | DAMS | 1:51.449 | 31 |
6 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1:51.570 | 27 |
7 | Callum Ilott | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:51.585 | 18 |
8 | Artem Markelov | BWT HWA RACELAB | 1:51.626 | 19 |
9 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | 1:51.692 | 28 |
10 | Niko Kari | Campos Racing | 1:51.963 | 28 |
11 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:52.021 | 33 |
12 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:52.077 | 32 |
13 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | 1:52.155 | 27 |
14 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1:52.281 | 30 |
15 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz Racing System | 1:52.448 | 32 |
16 | Marino Sato | Trident | 1:52.516 | 28 |
17 | Marcus Armstrong | ART Grand Prix | 1:52.653 | 22 |
18 | Giuliano Alesi | BWT HWA RACELAB | 1:52.721 | 23 |
19 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | MP Motorsport | 1:53.505 | 22 |
20 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos Racing | 1:53.540 | 19 |
2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship – Post-season tests, Day 1, afternoon session
DRIVER | TEAM | LAPTIME | LAPS | |
1 | Louis Delétraz | Charouz Racing System | 1:50.543 | 49 |
2 | Marcus Armstrong | ART Grand Prix | 1:50.798 | 28 |
3 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:50.923 | 28 |
4 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Racing | 1:50.966 | 28 |
5 | Artem Markelov | BWT HWA RACELAB | 1:51.523 | 26 |
6 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz Racing System | 1:51.685 | 33 |
7 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | 1:51.724 | 35 |
8 | Sean Gelael | DAMS | 1:51.840 | 39 |
9 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:51.977 | 28 |
10 | Giuliano Alesi | BWT HWA RACELAB | 1:52.091 | 35 |
11 | Niko Kari | Campos Racing | 1:52.117 | 25 |
12 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | MP Motorsport | 1:52.467 | 24 |
13 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:52.796 | 35 |
14 | Roy Nissany | Trident | 1:52.881 | 25 |
15 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos Racing | 1:54.082 | 15 |
16 | Nikita Mazepin | Carlin | 1:55.393 | 33 |
17 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | 1:55.786 | 33 |
18 | Callum Ilott | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:56.396 | 44 |
19 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1:56.629 | 22 |
20 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1:56.789 | 23 |