FIA Formula 2‘s long awaited return to the race track saw Carlin’s Red Bull backed Yuki Tsunoda finish fastest in the practice session at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
The Japanese racer graduates from F3 and raised a number of eyebrows in topping the time sheets, 0.054s clear of F2 veteran Luca Ghiotto.
Fellow rookie Marcus Armstrong led the ART charge in third from many people’s championship favourite Guanyu Zhou and teammate Christian Lundgaard.
The 45 minute session was briefly halted after Trident’s Marino Sato backed his car into the turn six gravel trap with 15 minutes left to run. He still got more running than Nikita Mazepin who failed to make it out of the F2 paddock after a mechanical issue with his Hitech GP machine.
The F3 graduates continued to shine with Felipe Drugovich, 2019 champion Robert Shwartzman and Jehan Daruvala ending 6-8 ahead of Sean Gelael and Louis Delétraz.
Two of the pre-season favourites Jack Aitken and Mick Schumacher struggled for speed and finished 18th and 19th respectively.
| Pos. | Name | Team | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | 1:15:249 |
| 2 | Luca Ghiotto | Hitech GP | 1:15:303 |
| 3 | Marcus Armstrong | ART | 1:15:405 |
| 4 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:15:468 |
| 5 | Christian Lundgaard | ART | 1:15:509 |
| 6 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1:15:598 |
| 7 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA | 1:15:702 |
| 8 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | 1:15:718 |
| 9 | Sean Gelael | DAMS | 1:15:928 |
| 10 | Louis Delétraz | Charouz | 1:15:940 |
| 11 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | 1:16:015 |
| 12 | Artem Markelov | HWA Racelab | 1:16:028 |
| 13 | Guiliano Alesi | HWA Racelab | 1:16:174 |
| 14 | Callum Ilott | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:16:268 |
| 15 | Nobuharu Matsushita | MP Motorsport | 1:16:334 |
| 16 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz | 1:16:379 |
| 17 | Roy Nissany | Trident | 1:16:514 |
| 18 | Jack Aitken | Campos | 1:16:544 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA | 1:16:596 |
| 20 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos | 1:16:894 |
| 21 | Marino Sato | Trident | 1:16:905 |
| 22 | Nikita Mazepin | Hitech GP | No Time |
