--- title: "Piecing together the F2 testing puzzle" canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2018/03/29/piecing-together-the-f2-testing-picture/" type: "post" language: "en-GB" author: "Kyran Gibbons" section: "Formula 2" published: "2018-03-29T19:24:07Z" modified: "2018-04-06T20:28:10Z" --- # Piecing together the F2 testing puzzle Formula 1’s second-tier series has a habit of upstaging the main event when it comes to on-track spectacle. On the basis of testing, Formula 2 is set to follow the trend again this season. Veterans of the series will clearly face a stern test posed by an influx of hugely talented rookies. On the basis of testing, this diverse field of drivers is as close as ever as F2 enters its first season with a brand-new car. Bahrain hosted the second and final pre-season test as teams aimed to refine their understanding of this new package. Following an identical format to the first test at Paul Ricard, three days of track action was split into six sessions. Fortunately for the teams – and fans yearning for a more representative timesheet – the warmer track conditions in Bahrain meant that the second test allowed for more reliable data gathering than the first. From that data gathering perspective, one team stood heads and shoulders above the rest. ART Grand Prix recorded a mammoth 463 laps across the course of the three days. To put that into perspective, Prema was the next highest on the mileage scale but 96 laps adrift. ![](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2018/03/MALC8823-904x603.jpg) Reigning GP3 champion George Russell and team-mate Jack Aitken have both graduated from ART’s GP3 ranks into the squad’s F2 team this season. The mileage will have allowed both rookies to have a head start on their rivals when it comes to baseline setup – a particularly key advantage in the opening rounds of a new season. It may have been Aitken’s car that delivered the most obvious sign of unreliability in the first test after catching fire in the garage early on – combining with a reliability headache on the second day of pre-season for Russell – but both ART’s were bulletproof in the second week. Unreliability across a season is rarely a huge concern for an F2 outfit running spec-machinery, but for ART to have had the ability to cover such immense mileage in the second test has allowed its drivers to better understand the package. Billed as being the battle which will define the outcome of this year’s championship, Russell and McLaren F1 protege Lando Norris were seemingly evenly matched once again. Just 0.103 seconds split the pair in terms of their personal best lap times. Russell has more mileage in Bahrain’s representative conditions than Norris – with the two clocking 231 and 166 laps for the week respectively – but judging by pace, the two are an early season match. Despite being widely regarded as the leading championship protagonists, they only finished sixth and ninth on the timesheet – a marker of the close competitive order. ![](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2018/03/MALC8690-904x603.jpg) The honour of being the winter champion was earned by European Formula 3 graduate Maximilian Gunther. His impressive 1m42.756s was set on the morning of the final day. Gunther had work to do having missed the entire afternoon session on day two but demonstrated that he was unperturbed by a lack of mileage. He looks set to propel Arden International’s assault this season and could scoop a debut season victory. His was not the only unfamiliar name at the top of the overall timesheet. GP3 race-winner Arjun Maini topped the second day of the test and was a slender 0.056s adrift of Gunther’s benchmark. Maini’s pace was impressive throughout the week and bodes well for Trident, who finished the 2017 season bottom of the teams’ standings. Pace during the race simulations appeared to be lacking, but Maini has at least unlocked some raw speed from the team’s 2018 package. A similar assessment could be used to explain how F2 newcomers Charouz Racing System fared in testing. Both Louis Deletraz and Antonio Fuoco showed decent speed to build upon a promising week at Paul Ricard. Deletraz finished fourth on the overall timesheet, while Fuoco was 13th. With Fuoco averaging 0.5s behind his team-mate’s fastest times in both pre-season test it seems as though, despite his improved form at the end of 2017, Fuoco is behind Deletraz at this stage. Charouz needs to work on its long-run pace to complement its excellent raw speed. A better understanding of the sensitive Pirelli tyres will develop over time and forecasts suggest that Charouz could realistically contend for podiums by mid-late season. ![](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2018/03/MALC9353-904x603.jpg) Nyck de Vries is the man most likely to muscle in on the battling Brits at the top of the standings. The Prema recruit was fast in Bahrain, topping the times on the opening day and finishing fifth overall. Team-mate Sean Gelael, however, was off the pace throughout the test and unlike at ART or Carlin, Prema is likely to only challenge for wins with one car. Prema’s chance of regaining the teams’ title lost in 2017 seem thin, but the drivers’ crown is unquestionably a possibility for de Vries. Defending the teams’ title in 2018 is Russian Time who once again appeared to be running an alternative programme to the field. Neither rookie Tadasuke Makino or 2017 vice-champion Artem Markelov appeared high on the timesheets, sitting 11th and 16th on the overall times, while the team once again completed the fewest number of laps. Russian Time is the biggest unknown quantity heading into the season. To a lesser extent, DAMS is also tricky to read after a quiet second test. Nicholas Latifi jumped into the new car for the first time following an illness which sidelined him at Paul Ricard. His week was about getting up to speed with the 2018 machinery and he ran a condensed programme as a result. He finished 14th on the overall timesheet and despite his Paul Ricard absence, was only 0.132s adrift of Alexander Albon on the other side of the garage. MP Motorsport was the least convincing outfit during testing. While Campos was unspectacular, Luca Ghiotto still finished seventh overall. MP Motorsport, on the other hand, ended testing 15th for Roberto Merhi and 19th for Ralph Boschung. Considering that the team pairs a former F1 driver in Merhi alongside an F2 returnee in Boschung, the results from testing will have been disappointing. ![](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2018/03/MALK2444-904x603.jpg) However, testing timesheets are fickle. In reality, it is unlikely that we will know the pecking order until after the first handful of races, given how close the field appears to be at this stage. Testing has been inconclusive and that simply adds to the intrigue before the season-opening weekend in Bahrain on April 6-8.