UNI-Virtuosi's Drugovich ends Barcelona F2 test on top
Felipe Drugovich ended the three-day FIA Formula 2 in-season test on top after posting the fastest time overall on the final day of running in Barcelona.
The UNI Virtuosi driver significantly lowered the benchmark by becoming the only driver over the three days to dip underneath the 1m28s bracket at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.
Drugovich topped the morning session with a 1m27.945s effort in a hotly contested three-hour morning session held in dry conditions.
The Brazilian equipped with the new-for-2021 medium compound tyre was 0.160s faster than Prema Racing’s Oscar Piastri, while Friday pacesetter Christian Lundgaard (ART Grand Prix) was third.
Drugovich’s time was 0.335s faster than the previous test best set by MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor on Saturday.
Teams were able to select from Pirelli’s new-for-2021 hard and medium compound tyres for the three-day test. The hard compound made its debut at the season opening round at Bahrain last month while the medium tyre is yet to be raced.
Following in a similar pattern to yesterday, the faster times arrived in the morning session as teams focussed on qualifying simulations on the medium tyres. Only eight tenths of a second covered the top 10.
Bahrain winner and F2 rookie Liam Lawson (Hitech Grand Prix) was fourth-fastest in the morning just 0.010s faster than teammate Juri Vips.
Theo Pourchaire (ART Grand Prix), Robert Shwartzman (Prema Racing), Bent Viscaal (Trident), Lirim Zendeli (MP Motorsport) and championship leader Guanyu Zhou (UNI Virtuosi) completed the top 10.
The session was halted twice, first by HWA’s Alessio Deledda stopping on track early on before Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala came to a halt in the final minutes.
The afternoon session produced much slower times with Trident’s Viscaal topping the timesheets courtesy of a 1m30.280s effort.
Viscaal edged HWA’s Matteo Nannini by 0.066s with the sister Trident of Marino Sato in third.
Deledda was fourth in front of DAMS’ Marcus Armstrong, Zendeli, Roy Nissany (DAMS), Shwartzman, Lawson and Piastri.
The afternoon session was interrupted by two stoppages caused by Lawson and Saturday pacesetter Verschoor.
F2 will return to action at the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix for round two on 20-22 May.
Full three-day Barcelona test results:
| Seq. | Driver | 23 Apr | 23 Apr | 24 Apr | 24 Apr | 25 Apr | 25 Apr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi | 1'29.772 26 | 1'31.075 43 | 1'28.544 45 | 1'30.837 59 | 1'27.945 21 | 1'34.709 45 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri Prema Racing | 1'30.425 21 | 1'31.350 24 | 1'29.059 25 | 1'34.907 41 | 1'28.105 23 | 1'33.816 57 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport | 1'30.519 40 | 1'30.165 45 | 1'28.280 51 | 1'29.951 35 | 1'28.972 35 | 1'34.540 37 |
| 4 | Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix | 1'29.594 34 | 1'29.827 45 | 1'28.805 49 | 1'33.557 61 | 1'28.285 43 | 1'35.106 50 |
| 5 | Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix | 1'30.006 26 | 1'30.739 41 | 1'28.810 40 | 1'34.658 49 | 1'28.422 39 | 1'33.782 24 |
| 6 | Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix | 1'29.988 26 | 1'30.956 39 | 1'28.872 53 | 1'34.668 51 | 1'28.433 25 | 1'34.883 45 |
| 7 | Ralph Boschung Campos Racing | 1'30.259 31 | 1'30.755 41 | 1'28.474 32 | 1'34.356 41 | 1'28.992 21 | 1'34.502 57 |
| 8 | Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix | 1'30.738 33 | 1'30.167 42 | 1'28.766 48 | 1'34.497 59 | 1'28.484 44 | 1'34.308 49 |
| 9 | Robert Shwartzman Prema Racing | 1'31.435 27 | 1'31.440 23 | 1'29.260 24 | 1'34.363 44 | 1'28.491 31 | 1'33.572 50 |
| 10 | Marcus Armstrong DAMS | 1'30.158 26 | 1'30.617 46 | 1'28.670 35 | 1'35.270 50 | 1'29.678 31 | 1'33.199 44 |
| 11 | Bent Viscaal Trident | 1'30.727 33 | 1'31.198 36 | 1'28.675 39 | 1'34.711 43 | 1'28.736 38 | 1'30.280 30 |
| 12 | Roy Nissany DAMS | 1'30.723 26 | 1'36.166 14 | 1'28.698 36 | 1'34.806 59 | 1'28.906 33 | 1'33.529 55 |
| 13 | Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport | 1'30.078 39 | 1'30.767 6 | 1'28.801 41 | 1'30.928 33 | 1'28.737 35 | 1'33.271 47 |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi | 1'30.083 27 | 1'34.783 51 | 1'28.880 50 | 1'35.052 55 | 1'28.755 24 | 1'35.088 54 |
| 15 | Jehan Daruvala Carlin | 1'30.674 31 | 1'35.511 47 | 1'28.884 32 | 1'35.278 39 | 1'29.032 35 | 1'34.693 43 |
| 16 | Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing | 1'30.882 30 | 1'31.532 40 | 1'28.929 37 | 1'30.684 45 | 1'28.973 29 | 1'34.515 43 |
| 17 | Dan Ticktum Carlin | 1'30.598 34 | 1'35.865 46 | 1'29.012 34 | 1'35.607 39 | 1'28.993 36 | 1'35.075 44 |
| 18 | Marino Sato Trident | 1'30.727 19 | 1'34.503 40 | 1'29.175 32 | 1'35.196 45 | 1'29.182 51 | 1'30.943 22 |
| 19 | David Beckmann Charouz Racing System | 1'30.973 32 | 1'30.824 31 | 1'30.194 44 | 1'29.384 37 | 1'29.744 38 | 1'35.310 60 |
| 20 | Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System | 1'31.305 31 | 1'31.575 31 | 1'30.125 49 | 1'29.510 36 | 1'30.166 36 | 1'35.120 44 |
| 21 | Matteo Nannini HWA Racelab | 1'30.953 30 | 1'35.787 35 | 1'30.855 27 | 1'31.033 40 | 6 | 1'30.346 59 |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda HWA Racelab | 1'37.100 7 | 1'34.629 7 | 1'32.721 26 | 1'36.174 43 | 1'32.096 37 | 1'32.183 55 |
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