2019 Bahrain Feature Race

The 2019 Bahrain Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2019 Sakhir Race 1, was the opening round of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Bahrain International Circuit on the 30 March 2019. The race would see Nicholas Latifi sweep to victory for DAMS, in spite of being hobbled by a slow pit stop mid-race.

Qualifying for the race had seen Luca Ghiotto and the "new" UNI-Virtuosi team grab pole position ahead of Louis Delétraz. Best of the rest was Nyck de Vries, while Mick Schumacher was the best placed rookie for the season opener, claiming tenth on the grid.

The start of the race would see Ghiotto make a poor getaway from pole, gifting the lead to Delétraz as the Italian slump to sixth. Indeed, de Vries and Latifi would shoot past to squabble for second, the Canadian eventually coming out on top, while Jack Aitken and Nobuharu Matsushita also sneaked ahead.

Sérgio Sette Câmara would be the man to watch during the early laps, moving from thirteenth to eighth after his own poor getaway. Ghiotto, in contrast, would opt to nurse his tyres during the early stages, planning to go on the attack when the pit-window opened, while Latifi stole the lead away from Delétraz.

Ghiotto duly launched his raid for positions before the end of lap ten, and duly rose from sixth to second in the space of three laps. de Vries, meanwhile, would be the first to stop on lap thirteen, with the rest of the front runners coming in over the next three laps.

Latifi's stop came on lap sixteen, although a sticking rear tyre cost the Canadian valuable time to drop him back behind de Vries, Matsushita and Delétraz. Ghiotto, meanwhile, tried to run an additional lap, but a dramatic loss of pace on that additional tour dropped him back to sixth behind Câmara.

The second half of the race ultimately came to be dictated by tyre life, with Latifi and Ghiotto able to pick their way up the order as their rivals faded. Indeed, with five laps to go the Canadian and Italian were on their own at the head of the field, while de Vries and Delétraz came under pressure from those behind.

With that the race was effectively run, with Latifi claiming a comfortable victory from Ghiotto by nine seconds. Câmara eventually filtered through in third, while Anthoine Hubert was best of the rookies in fourth after managing his tyres excellently during the closing stages.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Race
It was a warm afternoon in Sakhir for the opening race of the 2019 season, which was moved ahead of the qualifying session for Formula One due to the move to run F1 after sundown. Regardless, there would be no changes to the order after the F2 qualifying session, meaning Luca Ghiotto would lead the field on to the grid for the start, with Louis Delétraz lining up alongside.

Report
The start of the race saw Ghiotto make an okay start, although that was not enough to keep the Italian at the head of the pack despite starting from pole position. Indeed, Delétraz hooked up his start beautifully to ease away to claim the lead, while Nyck de Vries darted around the #8 UNI-Virtuosi to challenge Delétraz for the lead around the outside of turn one. Nicholas Latifi would also beat Ghiotto when the lights went out and claimed third, and would almost secure second from de Vries at the hairpin of turn one before the Dutchman powered away at the exit.

The rest of the opening tour would see Latifi continue to harass de Vries for second, forcing the #4 ART Grand Prix to take a very defensive line into turn four to deny the Canadian. However, that compromised de Vries' exit from the corner, and allowed Latifi to successfully pull a brave dive inside the Dutchman at turn five. Behind, Nobuharu Matsushita tried a lunge at Ghiotto at the same corner but had to cede the position, leaving him under fire from Jack Aitken, while the rest of the field made it through without issue.

The race soon settled down, with Delétraz easing out his lead over Latifi to a little over a second, while de Vries remained glued to the Canadian's tail and within DRS range. Behind, Aitken managed to get ahead of both Matsushita and Ghiotto, with the latter move on the Italian also dragging Matsushita's #2 Carlin past as well. Elsewhere, Nikita Mazepin was the lead rookie in seventh, fighting with Anthoine Hubert, while Sean Gelael ran in ninth ahead of Sérgio Sette Câmara, who had fought up to tenth from thirteenth with a succession of moves.

That was, until the Indonesian racer had a spectacular spin at turn one at the start of lap five, when his DRS remained open when he hit the brakes for the hairpin. Indeed, the lack of rear downforce threw the #10 Prema from a straight-line into a half-spin, with Gelael shooting across the inside of the corner backwards, narrowly avoiding Mazepin and Hubert. That, ultimately, ended Gelael's race after he stalled the car, with the marshals able to snatch the car away without intervention from the Safety Car.

Out front, meanwhile, Latifi and de Vries had moved into striking distance of race leader Delétraz, who had begun to nurse his tyres as the opening laps ticked away. Latifi duly setup a move for the lead at the end of lap eight, forcing Delétraz to take a defensive line into the final two corners, and hence compromise his exit. That, combined with DRS and the slipstream allowed the #6 DAMS to draft along the outside of Delétraz into the first corner, completing the move on the brakes into the hairpin.

With that Latifi was away, building a two second lead over Delétraz to leave the Swiss racer to fend off de Vries for second with the pitstops looming. Behind, Aitken's pace was deteriorating as the opening stint wore on, with Matsushita elbowing his way past, with Ghiotto following him through. The Italian ace subsequently tried to lunge inside the Japanese racer into turn thirteen, and duly claimed fourth with superior grip having preserved his tyres in the opening stages.

Aitken would have a brief renaissance on his tyres before the stops, diving past Matsushita on the brakes for turn four after a duel with the DRS down the straight. That prompted Matsushita to serve his stop at the end of the lap, while Sette Câmara closed onto the back of the Brit as he continued his charge up the field with a dive inside Hubert at the final corner. The Brazilian duly tried a kamikaze dive inside Aitken's Campos into the final corner at the end of lap thirteen, before securing the position with the aid of DRS during the following lap.

With that the pit stops began, with de Vries the first of the lead trio to stop on lap fifteen. Latifi and Delétraz came in on the following laps to leave Ghiotto in the lead, with the Italian racer continuing on until lap eighteen, with the majority having already stopped. He would rejoin in sixth, as de Vries shuffled into the lead having undercut all of his rivals.

Indeed, there had been a huge shuffle to the order as a result of the stops, with de Vries left in the lead ahead of Matsushita, while Delétraz had jumped Latifi to secure third. Sette Câmara had also made a huge amount of ground to join the fight for the lead to claim sixth, while Ghiotto had the freshest tyres in sixth, but had slipped seven seconds off the lead. Behind, Hubert had jumped Aitken in the pit-shuffle, with the entire field having switched to soft Pirelli tyres from mediums.

After the stops it would be Latifi who emerged as the star of the race, first with a well timed lunge inside of Delétraz into turn one on lap 21 to reclaim third. A lap later and the Canadian racer used DRS and slipstream to pull an identical move on Matsushita for second, although the Japanese racer briefly entertained an attempt to run alongside Latifi through the kink of turn two. With that Latifi was away, and would make his bid for the lead on the following tour having reeled in de Vries with a succession of fastest laps.

Ultimately it would be little contest, with Latifi again using DRS and slipstream to pass de Vries on the run to turn one, despite the Dutchman's early move to the inside to cover the move. Indeed, momentum ensured that Latifi had the move done before the pair hit the brakes for the corner, with de Vries tucking back in behind the #6 DAMS to take the corner. With that Latifi was away, and would again set about building a comfortable margin at the head of the field.

With the fight for the lead over attention turned to the fights further down the field, with Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin having an aggressive duel for the final point in tenth, with the Russian almost running the German racer off the road on the run to turn four. Behind, Guanyu Zhou would have an equally bruising fight with fellow debutante Giuliano Alesi, with Ralph Boschung sat in between the two fights. Indeed, the Swiss racer would pounce on Mazepin when the Russian racer tried to force his way inside Schumacher at turn five, with a lock-up for the #3 ART carrying Mazepin wide.

Back with the lead group and Ghiotto was the man to watch, as he engaged Delétraz and Sette Câmara in a truel for fourth behind Matsushita. Indeed, as the field began lap 25 the #5 DAMS would get a run on the #1 Carlin of Delétraz down the start-finish straight, while Ghiotto got a run on both with the slipstream effect from both cars. The trio subsequently entered the braking zone for turn one three abreast, although Delétraz would back off on the brakes, with Ghiotto on the inside and Sette Câmara on the outside. Ghiotto duly secured fourth by virtue of having the inside line, while Sette Câmara settled into the Italian's wake ahead of a roughed up Delétraz.

Two laps later and Ghiotto led Sette Câmara past de Vries and Matsushita for second and third, with both going off to chase Latifi, who had built a six second lead. Matsushita duly slipped into the clutches of Delétraz, although the Swiss racer was in the sights of Hubert, the best of the rookies. Indeed, Hubert was putting together an accomplished debut, and would duly pass Delétraz with a run out of turn one, before surviving being run off the track by Matsushita on the run to turn four to grab fifth from the Japanese racer.

de Vries was also in free-fall at that moment, and would slip behind Hubert and Delétraz in short order, while Matsushita slipped back behind Aitken as the race entered its final throes. Indeed, Delétraz pulled the last significant overtake of the race by lunging past the #4 ART into turn one on the final lap, as fights elsewhere fizzled out. Elsewhere, Schumacher and Zhou would climb up past Boschung after Mazepin's pace collapsed, with the #9 Prema going on to take eighth from Matsushita with an undercut on the Japanese racer through turn eleven on the final tour.

Out front, meanwhile, Latifi would run to the chequered flag unopposed to claim a dominant victory, eight seconds clear of Ghiotto in second. Ghiotto himself had dropped Sette Câmara at an impressive rate to finish in a lonely second, while Sette Câmara was likewise unhindered to complete the podium. Hubert was next up to secure an impressive fourth on debut, eight seconds clear of Delétraz, with de Vries, Aitken, Schumacher, Matsushita and Zhou completing the scorers.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * First race for UNI-Virtuosi as a registered entrant.
 * Debut race for Nikita Mazepin, Guanyu Zhou, Mick Schumacher, Callum Ilott, Juan Manuel Correa, Mahaveer Raghunathan, Tatiana Caldéron, Anthoine Hubert and Giuliano Alesi.
 * Third career victory for Nicholas Latifi.
 * DAMS claimed their ninth victory as an entrant in Formula Two.
 * Also their 34th win at GP2/F2 level.
 * Maiden points finish for Hubert, Schumacher and Zhou.
 * Zhou recorded his maiden fastest lap.

Standings
Victory unsurprising left Nicholas Latifi at the head of the Championship hunt after the first race, although his lead was just three points, rather than the conventional seven. Indeed, pole combined with second had given Luca Ghiotto a total of 22 points after the opening race, with Sérgio Sette Câmara sat on fifteen in third. Anthoine Hubert, meanwhile, would open his maiden F2 campaign in fourth ahead of Louis Delétraz, while Nobuharu Matsushita was last of the scorers in tenth.

In the Teams' Championship, meanwhile, it had been a positive day for DAMS, who opened their account with a double podium and 40 points to their name. UNI-Virtuosi ended the day in second, fifteen behind, while BWT Arden were ahead of Carlin despite both holding twelve points. The rest of the points were shared between ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing and Prema Racing, meaning seven teams had scored at the opening round.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.