2021 Bahrain Test

The 2021 Bahrain Test, otherwise known as the 2021 Bahrain Pre-Season Test, was the first and only pre-season test ahead of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Southern Governorate, Bahrain. The test would see several drivers make their official debuts for their teams, Pirelli debut a new hard tyre compound, as well as serve as a first taste of F2 equipment for Gianluca Petecof and Alessio Deledda.

Christian Lundgaard would set the pace overall during the test, recording the fastest lap of the test on the second day, a 1:41.697 at the wheel of the #9 ART. The first day, in contrast, had been topped by David Beckmann in the #14 Charouz, the German youth recording a 1:42.844, while the third day was topped by the #17 DAMS of Marcus Armstrong after he recorded a 1:42.173.

In terms of distance it was Guilherme Samaia who went furthest, completing 227 laps of the Bahraini circuit across the three days, the equivalent of covering 1228.524 km (763.369 mi). ART, meanwhile, were the team to cover the most distance, Lundgaard and new teammate Théo Pourchaire completing 444 laps for a combined distance of 2402.928 km (1493.110 mi).

Background
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, which caused numerous countries to enforce travel restrictions and quarantines, it was announced that pre-season testing for the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship would be staged at the Bahrain International Circuit, which was to also host the first round of the season. The test itself would be held over three days on 8 - 10 March, two weeks before the opening round at the end of March. Furthermore, the test would be held on the full Sakhir circuit rather than the "Outer-circuit" that debuted in 2020, with all eleven teams attending the test.

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

Day One
The opening day of the test would be on 8 March 2021, with the day split into two-three hour sessions, split by a one hour lunch break. While weather conditions were ideal for running, despite being staged in the day rather than at night as the 2020 Bahrain Tests had been, the circuit itself was covered in sand, meaning it would have to be "cleaned" by the F2 field before any representative times could be recorded. There would, however, be no restrictions on what teams could spend their time doing, barring the limited number of tyres available to each driver.

Report
The session opened with the entire 22 car field leaving the pitlane at the start of the session, although all of the drivers would only complete a single installation lap before immediately returning to the pits. After a brief lull ten drivers would return to the circuit and begin lapping the circuit, only for Richard Verschoor to cause the first red flag of the day, having stopped on the back straight. Once the #11 MP Motorsport was cleared the session resumed, with Verschoor's teammate Lirim Zendeli going out to set the early pace, a 1:44.451.

Zendeli's opening effort would swiftly be beaten, however, as fellow rookie and F3 rival Liam Lawson became the first driver to dip into the 1:43.000s, which would stand as the fastest effort through to the final hour of the morning session. Indeed, it was only when relative F2 veteran Dan Ticktum wound himself up that Lawson's time was beaten, with the Brit storming to the front of the field with a 1:43.021, six tenths faster than Lawson. At the other end of the field, meanwhile, there would be a notable lack of running from Prema Racing, with Robert Shwartzman and Oscar Piastri only completing seven and eight laps respectively, with Shwartzman last overall and fifteen seconds slower than Ticktum.

After the lunch break the test day resumed, with Zendeli again opting to be the first driver to record a time, a 1:45.010, which teammate Verschoor would come close to matching a few moments later. Piastri then swept to the top of the table before being displaced by Felipe Drugovich, with the majority of the field completing pseudo-qualifying runs in the first hour of the afternoon session. Indeed, after an opening barrage the field settled into long runs and race simulations, with a lot of attention placed on the new Pirelli hard tyre across the board.

Indeed, it was only in the final minutes of the session that teams would switch focus back to the soft tyres, with a barrage of new flying laps recorded in the closing moments. ART Grand Prix duo Théo Pourchaire and Christian Lundgaard would leap into the top three, the Dane edging out his new teammate by 0.063s, before both were beaten by David Beckmann, who set the fastest time of the day with a 1:42.844. Other big movers would be Hitech Grand Prix duo Lawson and Jüri Vips, who both broke into the top ten, Marino Sato and Bent Viscaal in the two Tridents, and Guanyu Zhou in the #3 UNI-Virtuosi.

Results
Below is the full result from the first day of the :
 * Bold indicates a drivers fastest time during the test-day.
 * Purple indicates the fastest driver in each session.

Day Two
The second day of the test was staged on 9 March 2021, with conditions remaining dry and windy around the desert based circuit, resulting in more sand being blown onto the circuit. Likewise, there was freedom in what programmes the teams and drivers could run as on day one, with the teams still restricted to their allocation of tyres for the entire test.

Report
The start of day two's running would be rather more rapid then day one, with a number of drivers venturing out onto the circuit and straight into two or three lap runs. Christian Lundgaard was one of those to venture out early, with the Dane going on to dictate the early pace, initially setting a 1:43.514. The first runs were then ended by an issue for Alessio Deledda, who was forced to pull the #23 HWA off at the final corner resulting in a red flag.

When the session resumed it was Lundgaard who again lit up the timing screen, the Dane dipping into the 1:42.000s, with teammate Théo Pourchaire briefly going second before being displaced by Bent Viscaal. Marcus Armstrong would also displace the Frenchman before the halfway point in the session, claiming third, before the field settled down into long-runs ahead of the lunch break. Another flurry of quali-sims would follow towards the end of the three hour session, with Lundgaard improving again to claim a 1:41.697, the first sub-1:42.000 lap of the test.

The afternoon session would see a near universal focus on long-running, with thirteen drivers immediately heading onto the circuit, headed by Guilherme Samaia. Samaia would go on to dictate the early pace as drivers settled into full race simulations, only for their plans to be disrupted when Gianluca Petecof stopped at turn thirteen. After the Brazilian's #20 Campos was dragged clear the session resumed, with Richard Verschoor moving to the top of the standings as the long-runs continued.

There would, however, be further disruptions during the afternoon, with Guanyu Zhou and Liam Lawson causing two quick-fire red flags when they stopped on track in the second hour. Regardless, teams would still commit to completing race simulations until the final minutes of the final hour, when drivers began heading back out on soft tyres. Dan Ticktum set the pace in the late barrage, becoming the first driver of the session to dip into the 1:43.000s, with Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala falling just 0.003s shy in second before Ticktum improved again to a 1:42.185.

Results
Below is the full result from the second day of the :
 * Bold indicates a drivers fastest time during the test-day.
 * Purple indicates the fastest driver in each session.

Day Three
The third and final day of the 2021 Bahrain Test was staged on 10 March, with six hours of running scheduled, split across two three hour sessions split by a lunch break. Furthermore, as with the other two days there would be no limit on tyre use, barring the tyre limit set for the entire three day test.

Report
The final morning session of the test would see almost the entire field venture out onto the circuit as soon as the pit lane opened, with almost everyone using fresh soft tyres. The following minutes would see a barrage of quali-sims completed by the drivers, with Jüri Vips ending up at the head of the timesheet after the first volley with a 1:42.224. Liam Lawson then toppled his teammate in the second barrage, albeit by just 0.006s, before Marcus Armstrong went fastest with a 1:42.173 as the quali-sims came to a conclusion.

After that the session rather settled down, with some drivers and teams focusing on race simulations, while others tried out quali-sims on used rubber. As a result there would be no major changes to the overall order, with those on race sims instead focusing on running the hard tyre once again. In terms of distance it was David Beckmann who completed the most laps, 48 in total, while Lawson as one of the drivers to focus on quali-sims completed the fewest with thirteen.

With fresh tyres at a premium at the start of the final session of a three day test there was little surprise that only a handful of cars ventured out of the pits at the start of the afternoon session, with Lirim Zendeli leading a small quartet out. The empty track would hence allow the #12 MP Motorsport to dictate the pace, although his effort of 1:47.305 clearly indicated that he was on high fuel despite using soft tyres. Indeed, all 22 drivers would opt to complete race simulations and long runs in the afternoon session, with the average pace of the field settling in the 1:48.000s.

It was only in the final hour, when drivers switched onto newer tyres to simulate a mid-race pitstop, that times began to drop again, although only a handful would beat Zendeli's early benchmark. Ralph Boschung was the first of those to beat Zendli and would end the afternoon fastest, recording a 1:44.905 after a late switch to used softs, with Robert Shwartzman settling into second with a 1:47.146. Gianluca Petecof then claimed second with a 1:45.547, with the rest of the field winding up still behind Zendeli's early benchmark come the end of the day.

Results
Below is the full result from the third day of the :
 * Bold indicates a drivers fastest time during the test-day.
 * Purple indicates the fastest driver in each session.

Combined Results
Outlined below are the combined best laps and final lap tallies of all participants in the :