2019 Barcelona Feature Race

The 2019 Barcelona Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2019 Catalunya Race 1 was the fifth race of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, on the 11 May 2019. The race, held in support of the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix, would see Nicholas Latifi claim victory, having used his experience to pass rookie race Guanyu Zhou late on.

Qualifying had seen Luca Ghiotto secure pole position in the closing moments of the session, edging out Championship leader Latifi with a last-gasp run. Zhou, meanwhile, would claim an impressive third to be the best of the rookies, sharing the second row with Nyck de Vries.

Ghiotto would start the race as the favourite, having also dominated all of the practice sessions, so it came as a huge shock as the Italian made a mess of his start. That hence gifted the lead to Latifi off the grid, only for Ghiotto's teammate Zhou to sweep around the creeping car of the Italian to charge into the lead.

Zhou fended off Latifi's early assault to establish a lead, while de Vries also sprinted clear of Ghiotto to secure third. His race was further hobbled by a collision with Dorian Boccolacci, forcing the Italian into the pits with a broken wing, before the race was neutralised by a spinning Giuliano Alesi.

Once Alesi's car was plucked from the gravel the race resumed, with Zhou swatting aside a brief look from Latifi to re-establish his lead. He duly led through to the mid-race stops for tyres, beating both Latifi and de Vries out of the pits, with Ralph Boschung assuming the lead as the first driver on the alternate strategy.

Zhou and Latifi would weave their way though the late-stoppers without too much loss for either driver, with the DAMS in position to strike as they came to overtake the yet-to-stop Anthoine Hubert and Jordan King. Indeed, after acing his exit from the final corner Latifi was able to draft past Zhou to claim third, and duly inherited the lead when Hubert and King pitted.

With that the battle for victory was over, with Latifi easing clear of Zhou as the Chinese racer's pace deteriorated, and hence claimed victory at a canter. Indeed, Zhou would be left to unsuccessfully defend second from Aitken, while Ghiotto fought his way up to fourth in-spite of making a second stop.

Background
The FIA Formula 2 Championship headed to Europe for the first time in 2019, once again linking up with senior series Formula One. The field hence convened at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to support the Spanish Grand Prix, with the FIA Formula 3 Championship making its debut alongside F2. Regardless, there were no changes to either the Barcelona circuit nor the entry list ahead, with two races scheduled for F2.

An 18" Revolution
The big news ahead of the trip to Spain would be about changes to the Dallara F2 2018, prior to its third season in 2020. The most significant change would be to the wheels, with Pirelli announcing that they would be introducing an 18 inch tyre for F2, in preparation for F1's adoption of the new rim size in 2021. The change would require revisions to the suspension design of the F2 2018, for a lot of suspension travel was made in the wall of the current 15" tyres, with Dallara, Pirelli and F2 planning an intense test programme to prepare the car.

A Canadian Challenge?
Victory last time out in the Baku Sprint had ensured that Nicholas Latifi had extended his Championship lead, moving nineteen points clear as a result. Jack Aitken, meanwhile, had moved into second ahead of Luca Ghiotto after a strong weekend in Azerbaijan, with the Italian himself now 23 off the lead having lead ahead of the weekend. Nyck de Vries and Sérgio Sette Câmara completed the top five, with fifteen drivers on the board after two full rounds.

DAMS, meanwhile, had once again extended their lead in the Teams' Championship as a result of the Baku Sprint, moving onto 95 points after the first four races. Campos Racing were now their closest challengers, albeit some 40 points behind, having overtaken UNI-Virtousi in the Sprint. ART Grand Prix were next ahead of Prema Racing, while Trident were still the only pointless team in the field.

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

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:
 * * Aitken and Boccolacci were handed three place grid penalties for using an illegal rear-plank during practice.
 * † Caldéron was awarded a three place grid penalty after the 2019 Baku Sprint Race for causing a collision.

Race
It was a dry and warm afternoon at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Feature Race, with no threat of rain to trouble the field. There were alterations to the grid, however, with Jack Aitken and Dorian Boccolacci both penalised for using illegal rear-planks during practice, while Tatiana Caldéron served a penalty for causing a collision in Baku. Those penalties did not affect the very top of the field, however, with Luca Ghiotto leading the field to the grid, sharing the front row with Championship leader Nicholas Latifi.

Report
It was a slow start for Ghiotto from pole to allow Latifi to leap ahead when the lights went out, although both were to be stunned by the drivers on the second row. Indeed, a brilliant reaction from Guanyu Zhou saw the Chinese racer dart between Latifi and Ghiotto on the run to turn one, while Nyck de Vries tried to squeeze between Latifi and the pitwall. The Canadian duly squeezed de Vries over to the pit-exit as they ran towards the first corner, while Zhou challenged for the lead on the outside of turn one.

Zhou duly won the battle of the brakes into the first corner, darting around the outside of Latifi to claim the lead, while de Vries had to back off to avoid hitting the Canadian. Behind, Jack Aitken got a break to leap from eight to fourth through the second corner, dancing around the outside of Callum Ilott, while Ghiotto tumbled to seventh after his poor getaway. Regardless, it was a clean start for the field, until Giuliano Alesi and Mick Schumacher were spat out of the track at turn four.

Alesi ended up beached in the gravel trap, while Schumacher would scramble out but dropped to the back of the field. On track, meanwhile, Zhou was unable to escape from Latifi, while de Vries stalked them in third through to the end of the opening tour. Elsewhere, Ghiotto was the victim of a lunge from Boccolacci at turn ten that knocked him wide, with Boccolacci also picking up damage as the Safety Car was scrambled to retrieve Alesi.

The restart came on lap four, with Zhou acing his getaway to establish a small lead over Latifi, while de Vries held third from Aitken. Indeed, the race would quickly settle down after the restart, with the field waiting until the pitstop phase opened to get rid of the fast wearing soft Pirelli tyres. The only drivers to have stopped already were Schumacher, Ghiotto and Boccolacci, who had all made early pit calls for repairs and fresh tyres during the SC.

Zhou duly led Latifi into the pits for their stops at the end of lap six, handing the lead to de Vries, although the Dutchman would be instantly passed by Aitken on the run to turn one. In the pitlane, meanwhile, Zhou would just manage to get out ahead of Latifi, with the pair exiting nose-to-tail down in fifteenth and sixteenth behind Ghiotto and Schumacher. They duly began fighting on-track as the rest of the field made their stops, with Aitken and de Vries stopping a lap later and rejoining behind them and Nobuharu Matsushita.

de Vries duly moved back ahead of Aitken in spectacular style, selling the Anglo-Korean racer a dummy into turn five, before diving inside on the brakes to secure a de jure fourth. They duly caught and passed Matsushita to secure ninth and tenth on the road over the following laps, Aitken dancing his car around the outside of the Japanese racer through turn five, while Zhou and Latifi caught those on the alternate hard-soft tyre strategy. Ghiotto, meanwhile, would stop for a second time to ensure that he had the same tyre life as the leaders, with Ralph Boschung leading the field from Anthoine Hubert.

Hubert subsequently moved into the lead with a dive past Boschung into turn one before their stops, with Jordan King likewise passing the Swiss racer with a lunge on the brakes on the outside of turn one. Hubert and King then held a 20 second lead over Zhou, as Boschung and Schumacher dived into the pits for soft tyres, the German racer having been forced to abandon his hard tyres. With the gap as it was the lead duo would need a safety car to entertain hopes of remaining at the head of the field after their stops, although they would be armed with fresh soft tyres in the closing stages regardless.

Their wish was almost granted with seven laps to go, as contact between Schumacher and Juan Manuel Correa sent the #12 Charouz-Sauber across the gravel at turn four, although the American racer would drag his car to an access point. As he was dragged away Latifi moved to within striking distance of Zhou, and duly threw a lunge around the outside of the Chinese racer into turn one as Zhou had covered the inside line. The ensuing duel on the brakes was won by Latifi, who danced the #6 DAMS around the outside of the #7 UNI-Virtuosi to secure the de jure lead.

That would soon become the de facto lead, with Hubert and King serving their stops with five laps to go, rejoining down in eighth and ninth respectively. On track, meanwhile, Latifi would ease away from Zhou in the closing stages, with the Chinese racer instead coming under attack from Aitken. Indeed, a battle down the start/finish straight to start the penultimate tour would end with Aitken seizing second with the inside line for turn one, with Aitken setting off after Latifi.

Elsewhere, Ghiotto was storming through the field at an impressive rate, with moves on Matsushita, Gelael and Callum Ilott, combined with the late stops for Hubert and King, putting him in fifth. That became fourth on the penultimate tour as the Italian racer dived inside de Vries into turn one, mimicking Aitken's move on his teammate two seconds ahead. Behind, Hubert led King up the field with moves on Ilott and Gelael in the closing stages, with the pair exchanging fastest laps some fifteen seconds behind Latifi.

Indeed, after his move on Zhou there would be no stopping Latifi, who duly swept across the line to secure his third win of the campaign, two seconds clear of Aitken. Zhou was a delighted third, just ahead of teammate Ghiotto, with de Vries in fifth ahead of Hubert and King, the latter securing fastest lap. Ilott was next up ahead of Gelael, while Boschung secured the final point in tenth having also tried the alternate strategy.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Mazepin was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.

Milestones

 * Luca Ghiotto recorded his second pole position.
 * Nicholas Latifi claimed his fifth career victory in Formula 2.
 * Eleventh victory for DAMS as an entrant.
 * This was also their 36th triumph as an entrant at GP2/F2 level.
 * Maiden podium finish for Guanyu Zhou.
 * Callum Ilott secured his first points finish.

Standings
Nicholas Latifi used his third win of the season to extend his Championship lead, moving 26 points clear of his closest challenger Jack Aitken. The Brit himself had also reinforced his hold on second, moving six clear of Luca Ghiotto, with the Italian very satisfied with his recovery drive. Nyck de Vries had, in contrast, lost ground in fourth, while Sérgio Sette Câmara retained fifth ahead of Guanyu Zhou.

DAMS smashed through the 100 point barrier in the Feature, moving onto 120 points after just five races. Behind UNI-Virtuosi had reclaimed second from Campos Racing, and had shaved a point out of DAMS' lead. Indeed, the British squad were now 39 points behind the French squad, while Campos had slipped 47 points off the lead.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.