2020 Bahrain Feature Race

The 2020 Bahrain Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2020 Bahrain Formula 2 Race 1, was the twenty-first race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Southern Governorate, Bahrain on 28 November 2020. The race held in support of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2020, would see Felipe Drugovich sweep to victory, as the title fight condensed as a result of the 32 lap race.

Qualifying would see Callum Ilott sweep to an impressive fifth pole position of the campaign, beating Drugovich by almost four tenths. In contrast, title rival and Championship leader Mick Schumacher could only claim tenth on the grid, with Ilott cutting the German's lead by four points as a result.

The start of the race, held in the late afternoon at Sakhir, would see Drugovich beat Ilott off the grid to claim the lead, only to take a nervous approach to the first corner and surrender the advantage back to the Brit. Behind, Schumacher made a barnstorming start to leap from tenth to fifth, before engaging Guanyu Zhou for fourth, with everyone else making it into the first corner without trouble.

Having taken a cautious approach to the first corner Drugovich was braver into turn three, lunging past Ilott to reclaim the lead, while behind Schumacher elbowed his way past Zhou. However, while Drugovich's pass was clean, Schumacher's rear wheel tagged the edge of Zhou's front wing, causing everyone to hold their breath to see if the German's tyre deflated as Zhou's wing fell apart.

Miraculously Schumacher's tyre did not deflate, and instead the German youth began harassing Marcus Armstrong for third. The New Zealander responded by attacking and passing Ilott for second, leaving the two title protagonists nose-to-tail on alternate tyre strategies, Ilott on mediums and Schumacher on hards.

That difference soon told, with Ilott's softer tyres beginning to struggle after a handful of laps, allowing him to sweep past for third. That became second moments later when Armstrong locked-up and ran wide, with Ilott just keeping tabs on the lead group before making his stop on thirteen.

Drugovich, the only other driver in the top half of the field on the same strategy as Ilott, made his mediums last until lap sixteen, and rejoined just ahead of Ilott in twelfth. Schumacher, meanwhile, would inherit the lead and begin trying to pace himself against the two that had stopped, pitting with twelve laps to go.

Schumacher rejoined down in sixth, with Drugovich eight seconds clear of Ilott, while Jehan Daruvala had stealthily got into a de facto third during the pitstop phase. When Robert Shwartzman and Yuki Tsunoda stopped Drugovich was put into the de jure lead ahead of Ilott, while Daruvala was making major defensive moves to deny Schumacher.

Indeed, the final laps were all about Schumacher's attempts to pass Daruvala, with the tempting sight of Ilott's rear wing visible just beyond the #8 Carlin's rear wing. However, try as he might Schumacher could find no way past the Indian racer, and as the race entered its last few laps the German youth seemed to settle for fourth.

With that the race was run, with Drugovich duly sweeping across the line to claim his third win of the campaign, some fourteenth seconds clear of Ilott. Daruvala secured his maiden podium finish ahead of Schumacher, with Nikita Mazepin and a delighted Tsunoda completing the top six, the Japanese racer having ascended from 22nd on the grid, and claimed fastest lap. Armstrong was next up ahead of Shwartzman, who claimed reverse-grid pole, while Dan Ticktum and Jack Aitken secured the final points.

Background
The first of two trips to the Bahrain International Circuit in 2020, the F2 series would arrive at the familiar Sakhir circuit in late November, and would remain for two weekends. Indeed, it would be a long wait for the series to enter its final phase, with 61 days separating the chequered flag falling at the previous race in Sochi, and the starting lights going out for the Bahrain Feature. This was due to the late restoration of Bahrain to the 2020 season after the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2020 was postponed due to Covid-19, as well as a desire for F2 to host its post-season testing at the Bahraini circuit.

An FDA Shootout?
Ahead of the trip to Bahrain there would be some extra running for three of the Ferrari Driver Academy racers in F2, as Ferrari announced that their customer teams would run Mick Schumacher, Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman in FP1 at two F1 Grand Prix. Two, namely Schumacher and Ilott, would make their FP1 debuts at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix with Schumacher running with Alfa Romeo, while Ilott made his FP1 debut with Haas. The third FDA man on the list, Shwartzman, would have to wait until the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to get his first FP1 run, although all three would try a 2018-spec Ferrari SF71H at Ferrari's Fiorano test track on 30 September.

Yet, the weather in the Eifel Mountains would ultimately cause both Ilott and Schumacher to missout on their F1 practice debuts, with Friday's running cancelled due to fog. However, both Ilott and Schumacher were informed that they would get another chance at a later point in the season, potentially alongside Shwartzman at the season finale in Yas Marina.

A Tauri Test
Another driver getting his first taste of an F1 car would be Yuki Tsunoda, who was to have a private test in an AlphaTauri on 4 November at the Autodrome Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The Japanese racer would hope to complete 300 km of running at the private test in order to fulfil part of the FIA Super Licence requirements, and potentially get an FP1 appearance at a Grand Prix weekend. Indeed, Tsunoda arrived in Bahrain as the highest placed Red Bull Junior Team and Honda Formula Dream Project driver in the F2 Championship, making him a major pretender for an F1 seat in 2021.

Younger Pretenders
Elsewhere there would be a change to the entry list, with HWA Racelab deciding to give Théo Pourchaire his F2 debut, after the Frenchman had claimed an impressive run to second in the FIA Formula 3 Championship in his rookie season. Aged just 17, Pourchaire would become the youngest driver ever to race in an F2 car, partnering F2 veteran Artem Markelov in the #17 car for all four of the races in Bahrain. He therefore replaced Jake Hughes in the HWA squad, with the Brit left without a seat for the rest of the season, and with no plans to return to F3 in 2021.

Gelael Graces
In the build-up to the penultimate race weekend it was announced that Sean Gelael would return to the DAMS squad, having been forced to miss out half the of the season after damaging his spine in Barcelona. Indeed, the Indonesian racer had held slim hopes of returning to his seat, which had been occupied by Jüri Vips since the incident, although the Indonesian racer had managed to overcome his fractured D4 vertebra better than expected. Gelael would first have to pass a fitness test in order to take his seat for the final four races of the season, while Vips would not get a race seat at all for the finale.

Sochi Stability
In the Championship Schumacher had rounded out the Sochi weekend with a 22 point lead with two rounds to go, the German youth having moved onto 191 points for the campaign. Ilott had retained second on 169, while Tsunoda had fully assumed third place, a further 22 points off of Ilott. Christian Lundgaard and Robert Shwartzman ended a miserable weekend having slipped to fourth and fifth, while Nikita Mazepin had moved level with the latter on 140 points.

In the Teams' Championship it was Prema Racing who would head to Bahrain in complete control, having claimed 331 ahead of the two weekend finale. That left them 42.5 ahead of UNI-Virtuosi in second, while Hitech Grand Prix occupied third, a further 44.5 points away. ART Grand Prix and Carlin then completed the top five, sat on 183 points apiece.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:
 * * Placeholder liveries are show for the second drivers in each team.

Qualifying
Qualifying used the well established format for the FIA Formula 2 Championship, with a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday. All 22 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time. There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of either compound of Pirelli tyres.

Report
All 22 F2 drivers would venture out onto the Bahrain International Circuit as dusk fell over Sakhir, Bahrain, at the start of the session, with Felipe Drugovich leading the charge out. The Brazilian racer duly set the first flying lap of the session, although he was quickly shuffled down the order by the rest of the field. Indeed, Marcus Armstrong was the fastest of the first clump of cars to set a flying lap, registering a 1:42.052, before the major title protagonists completed their laps.

First blood, and a seemingly decisive blow, was delivered by Callum Ilott, with the Brit going half a second clear of Armstrong to top the timesheet. In contrast, Championship leader Mick Schumacher could only set a time good enough for tenth, before another rival, Christian Lundgaard, pushed him further down. They would, at least, manage to set a competitive time, unlike Yuki Tsunoda and Nikita Mazepin, who both had issues on their flying laps, with Tsunoda in particular spinning and stalling to trigger a red flag.

When the session resumed Mazepin was the first on track in a bid to set a time, leaping up to seventh as the rest of the field began to make their way onto the circuit. The late flurry then began, with several drivers making improvements, although none would threaten Ilott. Indeed, Schumacher could only improve to tenth with his second flying lap, while Drugovich could only inch a tenth closer to Ilott with a strong effort to claim second.

Instead, the big winner of the final runs would be Giuliano Alesi, who leapt into sixth with a strong run with three minutes to go. However, the Frenchman appeared to have extracted all he could from the #14 MP Motorsport entry, for Alesi pulled off to the side of the track a few moments later with a mechanical issue. That triggered another red flag, and with only two minutes to go the decision was made not to restart the session.

As a result, Ilott was left on pole position by four tenths from Drugovich, while Dan Ticktum secured third ahead of Armstrong and Guanyu Zhou. Alesi held sixth, barring any penalties for having to replace any mechanical parts, with Mazepin, Jehan Daruvala, Lundgaard and Championship leader Schumacher completing the top ten.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:
 * * Ghiotto was handed a three place grid penalty for impeding Delétraz during the session.

Race
The late afternoon heat of the Bahraini early winter would greet the Formula 2 field as they gathered on the grid for the penultimate Feature Race of the season, with no threat of rain for the hour long race. There was a similar stability to the grid, with no major revisions to the order barring a three place grid penalty for Luca Ghiotto for impeding Louis Delétraz. Tyre-wise, there be a general consensus across the field, with the majority of the field starting on the hard Pirelli tyres.

Report
The start of the race saw pole sitter Callum Ilott make a reasonable getaway, although it was not strong enough to allow him to allow him to cut across and block Felipe Drugovich in the run to the first corner. Indeed, Drugovich was able to muscle his way down the inside of Ilott into the first corner, and duly engaged Ilott in a duel on the brakes for the lead. Ilott seemed to have the battle won until he washed out wide due to braking a fraction later, allowing Drugovich to snatch the lead on the exit and sweep across the nose of the Brit through turn two.

That early battle overshadowed the progress of Mick Schumacher, who combined a strong getaway with a canny decision to commit to the inside of the first corner to leap from tenth to fifth. He hence settled in behind Guanyu Zhou and Marcus Armstrong as they fought for third exiting the first couple of corners, which continued into turn four. Armstrong ultimately held onto the position, while Schumacher was able to get alongside Ilott's teammate Zhou through turn five and force his way through. However, in completing the move through turn six the German's left-rear wheel tagged the front wing of Zhou's UNI-Virtuosi, contact which may have punctured the German youth's tyre.

Yet, fortune appeared to favour the #20 Prema, for Schumacher showed no signs of having a puncture on his hard Pirellis after a few tense moments. Indeed, Schumacher would instead go on to challenge Armstrong into turn ten, wisely backing off due to the tightening nature of the hairpin, before scything past the New Zealander for third into the first corner at the start of the second tour. That left Schumacher on the tail of his title rival having started the race nine places behind him, while Zhou limped back to the pits for a new front wing.

Armstrong came back at Schumacher into turn four, with Schumacher forcing the #5 ART to go the long way around. Armstrong duly committed and muscled alongside Schumacher through the right-hander, before running along the outside of the #20 Prema through turn five to claim the inside of turn six. That gave Armstrong the advantage, and with a Championship to fight for Schumacher ultimately had to relent to the #5 ART, although he did have a half-look into turn seven.

With that the race began to settle down, with Schumacher settling in behind Armstrong, while Ilott tried to find a way past Drugovich without much success. Elsewhere, Giuliano Alesi had ascended to fifth after an impressive if overshadowed start to the race, while Dan Ticktum was back up to sixth after a miserable getaway saw him tumble to tenth from third. At the back, meanwhile, Zhou was lighting up the timing screens with his new front wing, while Nikita Mazepin was moving up the order with a lunge on Jehan Daruvala into turn four for eighth.

As the early laps ticked away those on medium tyres began to suffer, with Ilott in particular the first to see his pace begin to waiver. That allowed Armstrong to slither his way past down into turn four on lap eight to claim second, leaving Ilott right in the sights of his title rival Schumacher. The German youth duly lined up a lunge on his closest title challenger into turn one at the start of the next tour, and duly scythed past on the brakes with his now superior grip.

Half a lap later and fate continued to fall in Schumacher's favour, with Armstrong running wide at turn eleven to gift second to the #20 Prema. Ilott, in contrast, just fell shy of snatching third from the New Zealander, and would instead continue to fall off the back of the lead group as he tried to stretch his medium tyres as far as they would go. Schumacher, meanwhile, seemed either content or unable to catch Drugovich, who suddenly found himself with a three second lead due to the antics behind.

At the end of lap twelve Ilott ventured into the pits to abandon his mediums, a lap after Robert Shwartzman had come in and dropped to the back of the field and set fastest lap. It proved to be a scruffy stop for the Brit, although the Virtuosi pit crew were still able to get their man out ahead of Ticktum as well as Shwartzman who was already on track. Three laps later Drugovich stopped from the lead for his fresh hard tyres, only for Ilott to elbow his way past at turn ten as Drugovich battled to bring his cold tyres up to temperature, locked up and ran wide.

After that the race again settled down, with Schumacher now leading but needing to make his own stop to change his hard tyres for mediums, which came on lap twenty. His stop came just as Drugovich dropped back onto the tail of Ilott, and as Schumacher screamed out of his pitbox, the Brazilian fired the #15 MP Motorsport down the inside of the #4 Virtuosi to reclaim the lead. Schumacher, meanwhile, paid the price for being the last of the stoppers, rejoining behind teammate Shwartzman in sixth, some fifteen seconds off the lead.

A lap later and Schumacher was back up to fifth, firing past teammate Shwartzman with the aid of DRS into turn one, although the Russian racer opted not to defend. Two laps later and Armstrong was in the #20 Prema's sights, and was similarly powerless to resist the German youth as Schumacher fired down the inside of turn one with the aid of DRS. With that Schumacher was off to hunt down Daruvala, although as the race wore on he was making very little progress on catching Drugovich, who had established a commanding five second lead over Ilott.

Into the closing stages and Schumacher was a second away from Daruvala, as the Indian racer's teammate Yuki Tsunoda made a late charge up the field with a dive on Ticktum for eighth with his medium tyres. A lap later and Tsunoda was up to seventh with a simple DRS blow past on Shwartzman down the start/finish straight, leaving him a few seconds behind Nikita Mazepin. Schumacher, meanwhile, would make his first attempt to pass Daruvala with the aid of DRS into turn eleven, although some canny positioning from the #8 Carlin ensured that Schumacher instead decided to back off.

Onto the final lap and Tsunoda had caught Mazepin, although that was only moments before the Russian racer fired past Armstrong for fifth. Tsunoda duly made his move on the now struggling New Zealander on the brakes for turn one, relieving him of sixth, and with a half a chance of catching Mazepin. Yet, Mazepin had a second in hand over the Japanese racer, and as Drugovich approached the final corner the #7 Carlin was still too far back to challenge.

Indeed, that settled the race, with the Brazilian racer sweeping across the line to claim his maiden Feature Race victory, and third of the campaign. Ilott was a relieved second having slipped back into the sights of Daruvala in third, although the Indian racer crossed the line with his mirrors filled with the nose of Schumacher's Prema. Mazepin was next up ahead of a thrilled Tsuonda, who had started in last, with Armstrong, Shwartzman, Ticktum and Jack Aitken rounding out 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.
 * * Ghiotto set the fastest lap of the race, but was ineligible to claim the bonus point as he failed to finish in the top ten.

Milestones

 * Debut race for Théo Pourchaire.
 * First FIA Formula 2 Championship race to in which all drivers were classified as finishing since the 2018 Bahrain Sprint Race.
 * Third career victory for Felipe Drugovich.
 * MP Motorsport scored their fifth victory as an entrant in F2.
 * Maiden podium finish for Jehan Daruvala.

Standings
Mick Schumacher had retained his lead in the Championship after his leap from tenth in fourth in Bahrain, although that had not been enough to see his advantage reduced. Indeed, Callum Ilott had used pole and second place to cut the gap to twelve points ahead of the Sprint Race, with those two now the favourites for the title after Schumacher opened out a 46 point gap to Yuki Tsunoda. With 65 points left to fight for the Japanese racer would need to win all three races, and hope that Schumacher and Ilott failed to score, with the same fact applying to Nikita Mazepin, Christian Lundgaard and Robert Shwartzman.

In the Teams' Championship Prema Racing had seen their lead slightly reduced atop the field, although not by enough to seriously threaten their hopes of claiming the title. Indeed, UNI-Virtuosi had managed to reduce their arrears to 36.5 points from the Italian squad, while Hitech Grand Prix were now 97 point behind, with 107 left to fight for. Carlin were hence out of the fight in fourth, despite having overhauled ART Grand Prix to move up the table.