2021 Bahrain Feature Race

The 2021 Bahrain Feature Race, formally known as the 2021 Sakhir Formula 2 Race 3, was the third race of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Southern Governorate, Bahrain, on 28 March 2021. The race, which was the first Feature Race of the campaign due to the new race weekend format, would see Guanyu Zhou sweep to victory.

The grid for the Feature Race was set via qualifying on the Friday before both of the Sprint Races, and saw Zhou claim pole position. He would be joined on the front row by Christian Lundgaard, while Felipe Drugovich and Dan Ticktum shared the second row ahead of Richard Verschoor, the best of the rookies in the field.

When the lights went out it was Lundgaard who made the best start, drawing alongside Zhou in the run to the first corner before sweeping down the inside to claim the lead. Zhou would also be mugged by teammate Drugovich after opting to start on the hard compound tyre, before contact between Robert Shwartzman and Roy Nissany triggered an early Safety Car.

Nissany was out on the spot while Shwartzman was handed a drive-through penalty, which he served after the restart of the race to fall off the back of the field. Lungaard, meanwhile, would ease away from Drugovich, while Zhou was powerless to prevent Oscar Piastri scything past to claim third, before watching as the Australian youth lunged past Drugovich for second.

Lundgaard was duly caught by Piastri, who dragged Drugovich up with him, before the trio entered a three-way truel for the lead into the first corner. Piastri duly won the battle on the brakes and broke clear, prompting Lundgaard to come into the pits to replace his soft tyres for hards.

Drugovich stopped a lap later, while Piastri continued until Prema Racing managed to get him into the pits just as a Virtual Safety Car was thrown to cover the removal of a stranded Gianluca Petecof from the circuit. That left Piastri in fourth with cars between himself and Drugovich, before the field was shuffled again by a full SC period.

The SC intervention would result in Marcus Armstrong leading ahead of Piastri and Verschoor, while Lundgaard and Drugovich both picked up penalties for SC infringements. At the restart Verschoor swept into the lead with quick-fire moves on Piastri and Armstrong, with Zhou also finding his way past the Antipodeans to challenge for the lead.

Verschoor was ultimately powerless to prevent Zhou from passing for the lead, with the Chinese racer going on to escape from the #11 MP Motorsport. Behind, Piastri's hopes of a podium were curtailed by a clumsy incident with Dan Ticktum that sent the #2 Prema into a spin and triggered a late VSC.

At the restart Ticktum instantly passed Verschoor to claim second, with Liam Lawson following him through a few moments later. Those two duly tried in vain to catch Zhou, with the Chinese racer holding a comfortable margin through to the chequered flag to claim his first Feature Race victory. Verschoor was next up ahead of Armstrong and Jehan Daruvala, Shwartzman recovered to seventh ahead of Théo Pourchaire, while Drugovich and Matteo Nannini rounding out the scorers.

Background
There would be no changes made to the Bahrain circuit for the third FIA Formula 2 race of the weekend, with no changes in the weather either. Likewise, there would be no changes to the entry list, while the grid for the Feature Race would be set via the results of qualifying staged on Friday, despite having two races between the end of qualifying and the start of the Feature Race.

Sprint Insanity
Victory for Oscar Piastri in the second Bahrain Sprint had elevated the Australian youth to the head of the Championship at the conclusion of the opening day, the 2020 Formula 3 Champion having claimed 21 points across the two Bahrain Sprint Races. Jehan Daruvala occupied second, a point off the lead, while Christian Lundgaard had moved up to third after his reinstatement onto the Bahrain Sprint 2 podium. Liam Lawson, meanwhile, had slipped to fourth having started the second Sprint in the lead of the Championship, while David Beckmann rounded out the early top five.

In the Teams' Championship it was Prema Racing who led as the moon rose over Sakhir, the Italian squad having established an eight point lead after two races. Carlin were up to second, a point ahead of ART Grand Prix, while Hitech Grand Prix had slipped to fourth from the lead. Charouz Racing System and UNI-Virtuosi were next up on twelve points apiece, while MP Motorsport and Trident rounded out the scorers.

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

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
It would be a busy start to qualifying for the first Feature Race of the season, with the entire field bar Guanyu Zhou pouring onto the circuit in the opening moments of the session. This resulted in a flurry of early efforts, with Christian Lundgaard setting the first benchmark, a 1:43.628 with two fastest sectors. However, a mistake in the third sector for the Dane left the door open for someone to beat him, with Felipe Drugovich duly ousting the Dane on the second runs by three tenths.

Once the second runs were completed the field filtered back into the pits, leaving Zhou out on his own fresh out of the pits after the Chinese racer gambled on using an empty circuit to his advantage. That proved to be the boon he was after, for an impressive lap saw Zhou beat teammate Drugovich by 0.022s to go fastest. He then ventured back into the pits as the rest of the field rejoined the circuit, with Zhou knowing he would need a quick turn around to rejoin the fray himself in the closing moments.

However, there would be twist in the second part of qualifying, with Robert Shwartzman triggering a red flag with six minutes to go when an issue exiting the final corner caused him to stop short of the pit entrance. Once the #1 Prema was cleared the session resumed with five minutes to go, with the field leaving the pits as one to try and get one, if not two, late flying laps in before the chequered flag. Once again it was Lundgaard who was the first to set the benchmark for the field, the Dane setting the pace in all three sectors to reclaim provisional pole from Zhou with a 1:42.851.

With that Lundgaard was out, trundling back to the pits to watch the final moments in a bid to save tyres for the Feature Race itself. Traffic would, however, come to his aid, with a promising lap for Dan Ticktum curtailed in the final sector by a slower car, before Jüri Vips and Richard Verschoor both fell short of the Dane's mark. The rest of the field would then complete their laps, leaving just the two UNI-Virtuosis of Drugovich and Zhou able to best Lundgaard.

Zhou was the first of the duo to complete his lap, and a purple second sector combined with a personal best in the first was enough for the Chinese racer to claim pole, albeit by just 0.003s. Drugovich, meanwhile, would fall just shy of those two efforts and had to settle for third three tenths off his teammate's pole winning time. However, the session would end on a tense note for Zhou after he was placed under investigation for passing the chequered flag twice.

After a brief investigation Zhou was handed a reprimand, but would keep his pole position and the points it carried with it. The Chinese racer was the victim of a misunderstanding and quirk of the Bahraini venue with Zhou having entered the Formula One pitlane, rather than the separate support pitlane as instructed, at the end of qualifying. That meant that he hadn't officially taken the chequered flag twice, but was found at fault for having failed to follow an instruction from the race director.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:
 * * Vips was excluded from the results of qualifying after his car failed post race scrutineering (undertray fins).

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Drugovich, Lundgaard and Sato were all handed five second time penalties for speeding behind the Safety Car.
 * † Vips was awarded a five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
 * ‡ Viscaal awarded a ten second time penalty for speeding behind the Safety Car.
 * § Piastri was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.

Milestones

 * 50th race for Guanyu Zhou
 * Second career victory for Zhou.
 * UNI-Virtuosi secured their ninth win as an entrant.
 * Matteo Nannini claimed his maiden points finish.

Standings
Guanyu Zhou would end the opening race weekend of the campaign eleven points clear after his maiden Feature Race victory, having claimed 41 points across the three Bahraini races. Liam Lawson was back into second, two ahead of Jehan Daruvala in third, with Oscar Piastri and Dan Ticktum completing the top five. Elsewhere, Richard Verschoor had moved into sixth ahead of Christian Lundgaard, with fifteen of the twenty-two drivers having scored across the first three races.

In the Teams' Championship it was Carlin who ended the Feature Race at the head of the field, the British squad having scored 47 points in the opening three races. That left them four ahead of UNI-Virtuosi in second, while Prema Racing ended the the opening weekend of their title defence in third, ten off the lead. Hitech Grand Prix and ART Grand Prix then completed the top five, with every team bar Campos Racing having claimed points in Bahrain.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.