2019 Bahrain Sprint Race

The 2019 Bahrain Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2019 Sakhir Race 2, was the second race of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship staged at the Bahrain International Circuit on the 31 March 2019. The race would see Luca Ghiotto claim victory with an unconventional one-stop strategy, emulating Charles Leclerc's triumph from 2017.

Debutante Mick Schumacher would start the race from pole having finished eighth in the Feature Race, and duly eased into the lead at the start. Indeed, the young German racer would block any attempts from Jack Aitken and Nyck de Vries to attack into the first corner, with the rest of the field charging into the first corner behind.

The opening tour would see Sérgio Sette Câmara lead Nicholas Latifi and Ghiotto through the field, with excellent moves from the trio leaving them sat in the wake of Schumacher. Indeed, Câmara would sneak ahead of the German midway around the second lap, while Ghiotto took both Latifi and Schumacher down the start/finish straight.

Ghiotto made his bid for victory on the following lap, elbowing his way past Câmara before blasting off from the Brazilian. Schumacher, meanwhile, would slip the other way in the Prema, with Latifi and de Vries able to pass without too much issue.

Ultimately Ghiotto's charge would bring him into the pits on lap twelve, with several other drivers, most notably de Vries also gambling. The Italian rejoined down in thirteenth, some twenty seconds off the lead, while de Vries came out in sixteenth.

What followed was nothing short of mesmerising, with Ghiotto storming his way back up the order, lapping three seconds quicker than Câmara in-spite of having to overtake slower cars. Indeed, on lap twenty the Italian sent his UNI-Virtuosi scything inside Câmara's DAMS for the lead, and duly disappeared up the road from the Brazilian.

With that the race was run, with Ghiotto claiming victory at a canter from Câmara and Latifi, also securing the early lead in the Championship. Guanyu Zhou made his way to fourth in the closing stages, with Louis Delétraz, Schumacher, de Vries and Jordan King claiming the remaining points.

Background
Victory in the Feature Race had unsurprising left Nicholas Latifi at the head of the Championship hunt, 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, had opened 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 opening day for DAMS, who opened their account with a double podium and 40 points to their name. UNI-Virtuosi had ended Saturday in second, fifteen behind, while BWT Arden were ahead of Carlin despite both holding twelve points. The rest of the points had been shared between ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing and Prema Racing on Saturday, meaning seven teams had scored at the opening round.

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

Race
It was another warm afternoon in Bahrain for the first Sprint Race of the season, which would again be staged ahead of the Formula One race after a switch to running the Grand Prix in the night. Yet, there would be no late revisions to the field ahead of the Sprint, meaning debutante Mick Schumacher would lead the field onto the grid after finishing eighth in the Feature.

Report
The start of the race saw an even start for Schumacher and fellow front row starter Jack Aitken, prompting the German racer to chop across the nose of the Brit to claim the inside line into turn one. That allowed Louis Delétraz to have a clean run on the outside/racing line, while Nyck de Vries had to jink out from behind Aitken to find room in the middle of the track. Ultimately, however the defensive lunge from Schumacher was enough for the #9 Prema to emerge with the lead from turn one, with Aitken having to slot into second having tried to run around the outside of the German racer.

de Vries would attack Aitken on the run to turn four later on during the opening lap, although Aitken was able to cover off the Dutchman's lunge on the inside of the tight, right-hander. That allowed Delétraz to draw alongside the #4 ART around the outside of turn four, with the pair running side-by-side through turns five and six, with Delétraz skipping over the inside kerb of the latter. Contact between the two resulted in Delétraz hitting de Vries into Aitken, with all three duly sliding off on the run to turn eight.

That excitement left Schumacher with a comfortable lead over Sérgio Sette Câmara, while Feature winner Nicholas Latifi emerged with third. Delétraz initially rejoined in fourth but was instantly passed by a lunging Anthoine Hubert through the tightening turn ten, before Luca Ghiotto drafted past the pair of them on the run to turn eleven. Hubert retaliated and managed to get back inside the Italian as the #8 UNI-Virtuosi washed wide mid-corner, although Ghiotto hung on to secure the position through turns twelve and thirteen.

The early laps were no less exciting, with Schumacher seeing his opening lap lead evaporate before the end of lap two, with Sette Câmara duly drafting inside the #9 Prema to claim the lead on the brakes for turn one. Behind, Ghiotto would be an identical move on Latifi to claim third, while fighting further back saw drivers weaving around the straight to try and break the tow. Miraculously there had been no retirements as a result of all of the intense opening fighting, although Mahaveer Raghunathan had lost a lap after stalling at the start.

Schumacher's hopes of victory would be torn apart as the first few laps ticked away, with first Ghiotto and then Latifi drafting past the #9 Prema with the aid of DRS on successive laps. Ghiotto went on to catch Sette Câmara, and would duly secure the lead with a well timed dive inside the Brazilian into turn four on lap four. With that the Italian racer was away, building a two second lead as the race began to settle down behind, with de Vries the latest driver to pull a move on Schumacher.

Indeed, with tyre degradation having been a major factor in the Feature, the field would almost as one decide to switch to tyre saving after lap five, although that did not stop Juan Manuel Correa from diving inside Jordan King at turn eight to claim eleventh. That fight was in the middle of a train of cars trailing Guanyu Zhou, who had been fighting with Nobuharu Matsushita until the switch to conservation. The Correa/King fight would rumble on for another lap, before coming to a conclusion at turn four when the American racer hit the back of the Brit when King managed to get back ahead through the right-hander.

Elsewhere, Hubert was shuffled out of the lead group and down to seventh behind Delétraz, with both sitting in the wake of the fading Schumacher. Ghiotto, meanwhile, caused a stir by diving into the pits for a new set of soft Pirelli tyres on lap thirteen, with de Vries following him in from fourth. They rejoined in fourteenth and and fifteenth respectively with ten laps to, with the duo going on to lap three to four seconds faster than the leaders.

Ghiotto would begin carving his way up the order on his soft tyres, with a series of moves on Tatiana Caldéron, Callum Ilott, Ralph Boschung, Alesi and Aitken carrying him up from twelfth to sixth in the space of three laps. Out front, meanwhile, Latifi moved up to engage Sette Câmara for the lead, prompting the Brazilian to take defensive lines, and complain to the DAMS team about his teammate. Indeed, their fight would cost both of them time to the charging Ghiotto, who was within fifteen seconds of the lead duo with seven laps to go.

After dealing with Zhou off-camera Ghiotto would move into striking position behind Delétraz, who was still fighting with Schumacher for third with five laps to go. Ghiotto's involvement in their fight proved to be short-lived, with the Italian racer simply pulling past Delétraz on the run out of turn eight, purely because he had more grip than the Swiss racer. A similar move would see the #8 Virtuosi pull past Schumacher on the run out of turn ten on the same lap, as behind de Vries moved into the points with a move on Boschung.

The closing stages saw Ghiotto destroy the gap to Latifi and Sette Câmara, moving into striking position behind the second placed #6 DAMS with three laps to go. A simple blow past with DRS saw the #8 Virtuosi sweep into second before the duo hit the brakes for turn one, while Zhou completed an identical manoeuvre on Schumacher for fifth. With that Ghiotto was on Sette Câmara's tail, although the Italian would use his superior grip he would take the lead away from the Brazilian with a stunning lunge inside of turn twelve.

With that the race was run, with Ghiotto storming away to secure an impressive victory, five seconds clear of Sette Câmara in second. Latifi completed the podium in third ahead of Zhou, who passed Delétraz on the final lap on the brakes for turn four, while Schumacher just kept de Vries at bay to claim sixth. King claimed the final point in eighth, with all twenty drivers reaching the chequered flag.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Raghunathan received a ten place grid penalty for the following race after passing the chequered flag twice at the end of the race.
 * † Alesi was disqualified from the results of the race after racing with an illegal set of tyres.

Milestones

 * Luca Ghiotto secured his second Formula Two victory.
 * Also the Italian's third win at GP2/F2 level.
 * UNI-Virtuosi secured their maiden victory as an entrant in F2.

Standings
Victory would leave Luca Ghiotto at the head of the Championship at the end of the opening round, albeit just two ahead of Feature winner Nicholas Latifi. Sérgio Sette Câmara was next, ten off the new leader, while Louis Delétraz opened his campaign in fourth ahead of Anthoine Hubert, the best placed rookie. Indeed, both he, Guanyu Zhou and Mick Schumacher had all got on the board on their first F2 weekend, with eleven scorers in total.

In the Teams' Championship it was DAMS who left Bahrain at the head of the field, opening their campaign with a healthy 14 point lead. UNI-Virtuosi were their closest challengers in second, scoring 48 points across their "first" F2 weekend, while Carlin were a relatively distant third, 30 off their compatriots. Next up were BWT Arden and ART Grand Prix, level on 12, with Prema Racing, Campos Racing and MP Motorsport also on the board.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.