Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou took his third FIA Formula 2 pole position in the opening qualifying session of the 2021 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
But he was investigated for taking the chequered flag twice, despite pipping ART’s Christian Lundgaard to pole for Sunday’s feature race by just 0.003s, having entered the pitlane after the session rather driving into the support paddock. Zhou was later was given a reprimand – as were several other drivers for similar infringements – but avoided a grid penalty.
David Beckmann will make his F2 debut from pole for Charouz in Saturday’s opening sprint race after setting the 10th fastest time – with the top ten positions reversed in forming the grid.
Lundgaard set the pace at the start of the 30-minute session with a time of 1m43.628s, before free practice pace-setter Felipe Drugovich went 0.3s faster for Virtuosi to lead the way at the halfway stage.
As most drivers headed for the pits for fresh tyres, Zhou took advantage of a clear track to go fastest on his first timed run, lowering team-mate Drugovich’s benchmark by 0.022s.
The session was halted as drivers started their second runs when championship favourite Robert Shwartzman stopped on the pit-straight after his Prema-run car lost power.
When the session resumed with six minutes remaining on the clock, Lundgaard reclaimed top-spot with a time of 1m42.851s. But he had to settle for second after being denied pole in the final seconds of the session by fellow Alpine F1 junior Zhou, who set a time of 1m42.848s. He will start the opening feature race of the season from the front for the second year in a row.
Drugovich was third fastest, 0.3s behind the pair, while Carlin’s Dan Ticktum was fourth. Richard Verschoor was sixth, having only secured a drive with MP Motorsport this week.
Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala was seventh, ahead of Prema’s reigning F3 champion Oscar Piastri and Hitech’s Liam Lawson. Shwartzman ended up 12th, having been fifth before his issue.
Qualifying result
| 1 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | 1m42.848s |
| 2 | Christian Lundgaard | ART | +0.003s |
| 3 | Felipe Drugovich | Virtuosi | +0.363s |
| 4 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | +0.490s |
| 5 | Juri Vips | Hitech | +0.593s |
| 6 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | +0.595s |
| 7 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | +0.627 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | +0.630s |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | Hitech | +0.671s |
| 10 | David Beckmann | Charouz | +0.711s |
| 11 | Theo Pourchaire | ART | +0.737s |
| 12 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | +0.846s |
| 13 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | +0.856s |
| 14 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | +0.881s |
| 15 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | +0.920s |
| 16 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | +0.991s |
| 17 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | +1.107s |
| 18 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | +1.379s |
| 19 | Marino Sato | Trident | +1.806s |
| 20 | Matteo Nannini | HWA | +1.977s |
| 21 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos | +2.205s |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA | +3.864s |
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
