Home Formula 2 Deletraz beats debuting Armstrong to top first day of Abu Dhabi F2 test

Deletraz beats debuting Armstrong to top first day of Abu Dhabi F2 test

by Peter Allen

Photo: Joe Portlock / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship

Louis Deletraz topped the first day of Formula 2 post-season testing in Abu Dhabi for Charouz, beating debutant Marcus Armstrong to the fastest time right at the chequered flag.

Deletraz, returning to the team he raced for in 2018, had been second quickest in the morning session, 0.011 seconds behind Prema driver Mick Schumacher’s time of 1m50.947s.

Christian Lundgaard led ART Grand Prix team-mate Armstrong for much of the afternoon session after an early effort, only for Armstrong to move ahead prior to a late red flag caused by Mahaveer Raghunathan.

After the restart with around 10 minutes remaining, Armstrong – in his first day driving an F2 car – set the best time so far of a 1m50.798s, but Deletraz would then better that by 0.255s with his 1m50.543s.

Schumacher almost matched his morning benchmark in the afternoon and finished the day in fourth place.

Testing for Carlin, Nikita Mazepin was third quickest in the morning and fifth overall ahead of Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou and new DAMS signing Sean Gelael.

The morning session timesheets were dominated by drivers with previous F2 experience, with Luca Ghiotto (Trident), Callum Ilott (Virtuosi), Artem Markelov (HWA), Dan Ticktum (DAMS) and Niko Kari (Campos) rounding out the top 10.

In the afternoon, Markelov was fifth fastest ahead of Charouz debutant Pedro Piquet, while Ticktum and Gelael were seventh and eighth.

FIA Formula 3 champion Robert Shwartzman was 11th in the morning for Prema (as fastest debutant) and then ninth in the afternoon, in front of HWA recruit Alesi.

There was a change to the line-up for the afternoon after Roy Nissany – fresh from testing Formula 1 machinery with Williams on Wednesday – returned to the category in place of Marino Sato at Trident.

Both drivers will have their own car to use on Friday, while Ralph Boschung will return to MP Motorsport in place of Raghunathan.

 

Day 1 results
Pos Name Team Morning Afternoon
1 Louis Deletraz Charouz 1m50.958s 1m50.543s
2 Marcus Armstrong ART 1m52.653s 1m50.798s
3 Christian Lundgaard ART 1m52.077s 1m50.923s
4 Mick Schumacher Prema 1m50.947s 1m50.966s
5 Nikita Mazepin Carlin 1m51.034s 1m55.393s
6 Guanyu Zhou Virtuosi 1m51.178s 1m52.796s
7 Sean Gelael DAMS 1m51.449s 1m51.840s
8 Artem Markelov HWA 1m51.626s 1m51.523s
9 Luca Ghiotto Trident 1m51.570s 1m56.789s
10 Callum Ilott Virtuosi 1m51.585s 1m56.396s
11 Pedro Piquet Charouz 1m52.448s 1m51.685s
12 Dan Ticktum DAMS 1m51.692s 1m51.724s
13 Niko Kari Campos 1m51.963s 1m52.117s
14 Robert Shwartzman Prema 1m52.021s 1m51.977s
15 Giuliano Alesi HWA 1m52.721s 1m52.091s
16 Yuki Tsunoda Carlin 1m52.155s 1m55.786s
17 Felipe Drugovich MP 1m52.281s 1m56.629s
18 Mahaveer Raghunathan MP 1m53.505s 1m52.467s
19 Marino Sato Trident 1m52.516s
20 Roy Nissany Trident 1m52.881s
21 Guilherme Samaia Campos 1m53.540s 1m54.082s