Drugovich tops disrupted opening Barcelona F2 test session

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Championship leader Felipe Drugovich topped the first session of Formula 2’s in-season Barcelona test in a morning hampered by red flags and some rain.

The track was already busy early in the morning with the teams expecting some rain later in the day and also on Wednesday. Several warm up laps were needed to get the hard Pirelli compound up to temperature, as track surface barely reached 15°C.

The first red flag came out 40 minutes into the session as Trident’s Calan Williams stopped at turn two. The mechanical issue was solved soon and Williams was back out on track half an hour later.

Liam Lawson brought out the second red flag of the morning just when the first hour of running had been completed. The New Zealander, who had come to a halt in sector three, couldn’t rejoin the session as a result.

A crash from Charouz Racing System’s Cem Bolukbasi meant the session had to be stopped for a third time as the session approached its last hour. The Turkish driver, returning to action after concussion ruled him out following a practice crash in Jeddah, lost the control of his car at the exit of turn nine and hit the inside wall of the back straight, breaking the suspension on all four corners and the rear wing in the process.

As the session resumed, the first drops of rain appeared, reducing considerably the on-track action. Van Amersfoort Racing’s duo Jake Hughes and Amaury Cordeel and Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung were the only ones out on a slippery track in slippery conditions, with first two being the only ones to complete consecutive laps.

Both the incidents and the rain impeded drivers from improving their lap times as the session progressed. As a consequence, MP Motorsport driver Drugovich’s 1m29.755s set in the first half of the morning remained as the fastest time. Hughes’ outings under the rain meant he was the driver with the most laps clocked, at 37, followed by Boschung’s 32.

Morning session results