Photo: Alpine
Five drivers in Formula 2 qualifying went into the session having been driving Formula 1 cars half an hour earlier, and only one of them handled the switch with success.
Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan took F2 pole at Yas Marina Circuit, after driving for Alpine in F1 practice, with the next best of the drivers who had to run from the F1 pitlane to the support paddock being Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar in eighth place.
Notably F2’s title contenders Frederik Vesti (Prema) and Theo Pourchaire (ART Grand Prix) were down in ninth and 14th, after driving for Mercedes-AMG and Alfa Romeo Racing respectively earlier in the day.
“The potential was probably top three, had I maximised the session, but I finished in P9 as I had a big lock-up in my fastest lap,” said Vesti. “Overall, I’m not very happy with that. However, we still start P2 tomorrow, and we can fight for great points on Sunday. I’m very very motivated and I will give my absolute everything for the championship.”
Alpine junior Doohan is fighting to be championship runner-up, and is 26 points behind Vesti with two races to go.
“A great send off for my last qualifying with this championship,” said Doohan. “Run one was quite strong, very short turnover time from FP1 in F1. The team made it so comfortable and seamless, that transition. So straight away I felt very comfortable with the car, and run one felt good.
“I didn’t feel at the limit, which was quite nice because last year I was way too quickly at the limit and I didn’t transition in run two. So it was good to be able to go into run two and take a good step forward and end off on a high like we did.”
Doohan qualified fifth at Yas Marina in 2022 after also doing F1 practice for Alpine, so knew what to expect with the switch today unlike his F2 rivals.
“Fortunately I had it last year, so I was able to be a bit more prepared and make sure I made it as easy as possible. But nevertheless, it’s still a difficult task. You’re going from a laptime of a 1m26s to a 1m36s in a matter of 20 minutes or even less. It’s no easy task,” he stated.
“I feel great coming back from the F1 to the F2 actually, where I think others might struggle more. So for me, it all worked out well, luckily, and happy to be here.”
He added that “it was really trying to reset and just forget what I’d done in F1 and completely go back into F2 mode” that was key.
Prema’s Ollie Bearman did F1 practice for Haas and called F2 qualifying “a bit of a tough session, struggling to find the rhythm” after he could only go 17th fastest.