Sergio Sette Camara leads DAMS 1-2 in first F2 practice in Bahrain

Photo: Joe Portlock / FIA Formula 2

Sergio Sette Camara topped the opening practice session of the 2019 Formula 2 season in Bahrain, with his DAMS team-mate Nicholas Latifi completing a one-two for the team.

McLaren junior Sette Camara helped Carlin to the teams’ title last year, before switching to DAMS for his third season in F2 this year. He set his leading 1m43.618s lap midway through the session.

Sette Camara’s benchmark was 0.294s quicker than team-mate Latifi, with Swiss driver Ralph Boschung surprisin by completing the top three for Trident.

Luca Ghiotto, driving for UNI-Virtuosi (formerly known as Russian Time), was fourth fastest ahead of Ferrari junior Callum Ilott, making his F2 debut with the Charouz Racing System-ran Sauber Junior Team squad.

Ghiotto’s team-mate Guan Yu Zhou was sixth quickest, ahead of pre-season title favourite Nyck de Vries, who has replaced 2018 champion George Russell at ART Grand Prix.

Carlin’s recruit Louis Deletraz and Nobuharu Matsushita sandwiched second Sauber junior Juan Manuel Correa in ninth, with Deletraz encountering an unspecified technical issue during the session.

Sean Gelael was quicker than his new Prema team-mate Mick Schumacher by 0.022s, to set the 11th fastest time.

As in pre-season testing, Tatiana Calderon (Arden) and Mahaveer Raghunathan (MP Motorsport) propped up the timesheet, with the latter spinning at the final corner at the end of the session.

Free Practice results