Formula Two Bahrain 2021: Guanyu Zhou wins first feature race of season

Formula Two Bahrain 2021: Guanyu Zhou wins first feature race of season

Guanyu Zhou, Uni-Virtuosi, worked hard to ensure his victory in the first Formula Two feature race of the season, becoming the third race-winner this year.

This season provides a new format for F2 racing. Sunday’s feature race grid is set by a qualifying session on a Friday and two sprint races ran on Saturday.

With only eight rounds across the entire F2 season, it’s surely going to be an intense one to watch.

Christian Lundgaard (ART GP) got a great start once the lights went out to pip the pole sitter, Zhou, to the first corner. 

As the cars weaved around the first three corners, Robert Schwartzman (Prema) found himself under the Dams gearbox of Roy Nissany, at turn four. This prompted the first retirement of the race and the first safety car. The Russian Prema was later given a drive through penalty for the incident.

The race finally resumed on lap 4 and Lundgaard was immediately under threat by Felipe Drugovich (Uni-Virtuosi), who overtook the Danish driver into turn one. The ART driver managed to regain P1 at turn four as he had better traction than Drugovich, exiting the corner. 

On lap 13, Oscar Piastri (Prema) opted for the outside line into the first corner, which converted into the inside line at turn two. This provided the Australian the opportunity to take P1.

Gianluca Petecof (Campos) was forced to retire on lap 16 as his fire extinguisher activated at the end of the pit straight. This prompted another appearance from the safety car after a brief Virtual Safety Car stint. 

Penalties were later dished out for safety car infringements on lap 21 as Marcus Armstrong (Dams), Drugovich and Marino Sato (Trident) were given five second timed penalties. Whereas, Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) was given a hefty 10 second penalty for the same reason.

Verschoor, who was leading on lap 28, became under threat by Zhou who managed to steal P1 away from the Dutch driver, with only five laps remaining.

Defending from Dan Ticktum (Carlin), Piastri made contact with the Carlin driver on the apex of turn two which sent the Australian spinning out into retirement as he was unable to keep the car running. This caused another VSC to be deployed as the track marshals removed the stranded car off the track. 

Podium:

1. Zhou (Uni-Virtuosi)
2. Ticktum (Carlin)
3. Liam Lawson (Hitech)

We hope you enjoyed the article ‘Formula Two Bahrain 2021: Guanyu Zhou wins first feature race of season.’ Who do you think was the F2 driver of the day? Let us know in the comments!

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