F2 Barcelona private test – Day 1: Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Jak Crawford

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is the scene of the return of Formula 2 in Europe, for three days of private testing this week. It was Gabriel Bortoleto, the newcomer from Invicta Racing, who set the fastest time at the very end of the session on soft tires. He narrowly beats Jak Crawford, DAMS Lucas Oil driver, by only 39 milliseconds.

The teams and drivers who, by definition in F2, a development championship, have less experience than F1 drivers, must seize every second to learn. Unfortunately, the weather conditions in Barcelona this morning were very wet and cool, with the track even being declared wet at the beginning of the day.

With only 10 degrees, the morning was therefore not very representative of the actual grip performance. It was Dennis Hauger with MP Motorsport who set the fastest time in 1:25.830. Activity on the track intensified over the hours, with several teams like ART Grand Prix and Hitech Pulse-Eight using different downforce configurations, trying to optimize their performance.

PREMA Racing’s work has been particularly intense with no less than 102 laps completed by Ollie Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Red flags marked this day: The first one caused by Ritomo Miyata stopping on the track and the second one by Antonelli’s off-track excursion, the youngest of the F2 drivers, a rookie who arrived this season supported by Mercedes and most importantly, without going through the F3 category.

The two French drivers are far behind: Isack Hadjar in 12th place and Victor Martins in 14th place.

The result of Day 1 of private testing in F2 in Barcelona