The Haas Formula 1 team’s Trackside Engineering Director Ayao Komatsu was unable to fault Oliver Bearman after his FP1 debut in Mexico City with the team.

The 18-year-old Ferrari Driver Academy member has made a name as a breakthrough talent in his rookie Formula 2 campaign this season, notching up four victories.

Bearman was still racing karts in 2020, before making the step to the ADAC and Italian Formula 4 championships the same year. He won both titles the following year.

In 2022, third in his rookie Formula 3 campaign with Prema earned a graduation to F2 for 2023 where he currently holds sixth in the standings with one round remaining.

Now just under four years from his transition from karting to cars, Bearman’s maiden appearance during an F1 session marks another major milestone in his career.

F1 regulations require each team to field a rookie, a driver who has started no more than two grands prix, in two FP1 sessions across the season – once per car.

Stepping in for Kevin Magnussen, Bearman placed 15th in the session, only two-tenths adrift of the experienced Nico Hulkenberg in the sister VF-23 car.

When asked to sum up his first impressions of the rookie, Komatsu was full of praise for the youngster.

 I don’t think you can fault him: he’s done really well. But all the way from the initial preparation, he’s been very professional, very, very easy to deal with in every single process, I have nothing to complain [about],” Komatsu commended.

Bearman completed 30 laps of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the most of any of the five rookies that made guest appearances during the session.

“And then today,” Komatsu continued. “With the calmness, procedures he understood, he understood the objectives of every single run.

“He didn’t put a foot wrong, really. I mean, he didn’t maximise the Soft tyre. That lap-time difference you talked about, Nico’s lap wasn’t great either so you can’t read too much into it, but in terms of his feedback, it was really good, engagement with his engineers, really, really good job. Really impressed.”

On his debut, a best lap time of 1:21.313s saw him end his outing a respectable 1.5s off the benchmark set by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“Once he was in the car and out on the track, he understood all the objectives, what we needed to achieve on each run, each lap and how to  use the tyres,” added the engineer, who joined Haas ahead of its inaugural season in 2016.

“The surprise is how well he managed everything, really. Honestly, I can’t pick a moment from all the way through that preparation where something was frustrating or difficult, including his management.

“It’s been a really smooth process. It’s been a pleasure to work with him and his management team.

“I don’t think you can expect much better. And then yeah, certainly, better than my expectations were. Not that my expectation was low. But that was so professional and he didn’t put a foot wrong.

“The communication and the feedback were really good as well. So really, I’ve got nothing to complain about. It was really impressive FP1.”

Komatsu was asked to compare Bearman’s performance with that of current Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc, who participated in four FP1 sessions with the American outfit in 2016.

“I think it’s a bit difficult to make a direct comparison, really,” Komatsu posited. “But honestly, if I just think about today, he’s done so well. Really, really, well.

“I really can’t fault him today. So, we got another session planned with him in Abu Dhabi. So really looking forward to that. And then yeah, hopefully more sessions next year as well. So it’s very promising.”

Speaking after the session, Bearman was pleased with his efforts but he is acutely aware that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“I mean my first goal was to just have a clean session and we did that which is the main thing so I’m really happy to have just delivered a clean session to start with,” the Briton said.

“I got up to speed quite fast I felt, I had a really good confidence in the car. More or less I’m happy. There’s always a few things, it was my first time doing everything. My first time on the Soft tyre, my first long runs… I would do better the second time, but for a first time, I was very happy.

“I spoke with them and they just said good job. We knew what the main goal was, pretty much just bring the car home. [But to do that and end] in a pretty decent position comparing to the guys around us is an added bonus.

“I think the main thing was that we built up very cleanly and had a clean session and not many big mistakes.”

The Ferrari prospect will again perform FP1 duties with Haas in Abu Dhabi – the same weekend as the Formula 2 finale.

Asked what his plans are until then, he responded: “Set a timer! It’s a long way away. It’s a bit unfortunate, it [FP1] was over so fast. Now I’m just going to be back on the sim, back preparing for Abu Dhabi.

“Obviously my main focus is F2 and this is just an added bonus on top to do the FP1s so the same preparation as I did for this race.”

Ferrari junior driver Oliver Bearman asserts that he has been set “no targets from anyone” ahead of making his Formula 1 bow in FP1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

It was announced earlier this month that Bearman would be driving for the Haas team in the first practice session in both Mexico and Abu Dhabi at the end of November.

The Briton is currently competing in his maiden campaign in the Formula 2 category, where he has scored four victories to sit sixth overall with one round remaining.

Asked when he was informed he would be making his debut at an F1 grand prix weekend, Bearman answered: “After I won the feature race in Monza, my boss – Marco [Matassa], the boss of the FDA – told me to come to his office after I finished the podium and everything and he told me.

“I knew something would be on the cards because it had been going really well, but it was nice to finally get the news.”

Prior to getting behind the wheel of the VF-23 in Mexico on Friday, Bearman previously drove Ferrari’s 2021 car, the SF-21, at the Maranello camp’s Fiorano test track.

Bearman admitted that the leap from F2 machinery to F1 was instantly “pretty big”, adding that the main performance gain came “mostly in [the] cornering ability of the car.”

“Of course, it was a 2021 car so the ride’s a bit better and I’d say a bit easier to drive,” he continued. “But I was quite surprised at the G-force you can pull in braking and cornering. Fiorano is only a short track but it was enough to find the potential of a Formula 1 car.”

Under the current regulations, every team on the F1 grid is obliged to give two practice sessions per season to a driver who has made fewer than two grand prix starts.

Courtesy of its close technical collaboration with Ferrari, Haas has previously run many of the marque’s academy prospects, including Charles Leclerc and Mick Schumacher.

“I’m sure it helps a little bit, obviously they have a good relationship with Ferrari… Of course, they’ve had rookie drivers before and they know about that I will need a little bit more info and a little bit of catching up compared to the real drivers,” he noted.

“But they’re good with that and they’ve worked with a lot of rookies so it’s seamless.”

Bearman believes the most challenging aspect of his debut outing will be managing the rapid track evolution usually evident at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

“The switches is something at least I get to with the sim and with the test Fiorano, it’s quite a similar set-up to what Ferrari has so that’s nice,” he explained.

“My other issue is cars on track which could complicate things a bit, but for me I think the most complicated bit is going to be the track evolution.

“It starts very dusty here and with the altitude as well the grip level is low, so I think just getting to grips with that and understanding what the car needs will be the main difficulty.”

He added: “Of course like Guenther [Steiner, Haas Team Principal] said there’s no positives, nothing to win on a Friday – it’s a mandatory session and I just need to bring the car back.”

Alongside the group of engineers he’ll be working with on Friday, the 18-year-old has also revealed that Haas driver Kevin Magnussen has been aiding his preparation.

“Yeah especially Kevin’s been quite useful, just giving a bit of knowledge about little stuff that probably to him doesn’t seem like anything but for someone coming into the car for the first time is very useful.

“And yeah any questions they’ve always been there to answer, but also the engineers, so that’s been nice and at least I can go to sleep tonight without any questions in the back of my head.”

Meanwhile, Bearman has denied that Ferrari has outlined any specific targets for him.

“No targets, no targets from anyone – even from myself,” he contended. I think it would be silly to set any expectations, my first target is just to enjoy it.

“I’ve had it drummed into me a lot now, there’s nothing to win from here, just do a solid job, build up step-by-step and enjoy it as well. So that’s my target.”

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has outlined that Oliver Bearman will combine more FP1 outings in Formula 1 next year with another season in Formula 2.

It was announced last week that Bearman will be making his F1 bow later this month when he conducts an FP1 session with the Haas team at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

He will also be behind the wheel of the VF-23 in the opening practice session in Abu Dhabi, ensuring Haas fulfils its obligation to run a rookie driver in two FP1 sessions in the year.

Ahead of those appearances, Bearman was given the opportunity to drive an F1 car for the first time in his career when he drove Ferrari’s SF21 at the side’s Fiorano test track.

The Briton, who has been a member of Ferrari’s Driver Academy since the end of 2021, is currently competing in F2, where he sits sixth in the standings with four wins.

Vasseur has confirmed that Bearman will return for a second crack at F2 in 2024, alongside more F1 practice sessions to prepare him for the potential step up.

Asked whether he could provide an insight into Bearman’s racing schedule for next year, Vasseur said: “[In] 2024 he will do F2 again.

“But you know the situation, that we already had the discussion – I think it was the last press conference – about the junior series and the general programme is that the step is quite high with the F1, because we have no testing anymore, we have more and more Sprint event with just one FP1.

“We have three tests during the winter, it means that it’s quite difficult to adapt to the F1 and the rookies not always successful. I think Oscar [Piastri] did a very good job also because he had one year of preparation last year and he was already used to the F1.

“And we have to prepare in advance and it’s why we give him two FP1s this season with us and probably much more next year and we will prepare him for the future. So far, he’s doing a very good job in the junior series, but we know that it’s [F1] a long way [away].”

Vasseur’s mention of the lack of testing time now afforded to rookie F1 drivers followed comments by Logan Sargeant, who recently defended his tough maiden campaign.

“Experience always helps, but I have people to talk to just try and understand how to approach things and why these little mistakes are happening and how to get rid of them,” Sargeant said in Qatar.

“It is a constant work-in-progress, and I don’t think anyone is perfect in that sense – it is just about building off the mistakes, and it might sound silly, but using them to your advantage to try and learn from it.

“Ideally, you’d have more testing, as that is the best way to prepare – I mean back in the day when Lewis [Hamilton] and Fernando [Alonso] joined, everyone back then got endless days of testing, and in the current car too which is very different to what we experience now. 

“Now, it is always a previous generation and that makes a difference, but even if it is the previous generation [of car used in testing], just having more days [overall] makes a difference.”

Ferrari Academy Driver Oliver Bearman completed his maiden Formula 1 test outing today with Ferrari ahead of making his grand prix weekend debut later this month.

The Briton got behind the wheel of Ferrari’s 2021 car, the SF21, at the team’s Fiorano test track, completing over 400km.

Bearman had to complete 300km in order to be eligible to drive at an official round of the F1 World Championship.

“If you think I wasn’t excited, you’d be mistaken,” Bearman said. “I can’t deny that last night I struggled to get to sleep.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget this day, with my parents on hand and I’m told my mother got quite excited when I drove out of the garage in the Ferrari.

Expanding on the technical aspects of F1 machinery, Bearman added: “The engineers guided me step by step for the first few laps, then as I gained confidence in the car I started to really enjoy it.

“I was prepared for the enormous amount of power on hand, as I had already driven a Formula 1 car on the simulator. But what really surprised me was the level of grip, which is harder to feel sitting in the sim and it’s crazy when compared to the amount you have with the Formula 2 car I’m racing at the moment.

“The other surprising thing is the level of downforce on these cars, it’s just incredible. Thank you to the Scuderia for making me feel part of the group right away and everyone at Ferrari who made this unforgettable day possible.”

It was announced ahead of last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix that Bearman will be conducting appearances in FP1 for the Haas team in this year’s Mexican and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.

Bearman will slot in to fulfil the American side’s obligation under the current sporting regulations to field a driver with two or fewer F1 grand prix starts in two official practice sessions.

He was spotted within Haas’ ranks in team uniform throughout the past race weekend at the Qatar Grand Prix and completed a seat fit in its VF-23 car.

Haas has taken advantage of its close technical collaboration with Ferrari to utilise Bearman’s services, having previously given practice outings to Antonio Giovinazzi, Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher and Robert Shwartzman.

Bearman is currently competing in the Formula 2 Championship and has won four races in his debut season to sit seventh overall in the standings with only one round remaining.

Ferrari signed Bearman to its academy ranks in November 2021 after he had won both the Italian F4 Championship and the ADAC F4 Championship that year.

It is widely expected that the 18-year-old will remain in F2 for a second season, most likely with the Prema team he has enjoyed much success with this year.

Ferrari Academy Driver Ollie Bearman will conduct FP1 outings for Haas at this season’s Mexico and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.

As per a regulation introduced last year by the FIA, the rules stipulate that every race driver has to give up an FP1 session for a rookie who has started no more than two grands prix.

Haas is one of several teams yet to hand a rookie participant an outing in the first practice session of a grand prix weekend in 2023.

However, Bearman will get his first opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car when he gets behind the wheel of the Haas VF-23 later this year. It has not been disclosed when each of the team’s full-time drivers – Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen – will give up their place.

Bearman is currently competing in the Formula 2 Championship and has won four races in his debut season to sit seventh overall in the standings with one round remaining.

The Briton previously won the Italian F4 Championship and ADAC F4 Championship in 2021, paving the way for Ferrari to recruit him to its academy ranks in November of that year.

Bearman will follow in the footsteps of Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher, Robert Shwartzman and Antonio Giovinazzi as a Ferrari affiliate undergoing an F1 weekend outing for Haas.

“We’re very happy to offer Oliver Bearman these outings in Mexico and Abu Dhabi,” Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner said.

“He’s had a stellar rookie season in Formula 2, four wins is testament to that, and as part of the Ferrari Driver Academy – we know his background preparation coming into these weekends will be first-rate. We look forward to welcoming Oliver into the team and have him drive the VF-23.” 

Bearman added: “I am so happy to be joining MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driving in Mexico and Abu Dhabi. Getting to Formula 1 has been my dream since I was go-karting so to be driving a car for the first time this year is really special.

“I’m grateful to the team, and of course Ferrari, for allowing me this chance. I’m working hard to make sure I’m ready to support the team as best I can on both occasions.”

Bearman will accompany the Haas side throughout this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix in preparation for his debut run at the end of this month in Mexico.

Prema’s Oliver Bearman took victory in the Formula 2 Feature Race at Monza, which was blighted by several Safety Car incidents.

Bearman was followed home by Ayumu Iwasa and Theo Pourchaire, with championship contender Frederik Vesti crashing out early on.

Championship leader Pourchaire lined up on pole for the first time since Bahrain, alongside Bearman on the front row, with Saturday’s Sprint Winner esti starting in eighth.

On a glorious sunny Sunday morning at Monza, Vesti needed to go on the offensive to continue to close the gap to Pourchaire at the top of the standings, but would the Prema driver be able to pull it off?

After Saturday’s Sprint, Pourchaire’s lead was cut to just nine points over Vesti in the Championship, 175 points to 166.

It was a good reaction from Pourchaire at the start and he secured the lead into the opening chicane, but Bearman held the inside line at Turn 3 and made his move to take his lead at Della Roggia.

There was then disaster for Vesti who was squeezed and spun round by Roman Stanek going out of Della Roggia and into the first Lesmo, ending the championship challenger’s race and bringing out the Safety Car.

Stanek had just lost out to Victor Martins at Della Roggia and his aggressive defence against Vesti will have huge implications for the championship fight.

For his part in the incident, Stanek was handed a five-second time penalty.

Contributing to the stoppage was Zandvoort Feature winner Clement Novalak, who also spun off into the gravel trap on the opening lap.

With the hazard cleared, racing resumed at the end of Lap 3 and Bearman comfortably led the field to green in front of Pourchaire and Martins.

Bearman’s focus then turned to stretching away from Pourchaire to clear DRS range, with Pourchaire’s goal transforming into capitalising on Vesti’s misfortune by taking as many points as possible with only one more round of the season remaining after the F2 action in Italy.

DRS was enabled at the start of Lap 6, with Pourchaire still within seventh-tenths of leader Bearman.

Further down the order, there was a spin for Arthur Leclerc and his stranded DAMS car prompted another Safety Car on Lap 7, prompting a flurry of action in pit lane as the drivers elected to take their mandatory pit stops and get rid of their super soft tyres.

Jehan Daruvala, Jack Doohan and Iwasa were on the alternate strategy having started on the medium compound tyre and cycled through to the front as a result.

Bearman was then put under investigation for an unsafe release as the Prema driver squeezed Pourchaire toward the pit wall when exiting his pit box, but no further action was taken upon review.

Racing got back underway at the end of Lap 11 with the alternate strategy runners tasked with defending against the rest of the pack, but there was a high-speed crash at the back of the field on the start-finish straight involving Zane Maloney on the restart prompting another Safety Car period.

The Rodin Carlin driver was tagged from behind by Roy Nissany and clattered into the barriers, but luckily was able to get out of the car with Nissany later be handed a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident.

Daruvala, Doohan and Iwasa continued to fight at the front whilst race direction took their time to call the Safety Car into action, with Iwasa winning out in the three-way tussle.

Iwasa and Daruvla then elected to pit under caution, meaning that Bearman inherited the lead once again behind the Safety Car, ahead of Doohan and Pourchaire.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 15 and Bearman held the lead well, with Pourchaire taking the challenge to Doohan, who was backing up the pack and handing a big advantage to Bearman out in front.

Pourchaire then took second off of Doohan at the start of Lap 18 and set about chasing Bearman for the lead with 12 laps remaining.

Martins then had an issue with his DRS, which got stuck open, prompting him to head to the pits after the black and orange flag was shown to the ART driver.

The Safety Car was then brought out for the fourth time as Kush Maini was tagged by Jak Crawford whilst going for a move around the outside and was sent crashing out with a puncture and front wing damage.

This eroded Bearman’s 2.5-second advantage out front, meaning he had to fight once again when racing resumed at the end of Lap 26.

Bearman nailed the restart and Iwasa snatched second from Pourchaire.

There was then another incident on the penultimate lap as the Virtual Safety Car was called with Crawford stranded at the side of Ascari, after being tagged by Stanek.

The VSC then became a full and fifth Safety Car period, bringing an end to the race under cuation.

Bearman took the feature win (his fourth victory in his rookie season) ahead of Iwasa (who climbed 13 places) and Pourchaire in second and third.

Enzo Fittipaldi took fourth, ahead of Dennis Hauger in fifth and Doohan in sixth.

Daruvala took seventh with Amaury Cordeel in eighth and Ralph Boschung and Stanek completed the top-10.

Pourchaire now holds a 25-point lead over Vesti in the Championship, with the F2 season now on hiatus until the season finale in Abu Dhabi in November.

Prema’s Oliver Bearman set the fastest time of Formula 2 qualifying in Barcelona with a time of 1:23.546s. 

The Prema driver will start Sunday’s Feature Race ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi, who trailed Bearman by 0.077s. 

Jack Doohan set the third fastest time with Ayumu Iwasa in fourth followed by Theo Pourchaire and Dennis Hauger. 

After qualifying tenth fastest, Amaury Cordeel will start Saturday’s Sprint Race from the reverse-grid pole. 

After three installation laps, representative lap times began to flood in across the grid with Doohan able to claim the fastest time which was 0.374s faster than Iwasa’s, in the opening stages of the session. 

The current championship leader, Prema’s Frederik Vesti, was held back in the pit lane by his team along with his teammate Oliver Bearman until the rest of the grid had completed their first push laps. 

It was clear that high tyre degradation was playing a large impact as the first half of qualifying progressed and that fresh tyres would be crucial for claiming the fastest times of the session. 

Next, it was the turn of Red Bull junior Hauger on fresh soft tyres to make an impact at the top of the timing screen – he was able to go 0.155s faster than Doohan. 

Prema’s Bearman and Vesti, meanwhile, were only able to go 4th and 8th fastest respectively as the session approached the halfway point. 

Minutes later, Hauger, on a push lap, came close to tangling with Pourchaire around Turn 3 – the stewards confirmed that they would investigate the incident after the session. 

With 11 minutes of the session remaining, Hauger looked confident, even getting out of the car and shaking hands with members of the MP Motorsport team. 

The confidence was short live, however, as the times began to tumble once again. Fittipaldi set the fastest first two sectors to claim the fastest time of the session so far, followed by Pourchaire who had crossed the line earlier but with a time 0.121s slower than Fittipaldi’s. 

Meanwhile, Kush Maini made an improvement on his time to claim the fourth fastest time of the session behind Hauger – but Maini couldn’t improve further leaving him 14th fastest overall. 

MP Motorsport were forced to respond, sending both Hauger and Jehan Daruvala out onto the track. 

Championship leader Vesti, remained low on the timing screen, just 15th fastest with 6 minutes remaining and only improving to 8th fastest by the end of the session. 

Meanwhile, Van Amersfoort Racing drivers, Juan Manuel Correa and Richard Verschoor were occupying the sixth and seventh fastest times but were pushed down to 11th and 12th respectively.  

Bearman though, was looking rapid through the first and second sectors, he set the fastest time with two minutes to go, just millimetres from breaching the track limits through the final corner. 

Doohan was quickly approaching the pit straight with the fastest middle sector but wasn’t able to better Fittipaldi’s second-fastest time. 

Iwasa attempted a second push lap but he wasn’t able to better his fourth fastest time. 

Prema’s Oliver Bearman created a perfect weekend for himself in Baku as he clinched his first Feature race victory after yesterday’s Sprint race win, catapulting himself right into Formula 2 title contention.

Polesitter and Sprint race winner Bearman got away well from the line, cutting off Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi and holding position at the start, with the entire field getting through the first lap without any issues or incidents.

ART’s Victor Martins was a big gainer, moving up five positions, as championship leader Ayumu Iwasa suffered a poor getaway on the alternative strategy, dropping down four places to 21st position on the medium compound.

Theo Pourchaire overtook Fittipaldi once DRS was enabled and then managed to overtake Bearman for the race lead a lap later, with the Ferrari junior retaking first place the following lap and quickly opening a gap to the Frenchman.

Frederik Vesti and Jehan Daruvula were the first of the front runners to make their mandatory pitstops, making the switch to the medium tyres on lap seven, with Fittipaldi, Martins, and Jak Crawford all following the next lap.

Both Bearman and Pourchaire found themselves pitting on lap nine, with Dennis Hauger, Zane Maloney and Richard Verschoor following the front two runners in, briefly handing the race lead to Campos’ Kush Maini before the Indian driver also bolted into the pits for fresh medium tyres.

Hitech’s Isack Hadjar inherited the race lead as PHM’s Brad Benavides stalled, activating the Virtual Safety Car, with Iwasa following behind in second.

The Japanese driver was handed a five-second penalty for a Virtual Safety Car infringement, however, which dropped him back down to P14 after his late-race pitstop.

Daruvala overshot into Turn 1 while trying to overtake Verschoor, with the MP driver dropping back to P13 and being handed a ten-second time penalty for unsafely rejoining the track, eventually dropping him down to P15 and out of the points at the end of the race.

Net-race leader Bearman, meanwhile, slowly managed to open a gap back up to Pourchaire, breaking free of the Frenchman’s DRS while slowly closing the gap to Hadjar and Iwasa, who were both still running at the front on their ageing medium tyres.

In the closing stages of the race, Fittipaldi started applying pressure onto Pourchaire, overtaking the ART on Lap 24 to clinch second place position, while both Hadjar and Iwasa finally bolted into the pits for a fresh set of supersoft tyres.

A few places further down, Hauger and Maini were engaged in a battle that lasted for several laps and concluded with the Campos driver winning out.

Fittipaldi was tangled up in a fight with Pourchaire all the way until the finish but he managed to hold onto second place.

But nobody was a threat to Bearman in the final stages of the race, with the young Briton making it a perfect weekend with almost maximum points, throwing the 17-year-old right back into the Drivers’ Championship fight.

Pourchaire retakes the championship lead after Iwasa failed to score while Vesti jumps to second, leaving Iwasa in third. Meanwhile, Bearman’s perfect weekend has launched him into fourth, ahead of both Maini and Hauger.

Martins finished fourth, just over a second off the podium, followed by Vesti, Maini, Hauger, Hadjar, Verschoor, and Crawford.

Oliver Bearman has won the Formula 2 Sprint Race in Azerbaijan following a spectacular late safety car restart that resulted in a multi-car pileup.

There was drama at the race start as Victor Martins collided with Zane Maloney just metres into the race. This incident was noted by the stewards but no further investigation was deemed necessary.

Fellow front-row sitter Richard Verschoor went deep into Turn 1, slides on the dirty track and tags the rear of Maloney’s car. Both drivers plummeted down the field. Verschoor retired, Maloney would circulate laps down before also retiring on Lap 18.

Dennis Hauger escaped the incidents around him, charging from sixth to first by the end of the first sector.

Ralph Boschung clipped the inside wall in the castle section and promptly brought his Campos to a stop after running in P6. The safety car was deployed on Lap 3 to clear the car.

The safety car period ended and racing resumed on Lap 6. Hauger launched late, knowing the dangers of accelerating too soon and becoming vulnerable to attack in Turn 1. instead, it was Martins who came under threat by Jehan Daruvala, but the field maintained position for the timebeing.

With DRS activated, the battles intensified. The Prema of Oliver Bearman was the first to make the most of DRS assistance, taking 7th place from Theo Pourchaire under breaking at Turn 1.

Bearman, the polesitter for tomorrow’s Feature Race, was clearly full of confidence around the Baku street circuit. He swiftly got past Crawford for fifth and was the fastest driver on track as he began to close in on teammate Frederik Vesti.

A three-way scrap for third place began with Daruvala dropping off from the leading pair of Hauger and Martins. Vesti got by, but Bearman would have to wait another half a lap before his chance would come.

Championship leader Ayumu Iwasa pulled into the pits and retired on Lap 11 after suffering what seemed to be a hydraulics issue that left his DRS stuck open.

Roy Nissany clattered into the outside wall at Turn 15 on Lap 15, bringing out another safety car.

The race resumed on Lap 19, allowing for a three-lap sprint to the end. Rule changes to the use of DRS mean that only one lap has to be completed before DRS becomes activated which would place more pressure on Hauger.

The restart this time wasn’t as successful for Hauger. Both Hauger and Martins had no braking performance into Turn 1, ending up in the outside wall. Daruvala, looking to go around the outside at Turn 1, collided with Martins’ stricken car, launching the Frenchman into the air before resting on top of Daruvala.

The scene at Turn 1 after the lap 19 restart. Victor Martins and Jehan Daruvala both escaped unhurt.

Arthur Leclerc and Theo Pourchaire also found themselves in the outside wall at Turn 1 after not receiving the braking performance they had expected. Jack Doohan also retired after spinning under braking amidst the chaos.

But it was the Premas that emerged through the chaos, with Bearman getting the best of Vesti before the safety car was deployed again.

The race would not get back underway, with Bearman emerging victorious amidst the late drama and winning under the safety car. He also took the bonus point for fastest lap.

It was the Ferrari academy driver’s first victory in Formula 2 in what has already been an impressive weekend for the Brit. He starts tomorrow’s feature race on pole.

Vesti took second-place ahead of Crawford who completed the podium.

Formula 2’s practice session gave us a first look at a slightly modified Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with changes made to improve safety and racing.

Jeddah debutant Victor Martins set the early pace with a 1:46.411 but the second lap times quickly saw that change as drivers began to push.

Bahrain Sprint Race winner Ralph Boschung enjoyed a short stint atop the timing charts until Victor Martins reclaimed the top spot, improving repeatedly.

At the halfway point in the session, Martins had established himself as the clear pacesetter in the field. His best lap time of 1:43.739 saw him half a second clear of second-place Dennis Hauger.

A snap at the tightened Turn 22 and 23 chicane saw Arthur Leclerc take to the extended run-off area. A mistake that surely would have ended his running last year.

Ollie Bearman managed to jump to the top of the timesheets ahead of teammate Frederik Vesti. Prema are looking to improve on a disappointing weekend last time out in Bahrain which saw both cars struggle with degradation.

A spin for Amaury Cordeel brought out a red flag with 5 minutes left on the clock. A tap on the wall sent the car into a spin that stranded the Virtuosi in the middle of the track.

The session would not restart leaving the Prema duo fastest in the session. Victor Martins finished third, showing some impressive pace throughout practice. Kush Maini and Dennis Hauger rounded out the top five.

Championship leader Theo Pourhcaire had a quiet session finishing in seventeenth place. The Frenchman had a difficult weekend in Jeddah last season and will need to find some pace in order to prevent a repeat in 2023.