Early Championship lead for Guanyu Zhou, rookies on the top step and many more taken from the opening round of the 2021 F2 season

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We witnessed three thrilling races at the Bahrain International Circuit as the Formula 2 drivers delivered with plenty of twists and turns in what is set to be another fantastic season.

The new format has certainly delivered with Saturday’s Sprint Races and Sunday’s Feature Race being action-packed and providing excitement that this will be another season that could have at least 10 or 11 drivers fighting for the title of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 World Champion.

Guanyu Zhou takes an early lead in the Championship

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The Chinese driver could not have started the weekend in a better way after grabbing pole position in qualifying ahead of the Feature Race at the end of the weekend.

Starting in 10th for the first race of the season, the UNI-Virtuosi driver made up three positions from his grid position and finished in the points, ending the race in seventh and grabbing two points.

The reverse grid for the second Sprint Race of the day allowed Zhou to start on the second row of the grid in fourth position.

Instantly, the 21-year-old blasted up to second and would continue to hold onto that position, his first podium of the season.

Pole position for the Feature Race gave him one of the best chances of being the third race winner of the season. He covered the pole into a victory and was the first time UNI-Virtuosi converted a Feature Race pole into a win.

The Alpine Academy driver leads the Championship on 41 points, 11 points ahead of second-place Liam Lawson and third-place Jehan Daruvala.

Rookies on top

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2020 F3 World Champion and fellow F2 rookie and Red Bull Academy driver Liam Lawson were the two of the other winners at the opening round of the season.

In their first-ever qualifying in F2, the pair were able to get lap times that put them eighth and ninth on the grid for the Feature Race.

Luckily for the first race, the grid was reversed and after the disqualification of Juri Vips from qualifying the duo started on the second row together with Lawson in third and Piastri in fourth.

The Hitech Grand Prix driver had a fantastic start as he launched himself into first place right from the get-go and held onto his lead even with a quick Jehan Daruvala behind him.

With the grid reversed yet again for the second race, it meant that Piastri would start sixth after he finished fifth in the afternoon race.

The Australian grasped the victory with both hands, as after a battle with Zhou the Prema driver took the chance of all the chaos and won the race in fantastic fashion.

Jehan Daruvala rapid once again around Bahrain

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After winning the last race of the 2020 season, Daruvala looked straight on the pace in post-season testing and pre-season testing this campaign.

P6 in qualifying saw the Indian take a reverse grid fifth place on the grid alongside rookie Richard Verschoor in the MP Motorsport.

After a move on David Beckmann that saw the Carlin driver move up to third, Theo Pourchaire picked up an issue and retired from the race which released him to chase Hitech’s, Liam Lawson.

Daruvala tried to get past his Red Bull Academy teammate but was unable to and had to settle with second. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic start to the season for the Indian as he started P9 for the second Sprint Race.

Another hectic race followed as the Carlin driver was promoted to the podium after Christian Lundgaard’s penalty, but was then demoted back to P4 after the Dane in fact did serve his penalty. 20 points after two races saw the Indian close to the top of the Championship and started his season perfectly.

He finished sixth in Sunday’s Feature Race picking up another eight points on the board and currently sits third in the Championship, two points behind second-place Lawson and 13 points behind current leader Zhou.

Torrid weekend for Juri Vips

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On his return to the category after a brief spell last season, the Estonian looked to prove his pace and his winning ability in F2.

He qualified in P5 but then was disqualified due to the Stewards determining that the undertray fins of his car were not compliant with Article 4.3.13 of the 2021 FIA F2 Technical Regulations.

Subsequently, the Hitech driver started at the back of the grid for both the first Sprint Race and the Feature Race after his disqualification demoted him to 22nd.

Vips made a fantastic charge from 22nd to 10th in the first race of the season as he was able to secure reverse grid pole position for that evening’s Sprint Race.

As he held his position at the front of the grid, his engine, unfortunately, cut out and saw his chances slip away from him of achieving a good points finish.

13th place in the last race of the weekend saw him take no points which can be seen as a disappointing performance seeing the heights that Liam Lawson has reached, but with the season only just beginning, Vips will have plenty of chances to prove that he is more than capable of battling at the top end of the grid.

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