Race report

FIA F2 Barcelona

F2 Spain: Bearman takes comfortable win from pole

Oliver Bearman swept to a comfortable Formula 2 win in Barcelona, converting pole into his third victory in as many rounds.

Megan White

Edited: Jun 4, 2023, 2:09 PM

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Oliver Bearman, PREMA Racing

The Prema Racing driver bounced back after a tricky weekend last time out in Monaco to take another victory, having secured a clean sweep the previous round in Baku.

It marked Prema's second win of the weekend, with team-mate Frederik Vesti taking victory in Saturday's sprint race.

Fighting off a challenge from Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin) at the start, Bearman was able to break the DRS chain by lap six to hold a 1.6s lead as Fittipaldi fought ART driver Theo Pourchaire for second.

As the field cycled through pitstops, Bearman was able to hold out later than his rivals as he managed his tyres well before stopping for the hard compound on lap 13 and emerging in 12th.

He cut through those ahead who were yet to stop with ease, and took back control on lap 25 as Victor Martins, running on the alternate strategy having started seventh, pitted from the lead.

Bearman led by 4.4s from Fittipaldi by lap 30, with another six seconds to Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS), before Martins took advantage of his soft tyres to secure third with two laps remaining.

Iwasa had a strong start, with Fittipaldi almost attempting a move on Bearman at Turn 1 before running wide and heading around the bollard.

Fittipaldi and Pourchaire tussled for second, while Iwasa attempted to get in on the top three but settled for fourth, as Doohan fell back to fifth.

The stops began on lap six, with Campos Racing driver Ralph Boschung the first to take new tyres.

Pourchaire and Iwasa stopped three laps later for hards, with the pair emerging in 17th and 18th.

Bearman was 1.2s clear by lap 10, with a further 5.2s back to Invicta Virtuosi driver Doohan, before Fittipaldi, Doohan and MP Motorsport's Dennis Hauger all stopped.

Fittipaldi led those who had stopped from Pourchaire and Iwasa, and despite the Frenchman's best attempts, he was unable to pass the Red Bull junior.

Bearman stopped on lap 13, emerging 12th to easily maintain his lead ahead of Fittipaldi, Pourchaire and Iwasa.

The Brazilian had closed on the leader by lap 15, with the Briton still finding temperature in his tyres, but Bearman used traffic to his advantage and put several of those yet-to-stop between himself and Fittipaldi.

As the stoppers made their way through those yet to pit, Iwasa and Doohan made it past Pourchaire, with the Frenchman struggling on his hard tyres.

Bearman had a 2.7s gap to Fittipaldi by lap 21, with the traffic playing into his hands, while his team-mate Vesti, running on the alternate strategy, pitted for softs a few laps later.

The alternate strategy, run by Martins and Vesti, proved to work well, with both drivers making strong progress in the closing stages.

Martins pitted from the lead on lap 25, emerging in fifth, while Vesti had come out ninth before making his way up to sixth by lap 27 as he passed Pourchaire on the start-finish straight with the help of DRS.

Martins passed Doohan the following tour before Vesti followed suit around the outside of Turn 10 and the pair closed on the top three.

A fight for third ensued, with Iwasa and Martins tussling for several laps before the Frenchman took the final podium spot on lap 35 with the help of DRS.

Iwasa settled for fourth, with Vesti in fifth having lined up eighth. Doohan and Pourchaire were sixth and seventh, with Hauger, Arthur Leclerc (DAMS) and Richard Verschoor (VAR) rounding off the top 10.

Cla Driver Team Gap 1 United Kingdom Oliver Bearman
Italy Prema Powerteam 2 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi
Rodin Carlin 2.800 3 France Victor Martins
France ART Grand Prix 3.400 4 Japan Ayumu Iwasa
France DAMS 9.000 5 Denmark Frederik Vesti
Italy Prema Powerteam 9.600 6 Australia Jack Doohan
Invicta Virtuosi Racing 17.000 7 France Theo Pourchaire
France ART Grand Prix 20.400 8 Norway Dennis Hauger
Netherlands MP Motorsport 21.200 9 Monaco Arthur Leclerc
France DAMS 21.800 10 Richard Verschoor
Van Amersfoort Racing 34.600 11 United States Juan Manuel Correa
Van Amersfoort Racing 42.000 12 Czech Republic Roman Staněk
Italy Trident 42.800 13 Jak Crawford
Hitech Pulse-Eight 43.400 14 India Jehan Daruvala
Netherlands MP Motorsport 45.500 15 Switzerland Ralph Boschung
Spain Campos Racing 58.200 16 Barbados Zane Maloney
Rodin Carlin 1'00.600 17 India Kush Maini
Spain Campos Racing 1'02.600 18 Israel Roy Nissany
PHM Racing by Charouz 1'04.200 19 Belgium Amaury Cordeel
Invicta Virtuosi Racing 1'21.000 20 France Isack Hadjar
Hitech Pulse-Eight 21 France Clement Novalak
Italy Trident 22 United States Brad Benavides
PHM Racing by Charouz View full results

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