Beckmann fastest overall on opening day of F2 testing in Bahrain

Formula 3 graduate David Beckmann caught the headlines on the opening day of Formula 2 testing as he set the fastest time of the day in the afternoon session.

Beckmann’s 1m42.844s was enough to beat Dan Ticktum’s top time from this morning by just under 0.2s.

Beckman’s fastest lap was still 1.4s slower than Callum Ilott’s pole time from 2020, indicating track conditions were still far from their best. 

He makes the step up from F3 after two seasons and will drive for the Charouz Racing System in 2021.

Ticktum’s 1m43.021s from the morning session wasn’t beaten by anyone else with Christian Lundgaard and Theo Pourchaire the only drivers to get within half a second of the Briton - both drivers setting their times in the afternoon.

After a year with DAMS, Ticktum has made the switch to Carlin in pursuit of title glory and looked to be on the pace straight away.

Felipe Drugovich was just over a second off in the lead UNI-Virtuosi as he ended the afternoon session fourth fastest. 

Juri Vips ended the afternoon in fifth, narrowly edging out Oscar Piastri for sixth.

Next up was Marino Sato and Liam Lawson in seventh and eighth.

Lawson enjoyed a strong morning session in the Hitech GP, ending it in second but couldn’t repeat that in the day’s second session.

Bent Viscaal and Guanyu Zhou completed the top ten. 

Title favourite Robert Shwartzman didn’t complete many notable laps, setting just 25 overall throughout the day.

Jehan Daruvala in the second Carlin enjoyed a strong start to the day as he was third in the morning but struggled to put any laps on the board come the afternoon with just six to his name.