Armstrong and Lawson conclude F2 test with strong showings

Kiwi duo Liam Lawson and Marcus Armstrong have wrapped up a successful three-day FIA Formula 2 post-season test at Bahrain, with both ending one of either two sessions of the final day inside the top-five.

Lawson was fifth in the day’s morning session, which was topped by Louis Deletraz, before switching his focus to longer runs in the afternoon.

The Hitech GP driver’s best lap time of a 1.42.304s was four-tenths adrift of Deletraz’s effort and just 0.1s slower than his teammate Juri Vips – who has been confirmed to drive for Red Bull in the F1 end-of-season test next week.

Deletraz led for almost the whole three-hour session after setting his benchmark time in the opening stages of the morning. He led the pace-setter of the first two days, Jehan Daruvala, in the Carlin. Vips got the edge on the sister Carlin machine of Dan Ticktum whose fastest time slotted him into fourth.

Armstrong had a surprisingly quiet morning after ending yesterday as the fourth quickest car on circuit. The Kiwi was 21st overall, while DAMS teammate Roy Nissany finished 22nd and slowest of everyone as the French team dedicated the session to long run performance evaluations.

Though it was a vividly contrasting result in the afternoon with Armstrong immediately breaking the 1m43 barrier on his first flying lap to head the timesheets.

Only in the final half hour was the Kiwi toppled from first, with Felipe Drugovich surging to the front for Virtuosi and Oscar Piastri moving into second for Prema.

Armstrong would end the session third as the only other driver to set a lap time within the 1m42 bracket. His next placed rival Robert Shwartzman would end the day over five-tenths further back.

After his impressive morning speed, Lawson’s intention was spent on long runs and he came home with the 13th best time.

Only one red flag punctuated the day after Theo Pourchaire stopped on track in the later stages of the afternoon. It was the second day in succession that the ART driver experienced on-track dramas after spinning into the barrier yesterday.

Lawson capped off the day with an impressive 82 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit, while Armstrong was a little way back having only set 66 tours.

The F2 field will now break for Christmas before getting back into the swing of action early next year for 2021 pre-season testing ahead of the opening round on March 27-28 in Bahrain.

Morning Session results:

Afternoon Session results: