In his debut FIA Formula 2 weekend, Oscar Piastri marked himself out as a genuine title contender with a solid fifth place and a thrilling first win in Saturday’s sprint races. Sunday’s feature race saw the young Alpine Academy driver firmly in the hunt for the win but ended in disappointment in the closing laps.

A track temperature of 48 degrees greeted the drivers at the Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir on Friday. Piastri put in a good showing, running consistently in the top 10 in practice and he followed this up with a solid qualifying session, a best time of 1:43.478 placing him eighth fastest. He was later promoted to P7 after a penalty for Hitech’s Juri Vips for a technical infringement.

Piastri started the first 23-lap sprint race from fourth, the grid sweltering in even hotter conditions with a blistering track temperature of 50 degrees/air temp of 38 degrees. Starting on the hard compound tyres Piastri was slow away and lost a number of positions in the opening laps. The DAMS of Marcus Armstrong brought out the Virtual Safety Car, after which Piastri in eighth regrouped and went on the hunt for Christian Lundgaard, putting him under pressure before the slowing ART of Theo Pourchaire brought out another VSC.

On the return of the green flag, Piastri moved ever closer to the back of Lundgaard and passed the Dane on lap 16 with a stunning move on the outside of turn four. Holding onto his tyres better than those around him, Piastri set his sights on his PREMA teammate Robert Schwartzman. Reeling him in over a number of laps it was on lap 21 that he made his move. Schwartzman robustly defended and the battle continued with Piastri on the Russian’s gearbox right up to the chequered flag to take fifth.

“First F2 race in the bag. The start was OK. I had a good launch, then I got a bit excited with the throttle and had some wheelspin. It was a messy opening lap, then the pace for the first half of the race wasn’t too bad and I was holding position quite nicely. In the second half, we had a really nice pace. I made a good move on Lundgaard and then had a good battle with Robert at the end. Obviously, there is room for improvement, but as a first race I’m pretty happy and, going forward, we showed a lot of positive signs. Just a few things to sort out on the first lap, and after that, I’m excited about what we can do.”

As the sun set and the lights lit up the track, the start of the second sprint race was upon us. Starting sixth, Piastri managed to weave his way through the melee caused by an incident between Dan Ticktum and Schwartzman on the first lap to move into fifth. He then had a great a run on Lundgaard after the Safety Car to take fourth but lost positions and pushed off of the track as Lundgaard came back through. This was followed by an overtake by Marcus Armstrong running on the soft tyres, and dropping the Australian to seventh.

Up ahead, an incident in the battle for third resulted in a spin for Liam Lawson and a Safety Car followed. Piastri dived into the pits early for a set of softs coming out just behind Vips, also on a new set of softs. As the rest of the grid on the hard tyres followed suit, Piastri was eighth as the safety car peeled off into the pits and he went on to carve his way through the pack whilst staying close to the back of Vips. He was third by lap 19 and set the fastest lap of the race before a VSC was put in place. This merely halted the charge. Vips suffered an engine issue leaving Piastri with a clear run on Guanyu Zhou who was holding onto his tyres.

Into the final lap and Lundgaard had joined the battle, the Alpine Academy drivers were three-abreast down the start/finish straight with Piastri taking the lead into turn one. Lundgaard battled hard into turn two but Piastri held out on the outside to maintain his advantage and went on to take the chequered flag and claim his first F2 race victory.

“It’s been the craziest win I had in my life. In the beginning, we were struggling with the hard tyres and honestly, I was also not driving good enough as I’m still learning the changes in grip. Then we got the pit-stop and I have to credit Prema for that decision. At the end with the soft tyres, I was able to pull some good moves and here we are!”

After a thrilling Saturday it was time to see what Sunday’s feature race would bring. Piastri, starting in seventh, got off the line well and was quickly up into fifth. He then pulled some stunning latebraking moves on Richard Verschoor and Zhou and was running third by lap four, all whilst setting purple sectors showing his pace on the softs.

Piastri was now on a serious charge. Another brilliant late brake manoeurve on Felipe Drugovich on lap seven set him up for a battle with Lundgaard for the race lead and by lap 12 he was applying the pressure. A few laps later he went to the outside of Lundgaard into turn one which became the inside of turn two and was through into the lead. He then continued to run his softs longer than the rest of the pack before a brilliant strategy call by his PREMA team brought him in for the hard tyres before an anticipated VSC to retrieve a stricken car. The timing was perfect. Losing minimal time, Piastri emerged in second place behind Armstrong who he battled for the lead alongside Verschoor in a three-way fight into turn one and came through ahead.

Running in the lead Piastri was now feeling the pressure of those on the softer tyres. Both Verschoor and Zhou got past but Piastri remained on their tails whilst also defending from Ticktum and Lawson. With three laps to go Piastri had to defend hard against Ticktum and his hard work was paying off before a move from Ticktum into turn two forced Piastri wide and into a spin on lap 30. Sadly, that was the end of Piastri’s race and of a rollercoaster of a weekend where the young rookie showcased his talent and ambition to win to the watching F1 community.

“Tough race in the end. Until the contact with Ticktum, it had been an awesome race, with mega pace on the softs. Even with the hards, we were sticking in there. I could see that the two drivers in front were starting to fall back towards me, and at the same time, the people behind were catching up. I was trying to stay in third to try and fight for the win at the end, but just wasn’t meant to be today.”

FIA F2 action returns on May 20-22 in round two on the streets of Monaco.

Images © Prema Powerteam