Norman Nato set the fastest time of the 3 day FIA Formula 2 Championship test when he topped this morning’s penultimate session in Barcelona, setting a qualifying style lap of 1:27.834 to take home the first pre-season bragging rights ahead of Oliver Rowland (0.054) and Alexander Albon (0.105).

In the final session of the test, Luca Ghiotto stopped the clocks at 1:29.565 to top the afternoon ahead of Johnny Cecotto (0.262) and Nyck De Vries (0.426).

The day commenced under gloriously sunny conditions, and the teams wasted no time in getting their charges on track: niggles for Nato, Rowland and Nyck De Vries saw the trio stop on track, bringing out the red flags, but when the track went green the drivers all had at least one eye on qualifying later in the year.

De Vries set the early pace from Charles Leclerc and Albon, with the Thai driver briefly grabbing the top spot before Nato annexed it at the halfway mark in the session, setting a target that could not be reached by his rivals, despite their best efforts, before turning their attentions to longer runs.

The afternoon session is traditionally slower than the morning in Barcelona, and so it proved once again: with most of the field again concentrated on long runs, Ghiotto set a quick lap at the 30 minute mark before following suit.

But the pace picked up in the final 10 minutes, with Cecotto pushing up to P2 just ahead of Nyck De Vries as the clock wound down to zero.

With little in the way of unreliability affecting the grid, the teams will analyse their data before turning their attention to the next pre-season test, which will run for 3 days in Bahrain from 29-31 March.

Day 3 Morning results

Day 3 Afternoon results

Nobuharu Matsushita claimed the first day honours after topping this afternoon’s FIA Formula 2 Championship pre-season test in Barcelona, stopping the clock halfway through the session with a time of 1:29.061 to lead ART Grand Prix teammate Alexander Albon and Norman Nato, who both finished on the same time, by just under a tenth and top this morning’s best time set by Johnny Cecotto by almost two tenths.

The sun came out for this afternoon’s 3 hour session, with Sean Gelael the first driver to set a competitive time as the teams finished their installation work a third of the way through the session. Matsushita grabbed the top spot at the 1hr20 mark and was never displaced, despite some strong work from Albon, Gustav Malja, Charles Leclerc, Cecotto and finally Nato as the clock wound down to zero.

The Japanese driver had time to practice pitstops with his team in the closing minutes of the session as his rivals tried in vain to top his times, with most conceding defeat and joining him in the pits over the closing minutes. The sunny conditions contrasted with this morning’s gloomier weather, when the test opened to overcast but dry conditions as the teams worked on their set ups before heading out on track.

Jordan King and Luca Ghiotto were the early targets with Oliver Rowland looking like he would claim the honours late in the session, before a last lap by Cecotto grabbed the morning’s top spot with a time of 1:29.239, ahead of Rowland and Matsushita. The Japanese driver will be quietly happy with his first day’s work, but his rivals will be looking to rain on his parade when action restarts tomorrow morning.

Day 1 Morning results

Day 1 Afternoon results

Alexander Albon stepped up a spot overnight to take the day two honours with the fastest time in this morning’s FIA Formula 2 Championship test session in Barcelona, grabbing the top spot from Johnny Cecotto and Artem Markelov by 0.175s, while Nyck De Vries stole the top spot this afternoon in a session largely dedicated to race simulations, ahead of PREMA pairing Antonio Fuoco and Charles Leclerc.

The Thai driver topped this morning’s session with a time of 1:28.225 under sunny conditions, claiming the top spot in the final hour of a session which was stopped twice by red flags: first to allow the circuit operators to inspect a section of the track which has had heavy recent use by the Formula 1 teams, and secondly as a result of Gustav Malja stopping on track.

The session saw a lot of competition between the teams for the top spot, initially from Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato before Albon annexed P1, and although Cecotto got to within a hundredth of his time, the rest of the field was unable to close down the Thai driver’s time.

The afternoon’s session, by contrast, was largely about race simulations, and with no on-track incidents the teams were largely satisfied with their progress. Jordan King led Sean Gelael and Ralph Boschung for the first half of the session, with Sergio Canamasas popping up to P2 with an hour remaining, but in the final half hour a number of the drivers turned their attention to lap times once again.

Fuoco was the first driver to blast through the race lap times, with teammate Leclerc soon following suit in P2, but De Vries soon emerged, taking two consecutive fastest laps to annex the top spot with a lap time of 1:29.223, grabbing P1 by 0.378s as the session wound down ahead of the PREMA pair.

Tomorrow is the final day of this test: the circuit will open once more at 9:00 CET. 

Day 2 Morning results *

*Car no.4 (Malja) all lap times deleted: car found underweight

Day 2 Afternoon results

Johnny Cecotto got the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship’s season underway by topping the timesheets in this morning’s first test session in Barcelona with a laptime of 1:29.239, bumping Oliver Rowland and Nobuharu Matsushita off the top spot late in the session by just over a tenth.

The session opened under overcast but dry conditions and all of the teams headed out immediately, with Sean Gelael the first man on track as the lights went green.

Much of the session was dedicated to installation laps as the teams worked to set up a base for their cars, with PREMA Racing pair Charles Leclerc and Antonio Fuoco the only drivers to set a time for the first hour.

Jordan King was the first driver to start pushing, setting the pace just after the hour mark, and his rivals were soon following in his wake: Luca Ghiotto was the target with 30 minutes remaining in the session, ahead of Rowland and Gustav Malja, and the Briton soon blew past his mark with Matsushita in his wake.

But as the session wound down Cecotto just pipped his rivals to take the early bragging rights as the session closed and the grid returned to the pitlane: the teams will now evaluate their set ups and have a quick bite to eat before the afternoon session opens at 14:00 CET.

Day 1 Morning results