This weekend sees the start of the international Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships and three drivers from the Maranello Academy will be on the grid, all of them making their debut in their respective categories.
Everything is all set up at the Sakhir circuit for the opening round of the Formula 1 World Championship, as well as the Formula 2 and Formula 3 series. A total of 52 drivers are taking part in the two junior FIA categories, with Ferrari Driver Academy students Oliver Bearman and Arthur Leclerc making their F2 debuts. Both of them performed well in recent pre-season testing at this same track, adapting quickly to what is a far from straightforward discipline. Dino Beganovic will be flying the FDA colours as he makes his Formula 3 debut. The 19 year old Swede took part in pre-season testing in Bahrain, where he showed plenty of enthusiasm for this next important phase of his career.
A special moment. “This will be a very special weekend for our three drivers,” commented the head of the FDA, Marco Matassa. “When you make your debut in a new category, there’s always a bit more excitement to it, but I reckon Arthur, Dino and Oliver all have everything in place to aim for ambitious goals. The first round of the season is always an important step, because it sets the agenda for the work that comes next,” he added. “Dino will be adapting to a new car, while Oliver and Arthur face a harder task, racing for the first time in a category where tyre management is a key factor. In the Bahrain tests, our drivers did well in the qualifying simulations, but we won’t have a clear picture about the long runs until this weekend. Nothing matches the experience of an actual race weekend and only at the end of this first round will we have an idea of the pecking order among the drivers.”
Programmes. There are 14 Formula 2 rounds this year, five of them outside Europe, while there are 10 rounds for Formula 3. Both categories run to the same format of one qualifying session and two races, a Sprint and a Feature.
Friday
10.55 F3 practice
12:05 F2 practice
16:00 F3 qualifying
19.30 F2 qualifying
Saturday
12:15 F3 sprint race
16:15 F2 sprint race
Sunday
11:50 F 3 feature race
13:20 F2 feature race