FORMULA 2
New Sauber F1 junior Zane Maloney emerged quickest from last week’s three-day official pre-season Formula 2 test at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit, after topping the only two dry days of running with Rodin Motorsport.
The 20-year-old from Barbados (below), who raced with the same team in his rookie F2 season last year, set the benchmark time on the second afternoon when the vast majority of the field fitted soft-compound Pirelli tyres for qualifying simulation runs. Maloney’s effort put him 0.125 seconds clear of DAMS-run Aston Martin protege and fellow ex-Red Bull junior Jak Crawford, with Enzo Fittipaldi third in his Van Amersfoort Racing car. Times were slower on the following afternoon on Wednesday, when Maloney was fastest by 0.193s, again from Crawford.
The test was the first with the brand-new Dallara F2 2024 machine. “We came out the box quite strong,” said Maloney. “I was six tenths off the whole three days of testing last year, so I can only take this as a good sign. It’s just testing of course but, even when you say that, no one is sandbagging that much. We might not be at the limit that we will be in qualifying, but we also aren’t much under – it’s impossible to be. I think this year, for the first part of it, it’s going to be all about who can make the biggest steps with the car.”
Reigning F3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto was the top rookie in sixth place with Invicta
