JOHN BENNETT SEES F2 PACE GO UNREWARDED IN BAHRAIN

John Bennett flirted with the points-paying positions in an entertaining second FIA Formula 2 Championship outing of the season in Bahrain this past weekend (11-13 April), but left without reward despite a strong Sunday showing.

After kicking off his maiden full season in FIA Formula 2 in Melbourne, Australia last month, Bennett travelled with the Formula 1 support package to Sakhir for his second helping with the Van Amersfoort Racing squad. The Salisbury-based racer made the trip in high spirits, having recently received the honour of being named a Rising Star by the prestigious British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) in recognition of his rapid rise up the motorsport ladder.

Backed by partners Pangea Insurance, StreetSharp Ltd, Lonetree Limited and Lewco Holdings Limited, Bennett's preparation for the Bahrain rounds started with optimism, as he and the VAR team clocked up important mileage at the Sakhir circuit in official testing. Pace was encouraging throughout the trio of days out on track, with Bennett right up towards the sharp end and close to those efforts logged by experienced names ahead.

It all pointed towards a great opportunity to once again show his strengths and race craft heading into race week. Following free practice, Bennett set his sights on a strong qualifying session and, as the 30 minutes came towards their conclusion, the youngster charged up the pecking order with an inspiring lap time to move himself up to an eventual 13th place - a mere 0.060s away from a sprint race pole position.

Bennett entered the first of the weekend's two races in front of the F1 crowds confident of being able to battle for a points finish. What followed was a manic sprint encounter, in which Bennett evaded all the troubles around him to jump four spots to ninth overall initially.

This put him into a multi-car scrap for the final points-paying positions on the fringes of the top 10 upon a safety car restart, which would be the first of two interruptions to clear up stricken cars. While no mandatory pitstops were required for the first of the two races, this theory was challenged by several drivers during the second appearance of the safety car - Bennett's squad opting to leave the Brit out to gain track position while others darted to the pits for fresher tyres. Unfortunately with five laps remaining, his worn Pirellis left him powerless against those on new rubber, and he dropped to an unrepresentative 18th by the chequered flag.

Nonetheless, Bennett started the longer feature race on Sunday in great shape, again going from a competitive P13 off the grid. This time, he was among a flurry of drivers starting the race on the harder compound tyre, giving him the chance to fight back on softs later in the race.

It looked to be paying off handsomely in the first half of the 32-lapper. Bennett entering the pitstop phase two spots worse off than where he started, but an early visit to the pits to swap tyres put him into a points-paying position at the end of the top 10. With grip to spare, he briefly made it to ninth with a sweeping move on multiple race-winner Joshua Dürksen at Turn 1, however the DRS played against him in a thrilling five-car fight for the place.

Unfortunately after slight unavoidable contact with a rival into the tight first bend, Bennett's tyre life then suddenly depleted, undoing all his hard work as he was again powerless to fend off his competitors late on. With points seeming a deserved result, he subsequently came home P20. 

John Bennett: "It's a weekend where the results definitely don't do our performances and pace justice unfortunately. We were very strong in testing and then that was transferred into qualifying this weekend. We were mightily close to getting a pole position which might well have completely changed the outcome of the sprint race on Saturday, but it's a good sign to be improving our qualifying pace.

"In the races, it proved to be all about tyre life and strategy. The first race did not go our way but that was all down to luck with the timing of safety cars. Then in race two, we looked in great shape on the softer tyres and got ourselves into the top 10, but it just fell off at the end. Positives are there, so we'll take them into Jeddah and go again."

The wait is a short one as Bennett's third event of the FIA Formula 2 campaign takes him to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia this weekend (18-20 April).

Image from James Gasperotti.