F2: Bearman beats Fittipaldi in knife-edge fight to take Barcelona pole

Oliver Bearman claimed his second pole position of the 2023 Formula 2 season in a knife-edge fight for P1 with Enzo Fittipaldi. The PREMA Racing and Ferrari Academy driver captured the top spot with his final effort, pipping the Brazilian by just 0.077s.

Jack Doohan had gone fastest of all earlier on in the session, but the Australian will be going from third in the Feature Race for Invicta Virutosi Racing.

FP1: Verstappen comfortably leads Perez and Ocon during first practice session in Barcelona

The session played out in an unorthodox fashion, with teams and drivers split on when the best time was to go out for their final runs.

DAMS left it late with Red Bull Junior Team driver Ayumu Iwasa and the Japanese driver managed to lift himself up to fourth position at the very end. Dennis Hauger and MP Motorsport opted to go much earlier and had been P1 with 10 minutes to go. The Norwegian fell to sixth by the end after Théo Pourchaire moved his ART Grand Prix car up to fifth with his last effort.

ART teammate and Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins was seventh ahead of F2 Drivers’ Championship leader Frederik Vesti, who could only manage eighth in his PREMA.

Jak Crawford and Amaury Cordeel rounded out the top 10 positions, with the latter lining up on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race tomorrow.

For an in-depth recap of the full Qualifying session, head to the official Formula 2 website here._