Kiwi talent Marcus Armstrong has headed compatriot Liam Lawson in the final day of Formula 2 pre-season testing in Bahrain.
DAMS driver Armstrong logged his best effort of a 1:42.173s during the morning session when all the fastest times were set.
Less than a tenth of a second ultimately separated the top four, with Lawson (1:42.218s) pipping Hitech Grand Prix team-mate Juri Vips and UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou.
Lawson’s place in the pecking order came despite setting a morning-low 13 laps among the 22-car field.
Among other notable names were Prema Racing duo Robert Shwartzman and Oscar Piastri in sixth and ninth, respectively.
All told, Piastri was 0.354s off the benchmark set by Armstrong.
The afternoon saw higher lap counts and slower times, with no one going quicker than Ralph Boschung of Campos Racing (1:44.905s).
In fact, no driver went quicker in the afternoon session than their best time of the morning.
By the end, Armstong and Lawson had completed 83 and 52 laps respectively, while Australia’s Piastri clocked 75 laps in his final hitout before the F2 season-opener at the Sakhir circuit later this month.
Day 3: FIA Formula 2 Championship, pre-season test (morning)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | 1:42.173 | 22 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:42.218 | 13 |
| 3 | Jüri Vips | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:42.224 | 36 |
| 4 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:42.246 | 47 |
| 5 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | 1:42.356 | 22 |
| 6 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:42.359 | 20 |
| 7 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | 1:42.427 | 23 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:42.522 | 24 |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA Racing | 1:42.527 | 22 |
| 10 | Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:42.570 | 45 |
| 11 | David Beckmann | Charouz Racing System | 1:42.587 | 48 |
| 12 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 1:42.590 | 25 |
| 13 | Théo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.595 | 40 |
| 14 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.674 | 40 |
| 15 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | 1:42.815 | 34 |
| 16 | Marino Sato | Trident | 1:42.920 | 43 |
| 17 | Matteo Nannini | HWA RACELAB | 1:43.159 | 31 |
| 18 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos Racing | 1:43.219 | 24 |
| 19 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz Racing System | 1:43.283 | 47 |
| 20 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | 1:43.496 | 24 |
| 21 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | 1:43.585 | 24 |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA RACELAB | 1:45.076 | 36 |
Day 3: FIA Formula 2 Championship, pre-season test (afternoon)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | 1:44.905 | 59 |
| 2 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos Racing | 1:45.537 | 55 |
| 3 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 1:46.104 | 60 |
| 4 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:47.146 | 53 |
| 5 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | 1:47.307 | 60 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA Racing | 1:47.326 | 53 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:47.409 | 39 |
| 8 | Théo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 1:47.426 | 42 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:47.598 | 57 |
| 10 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz Racing System | 1:47.698 | 43 |
| 11 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | 1:47.891 | 61 |
| 12 | Matteo Nannini | HWA RACELAB | 1:47.893 | 39 |
| 13 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | 1:47.965 | 64 |
| 14 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | 1:48.128 | 61 |
| 15 | Jüri Vips | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:48.332 | 39 |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:48.446 | 50 |
| 17 | Alessio Deledda | HWA RACELAB | 1:48.456 | 36 |
| 18 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:48.487 | 41 |
| 19 | Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:48.613 | 43 |
| 20 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | 1:48.630 | 41 |
| 21 | Marino Sato | Trident | 1:48.926 | 41 |
| 22 | David Beckmann | Charouz Racing System | 1:50.048 | 33 |
