Schumacher secures pole in debut race, Latifi victorious

Mick Schumacher secured a points-scoring debut in Formula 2 and pole position for Sunday's sprint race after finishing eighth in a Bahrain feature race won by F2 veteran Nicholas Latifi. Williams reserve driver Latifi was peerless in Sakhir, overcoming a dodgy pit-stop to start the new season with his third F2 win.

Latifi was the main beneficiary of pole-sitter Luca Ghiotto making a dreadful start off the line and dropping to P6, although the Italian eventually recovered to take second.

Canadian Latifi, in his sixth season at this level in 2019, worked his way into a dominant lead, but an error in his pit-stop dropped him to fourth place.

However, the 23-year-old was not to be denied, overtaking Louis Deletraz, Nobuharu Matsushita and Nyck de Vries in consecutive laps at Turn 1.

VICTORY FOR NICHOLAS LATIFI! ?#BahrainGP ?? #F2 pic.twitter.com/UeqYE5q0ly

— Formula 2 (@FIA_F2) March 30, 2019

Another regular at this level, Sergio Sette Camara, completed the podium for the first race of the season.

Schumacher took four points in eighth, crucially ensuring he will start the second race of the weekend on pole for Prema.

Matsushita's tyres dropped off at an alarming rate late in the race, opening the door for Schumacher, who executed a smart move on the final lap to secure a fine debut result.

Only one F2 rookie finished ahead of Schumacher, GP3 champion Anthoine Hubert, who drove a superb race to finish fourth from 11th on the grid.

Schumacher's team-mate Sean Gelael was the only retirement of the race, spinning out early on after his DRS failed to shut heading into Turn 1.

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