Jehan Daruvala starts Formula 2 campaign with a podium finish in Bahrain

Jehan Daruvala started the Formula 2 season on a high when he finished second in the Sprint race of the Formula 2 Championship’s first round in Bahrain. The 23-year-old racer, who races for Prema Racing and is a member of the Red Bull junior team, started in fourth place.

Jehan Daruvala is currently in his third season in Formula 2, a feeder-series that sits below F1 on the single-seater ladder. After racing for Carlin in the last two seasons, he has made the move to Prema Racing this year. The Italian racing powerhouse is the most successful outfit in Formula 2, having delivered three of the series’ five drivers’ champions, including Ferrari Formula 1 race winner Charles Leclerc and Mick Schumacher.

Jehan Daruvala starts well

Jehan started well as soon as the lights went off. He was up to third and, after fending off fellow Red Bull junior Liam Lawson in the Carlin, he set about in pursuit of second-placed Ralph Boschung.

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The safety car was deployed on lap 3 to clear away the stranded Hitech of Marcus Armstrong. It bunched up the field but Jehan, who took his first F2 win in Bahrain in 2020, held position and once again prevailed in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Lawson. The Indian caught up with and passed Boschung on Lap 16 just before the race was interrupted for the second time by a Virtual Safety Car.

Boschung retook second place as the race resumed. But Jehan seized the spot back on the 18th lap with a bold move around the outside of the Swiss racer into the right-handed turn 4.

He crossed the finish line less than two seconds behind Verschoor.

After the race, Jehan Daruvala said:

“We definitely have a lot of positives to take. Finishing second in the first race of the year is a good start. I think we had the pace to fight for the win. Unfortunately, I mistimed the Virtual Safety Car restart which lost us a lot of time and eventually cost us the win. But overall we have a really good car and I’m quite pleased with our start to the season.”

Jehan Daruvala, who finished third in the Formula 3 standings while racing for Prema in 2019, is looking to emulate Australian Oscar Piastri as the squad’s third straight Formula 2 champion.

He is eyeing a step up to F1 in 2023, which would make him only the third Indian to compete in motorsport’s top tier.