Rookies may have ruled days one and two of pre-season testing, but it was experience which took the plaudits on the final day, as Luca Ghiotto claimed the fastest time overall. The Hitech Grand Prix racer beat out Felipe Drugovich and Jack Aitken for top spot, ahead of the new season.

Jehan Daruvala picked up from where he left off on the final day, beginning the session at the top of the timesheets, touring around the increasingly warm track at 1:43.428. Giuliano Alesi and Yuki Tsunoda were the men closest to the Indian.

The morning was heavily focused on long-runs and race simulations ahead of the season opener here later this month, with the majority of drivers all posting upwards of 30 laps.

The leaderboard wouldn’t change as the penultimate session came to a close. Daruvala finished on top with the time he set early on in the morning. Alesi and Tsunoda followed behind him in the order, with Artem Markelov and Louis Deletraz completing the top five.

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With the sun beginning to set on the Sakhir desert, the drivers fed back onto the circuit for the final session and Robert Shwartzman immediately posted the fastest time of the day, to take an early lead with 1:43.028.

The Russian was pipped by his teammate just moments later, as Mick Schumacher took us below 1m 42s for the first time on Day 3. This sparked a two-way battled between the duo to go fastest, with Shwartzman briefly usurping the German, before Schumacher once again went top.

2019 race winners Ghiotto and Aitken had shown sparks of quality throughout testing but were yet to truly dominate. At the halfway mark, the duo punched in quick times to take P1 and P2 in the standings, with the Italian setting the fastest time overall in testing.

Rookie Drugovich nipped in-between the two of them to take second fastest, with Schumacher and Nobuharu Matsushita taking fourth and fifth. Nikita Mazepin, Shwartzman, Deletraz, Sean Gelael and Callum Ilott completed the top ten.

The next time we hit the track will be for the opening race of the 2020 campaign here in Bahrain. With two new faces and one returning favourite topping the times across the three days, the season is set to be as competitive and as compelling as ever.

2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship - pre-season tests, Day 3, morning session

POSDRIVERTEAMLAPTIMELAPS
1Jehan DaruvalaCarlin1:43.42833
2Giuliano AlesiBWT HWA RACELAB1:43.43820
3Yuki TsunodaCarlin1:43.63231
4Artem MarkelovBWT HWA RACELAB1:43.68237
5Louis DeletrazCharouz Racing System1:43.91635
6Guilherme SamaiaCampos Racing1:44.93640
7Sean GelaelDAMS1:46.17048
8Nobuharu MatsushitaMP Motorsport1:46.44845
9Callum IlottUNI-Virtuosi1:46.65935
10Dan TicktumDAMS1:46.77846
11Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:46.90242
12Roy NissanyTrident1:46.92643
13Luca GhiottoHitech Grand Prix1:47.11129
14Mick SchumacherPREMA Racing1:47.36739
15Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi1:47.44344
16Robert ShwartzmanPREMA Racing1:47.49140
17Pedro PiquetCharouz Racing System1:47.67631
18Jack AitkenCampos Racing1:47.85237
19Nikita MazepinHitech Grand Prix1:47.96924
20Sergey SirotkinART Grand Prix1:48.24937
21Marcus ArmstrongART Grand Prix1:48.33637
22Marino SatoTrident1:48.95843

2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship - pre-season tests, Day 3, afternoon session

POSDRIVERTEAMLAPTIMELAPS
1Luca GhiottoHitech Grand Prix1:41.25231
2Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:41.32427
3Jack AitkenCampos Racing1:41.56830
4Mick SchumacherPREMA Racing1:41.61131
5Nobuharu MatsushitaMP Motorsport1:41.61226
6Nikita MazepinHitech Grand Prix1:41.63429
7Robert ShwartzmanPREMA Racing1:41.65533
8Louis DeletrazCharouz Racing System1:41.86418
9Sean GelaelDAMS1:41.91127
10Callum IlottUNI-Virtuosi1:41.94329
11Pedro PiquetCharouz Racing System1:42.09720
12Dan TicktumDAMS1:42.14027
13Guilherme SamaiaCampos Racing1:42.39936
14Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi1:42.44836
15Roy NissanyTrident1:42.87820
16Marino SatoTrident1:43.92215
17Yuki TsunodaCarlin1:44.49632
18Jehan DaruvalaCarlin1:44.65331
19Sergey SirotkinART Grand Prix1:44.67923
20Artem MarkelovBWT HWA RACELAB1:45.55240
21Giuliano AlesiBWT HWA RACELAB1:45.67546
22Marcus ArmstrongART Grand Prix1:48.5773