The Spanish driver delivered a masterful performance in the sprint race in Bahrain, climbing ten places to claim win. On Sunday, he returned to the fight for the rostrum, finishing fourth. Lindblad also enjoyed an excellent weekend, securing a fifth and an eighth place, earning a valuable haul of points
Campos Racing and its drivers, Pepe Martí and Arvid Lindblad, had a fantastic second round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship, held this past weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit. Martí delivered the Alzira-based team’s first victory of the season and starred in two spectacular comebacks, both on Saturday and Sunday. In the sprint race, Martí climbed to the top step of the podium, while in the feature race, he fought for a podium spot until the checkered flag fell. As for Lindblad, in just his second F2 appearance, the British driver scored points on both days and even cracked the top five in Saturday’s sprint.
Track action began on Friday morning with the free practice session, in which Martí clocked the third-fastest time. The Barcelona native stopped the clock at 1m48.379s, while Lindblad also made it into the top ten with a lap of 1m48.635s. However, the positive momentum from the morning couldn’t quite carry into qualifying, as neither Martí nor Lindblad managed to piece together their best sectors in a single lap. Martí, who at one point led the session, couldn’t improve beyond a lap of 1m44.831s, placing him 11th—just shy of pole in the reverse grid. Lindblad qualified 16th with a 1m44.986s lap. A heroic performance was needed, relying on the strong race pace already demonstrated during pre-season testing at this same venue.
Martí and Lindblad laid the foundation for their comeback during the sprint race start on Saturday, set for 23 laps. Both Campos Racing drivers opted for the softer compound, a crucial decision for the opening lap. By the end of that first lap, Martí had already surged to sixth, with Lindblad in 11th. After a three-lap safety car period, racing resumed on lap 4, with Martí launching a relentless attack on Alex Dunne. The two swapped positions, but the Irishman remained ahead when the safety car returned on lap 15. On lap 19, the race resumed, and Martí made a superb move to pass both Dunne and Rafael Villagómez. Lindblad, having overtaken a fading Dunne, had now moved into the points in eighth. But the action didn’t stop there. On lap 21, Martí began pressuring Richard Verschoor, and the following lap saw him pass both the Dutchman and Dino Beganovic. Only one rival remained—Joshua Dürksen. The Paraguayan resisted until the final lap, when Martí caught his slipstream down the main straight and passed him under braking. From then on, Martí held firm to cross the line as the race winner. In a remarkable echo of Martí’s charge, Lindblad claimed fifth place.
Sunday’s feature race, lasting 32 laps with track temperatures exceeding 40°C—ten degrees hotter than the day before—posed another major challenge for drivers and engineers alike. Martí started on the soft tire, while Lindblad opted for the hard compound. Once again, Martí had an explosive opening lap, overtaking six cars to move into fifth. Lindblad also made progress, running third among the drivers starting on hard tires. Martí, determined to repeat his heroics, passed Roman Staněk on lap 5 and Villagómez two laps later, moving into third. From there, the strategy focused on tyre conservation and delaying the pit stop as much as possible, maintaining pressure on the leaders—Dunne and Leonardo Fornaroli. Many drivers, including those on hard tires, began pitting around lap 10. Martí followed Fornaroli into the pits on lap 15. Of all drivers, Lindblad managed to extend his first stint the longest, not stopping until lap 17, which briefly put him in the race lead.
From that point, the race continued to offer plenty of twists. Martí was overtaken by Luke Browning, who was flying on fresh soft tires, but the Spaniard held off challenges from Verschoor and Beganovic. As tires began to degrade, Martí overtook Victor Martins on lap 30. The Frenchman, who had pitted earlier, couldn’t hold him off. Martí then chased down Fornaroli in the final laps, nearly overtaking him on the last lap and crossing the line just four tenths behind. Fourth place was yet another stellar result for the Catalan driver after a difficult qualifying session. Lindblad capped off his race in eighth, a strong drive that saw him overtake the likes of Jak Crawford, Sami Meguetounif, Sebastian Montoya, Villagómez, Oliver Goethe, Dürksen, and Gabriele Minì.
After Bahrain, Martí rises to fourth in the drivers' standings with 23 points, just three behind leader Fornaroli. Lindblad, meanwhile, is ninth with eight points. In the teams' standings, Campos Racing sits second with 31 points.
Engines will roar again next weekend in Jeddah for the third round of the championship at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.
Pepe Martí (Campos Racing Driver in FIA Formula 2): “Very happy with the win in the sprint race and the fourth-place finish today. The team gave me an amazing car and we did a very good job moving forward very well from P11 both in yesterday and today’s races. I am excited for Jeddah as we have very good pace and I’m sure that I will do a better job in qualifying and hopefully be aiming for the same kind of results in Saudi Arabia.”
Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing Driver in FIA Formula 2): “Not the easiest weekend here in Bahrain. Friday was a bit difficult with some issues. We were 16th and out of the reverse grid. It's made our life difficult for the two races. Lots of positives. P16 to P5 in the sprint and to P8 in the feature. And yeah, really good pace on the second stint. First proper weekend in F2. There's a lot of positives and looking forward to Jeddah. Thank you to the team for all their hard work.”
Photos: © Dutch Photo Agency
