The Canadian pulled out a five-second lead in the first race stint after passing pole-sitter Luca Ghiotto and Louis Deletraz. A slow pit stop saw him plunge to sixth but he fought his way back to the front in the second stint, where he pulled out an eight second gap to his rivals to record his third career race win in the series.

Ghiotto recovered from a clutch issue at the start to take second place, while Sergio Sette Camara finished third.

Sunday’s reverse grid Sprint Race will see Mick Schumacher line up in pole position after he snatched eighth place on the final lap.

 
2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship Round 1 Feature Race: Sakhir, Bahrain

DRIVER/TEAM

1    Nicholas Latifi    DAMS
2    Luca Ghiotto    UNI-Virtuosi Racing
3    Sérgio Sette Camara    DAMS
4    Anthoine Hubert    BWT Arden
5    Louis Delétraz    Carlin
6    Nyck De Vries    ART Grand Prix
7    Jack Aitken    Campos Racing
8    Mick Schumacher    PREMA Racing
9    Nobuharu Matsushita    Carlin
10    Guanyu Zhou    UNI-Virtuosi Racing
11    Ralph Boschung    Trident
12    Giuliano Alesi    Trident
13    Tatiana Calderon    BWT Arden
14    Callum Ilott    Sauber Junior Racing by Charouz
15    Dorian Boccolacci    Campos Racing
16    Juan Manuel Correa    Sauber Junior Racing by Charouz
17    Jordan King    MP Motorsport
18    Mahaveer Raghunathan    MP Motorsport
19    Nikita Mazepin    ART Grand Prix
           
     NOT CLASSIFIED     
     Sean Gelael    PREMA Racing