WATCH: Hilarious scenes in F2 Bahrain as unmanned BWT HWA Racelab car belonging to Artem Markelov hits barriers

Hilarious scenes in F2 Bahrain as the unmanned BWT HWA Racelab car of F2 veteran Artem Markelov hit the barriers shortly after he spun while inside it.

The F2 2020 championship is entering its closing phase with multiple drivers still in the fray to challenge Mick Schumacher and claim the crown. But instead, it was a veteran F2 driver who stole the limelight during the free practice session in Bahrain.

As the teams were completing their installation laps, Markelov spun his car at the final corner. That called in the red flag and he got out of the car but left it in neutral. That resulted in the pink BWT HWA Racelap trickling backward on its own and hitting the barrier.

WATCH: Artem Markelov’s BWT HWA Racelab hits the barriers

Artem Markelov is currently in his 7th F2 season (including the predecessor GP2 series). He will go down in history as the first winner of the rebranded FIA F2 championship, winning the feature race on this very track. He finished an impressive second that season, behind now Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Markelov has F1 experience of his own, testing the Renault at the 2018 Russian GP.

Markelov has since won eight F2 races, racing for home team Russian Time. After the tragic death of Anthoine Hubert at Spa in 2019, Markelov was called up as his replacement at BWT Arden. BWT Arden has rebranded to BWT HWA Racelab for his season, similar to BWT Racing Point’s rebranding to BWT Aston Martin next season.

Also read: BWT F1: Who are Racing Point’s title sponsors and how much they earn? | Explained

F2 Bahrain: Full classification after the free practice session

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	GAP
1	Nikita Mazepin	Hitech Grand Prix	1m42.660s
2	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	0.122s
3	Yuki Tsunoda	Carlin	0.258s
4	Dan Ticktum	DAMS	0.305s
5	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	0.404s
6	Luca Ghiotto	Hitech Grand Prix	0.419s
7	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Racing	0.440s
8	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	0.468s
9	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	0.482s
10	Mick Schumacher	Prema Racing	0.512s
11	Marcus Armstrong	ART Grand Prix	0.541s
12	Pedro Piquet	Charouz Racing System	0.610s
13	Louis Deletraz	Charouz Racing System	0.830s
14	Callum Ilott	UNI-Virtuosi	0.831s
15	Giuliano Alesi	MP Motorsport	1.175s
16	Jack Aitken	Campos Racing	1.349s
17	Theo Pourchaire	BWT HWA RACELAB	1.760s
18	Roy Nissany	Trident	2.255s
19	Guilherme Samaia	Campos Racing	2.586s
20	Sean Gelael	DAMS	17.590s
21	Marino Sato	Trident	–
22	Artem Markelov	BWT HWA RACELAB	–