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Tag: Jehan Daruvala
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Mick Schumacher takes another win; Jehan Daruvala slips to P5
Sochi, 26 Sept 2020: Mick Schumacher strengthened his grip on the Drivers’ Championship with arguably his most accomplished performance in Formula 2 machinery, clinching his second victory of the season in Sochi. The PREMA racer beat out pole-sitter Yuki Tsunoda from third, with the Carlin racer finishing second in-front of fellow title rival Callum Ilott.
Jehan Daruvala, the Indian racer, who started on P2 slipped to P5 but said: “I will analyse the race and I will come back stronger tomorrow as I start on P4 in the reverse grid.”
Tsunoda had looked comfortable for much of the race, but Schumacher had been shrewdly managing his tyres and made light work of dashing past with 10 laps to go. Ilott briefly challenged the German for the win, but ended up clinging onto third with little life left in his tyres.
It was a disappointing morning for the in-form Christian Lundgaard, as the ART Grand Prix driver was taken out of the race on the very first lap, after a tangle with Jüri Vips and Pedro Piquet.
It was a similarly frustrating race for another of the title contenders, Robert Shwartzman, as the Russian struggled to 11th on home soil, finishing out of the points for the third race in a row.
AS IT HAPPENED
Tsunoda enjoyed a sterling launch when the lights went out, getting away cleanly from teammate Jehan Daruvala. He faced a sterner challenge from the traditionally strong starting Schumacher, who barged his way ahead of Daruvala from third and immediately put Tsunoda under pressure into Turn 1.
Tsunoda held on, as the front three got through the opening corner cleanly, but there was carnage behind them as Vips tagged Piquet. The ailing Charouz left Lundgaard with nowhere to go, collecting him and dumping the Dane off the road to end his race early and bring out the Safety Car.
Louis Delétraz, Felipe Drugovich and Roy Nissany were caught up in the collision as well, with the former forced into the pits for repairs and the latter two retiring. Tsunoda aced the restart when the Safety Car returned and began to gently eek away from Schumacher.
With two cars in the front three, Carlin opted to pit Daruvala first, leaving the race leader out there for a further lap. Tsunoda, Schumacher and Ilott all followed into the pitlane a lap later, returning in ninth, 10th and 11th.
Aitken, on the alternate strategy, was handed the lead from fifth over Nikita Mazepin, but the Campos seemed to be struggling for grip and was battling to hold the Hitech off. The Russian made his move, but Aitken offered up a strong defence and Mazepin was forced wide and through the bollards. Guanyu Zhou skipped past, although the Hitech would regain the position a few laps later.
The Campos ace was “flat out,” but his mediums looked in a bad way, struggling to hold on around the Sochi Autodrom. All the while, Tsunoda was catching up, having already fought up to P7 with 12 laps to go. Schumacher and Ilott were directly behind him, but Daruvala was struck in 11th, having lost track position in the pitlane.
Aitken pitted from the lead with 10 laps to go and was followed in by Mazepin and Zhou a lap later. Tsunoda took back the race lead, but only fleetingly. Schumacher was in his slipstream and bombed past him on the main straight, daringly out-braking the Carlin and making the move stick into Turn 2.
Having previously looked so assured, Tsunoda was then at the mercy of Ilott, who followed Schumacher through for second place all too easily. Ilott was eying up his race leading title rival, but just couldn’t get within DRS range.
Chasing Schumacher, Ilott’s tyres began to drop off and the UNI-Virtuosi racer was reeled back in by Tsunoda, who hauled his Carlin around the outside of Turn 3 and back into second place.
Ilott was then under pressure from Ghiotto, but managed to cling on by the skin of his front wing at the chequered flag. Schumacher had already crossed the line with a comfortable 6.3s lead over Tsunoda.
Ghiotto had to settle for fourth, followed by Daruvala and Aitken. Mazepin, Zhou and Marcus Armstrong followed, with Dan Ticktum completing the top ten, as title contender Robert Shwartzman finished 11th and out of the points. Meanwhile, Jake Hughes finished 12th for HWA RACELAB on his F2 debut.
Schumacher now has an 18-point advantage on Ilott in the Drivers’ Championship, sitting in first on 186 points. Ilott is second with 168, ahead of Lundgaard and Tsunoda who are tied on 145. Shwartzman has dropped to fifth with 140 points. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first with 326 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 280 and Hitech on 234. ART are fourth, ahead of Carlin.
KEY QUOTE – MICK SCHUMACHER (PREMA RACING)
“I am very happy with today’s race. I think that we maximised what we had. The supersoft stint was a bit of a mess, especially the pit phase as I wanted to do another lap, but in the last sector I felt my rears going. I saw everybody else going in as well, so I opted to pit. It was a bit messy, but in general I think we managed it pretty well.
“On the medium tyre, we managed it pretty well, we were always in contention and we stayed with Yuki, having a gap of around two, two-and-a-half seconds. With the traffic out there, we kind of all bunched together, but I managed to get the move done and I just had to manage the race from there. 25 points is always good and that’s another win for this year, so I am pretty happy.”
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Jehan Daruvala loses pole by a whisker to teammate Tsunoda in dying stages
Sochi, 25 Sept 2020: Yuki Tsunoda left it late to claim his third pole position of the season, after Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala had led nearly the entirety of Formula 2 Qualifying in Sochi. Tsunoda snatched pole in the dying stages, while the Indian driver missed out by just 0.006s, as Carlin secured the first front-row lockout in F2 Qualifying since UNI-Virtuosi in July 2019.
Championship leader Mick Schumacher was first out of the blocks around Sochi, but it was his teammate Robert Shwartzman who set the quicker lap of the two, briefly taking first place with a benchmark time of 1:49.634.
Beating them both, Daruvala flung his Carlin around for first at the end of his maiden run. Nikita Mazepin managed to find time in the first and second sectors to briefly go top, but the Carlin driver found a further four tenths of a second to retake provisional pole.
The Carlins were clearly revelling around the Sochi Autodrom, as Tsunoda nipped ahead of Mazepin and into second place. Meanwhile, Jake Hughes was sat in ninth on his F2 Qualifying debut as the cars headed back to the pits for fresh rubber.
Daruvala picked up from where he left off when they returned for a second stint, finding a further tenth to try and solidify first place ahead of Tsunoda. Guanyu Zhou and Callum Ilott managed to fight up to third and fourth, but neither of them could match the Carlins for pace.
The Pirelli rubber had held up well around Sochi and Tsunoda put it to good use. The Red Bull junior set a stunning final lap to steal first from his teammate.
Daruvala attempted a reaction, but fell agonizingly short, by just six thousandths of a second.
Shwartzman briefly claimed third, but ended up down in seventh after the final set of push laps. Schumacher found further pace from his PREMA to take P3 behind the Carlin duo.
Ilott, Schumacher’s title rival, managed to improve to fourth on the final run, but his teammate Zhou dropped to P9.
The morning’s fastest man, Luca Ghiotto, found the speed for fifth, ahead of Christian Lundgaard. Jack Aitken finished in eighth, with Mazepin taking 10th.
Tsunoda will be in the hunt for his third win of the season in the Feature Race tomorrow, when action gets underway at 10.15am (local time).
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Facile win for Lundgaard; Jehan Daruvala take P7
Mugello, 13 Sept 2020: ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard dominated the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race, securing a second win in the Championship with a 14s advantage over Charouz Racing System’s Louis Delétraz. DAMS’ Jüri Vips scored his first F2 podium finishing in third, just a half-second off the Swiss driver.
Indian racer and Red Bull Junior Jehan Daruvala finished P7 on Sunday. “P7 from P10 on the grid… Was up to P5 at one point but just lost the tyres closer towards the end… Two good starts in both races so that’s a positive step up… Looking forward to Sochi in a couple of weeks,” said the Mumbai born Carlin racer.
Lundgaard made amends for a disappointing Feature Race, when he lost the win late on to Nikita Mazepin’s fresher tyres after a Safety Car had crushed the Dane’s advantage out in front. His Sunday was a complete contrast. Starting from third, he thundered to first off the line and from there the win never looked in doubt.
The Dane’s victory earns him third in the Drivers’ Championship, with Robert Shwartzman out of the points and dropping to fourth in the standings.
Mazepin also suffered contrasting fortunes, as he collided with teammate Luca Ghiotto, ending the Italian’s race and earning himself a 10s time penalty.
Pole-sitter Artem Markelov’s race ended in disaster. The HWA RACELAB driver struggled for pace and dropped down to third place, before getting forced into the pits for a new front wing after colliding with Mick Schumacher.
Schumacher was able to stretch his lead at the top of the standings with a fourth-place finish, with his main rival, Callum Ilott, back in sixth.
AS IT HAPPENED
Jehan Daruvala who had issues with the car the whole season had an engine change and is showing positive signs and looks forward to Sochi. A Daruvala image @Twitter Markelov got a good start from reverse grid pole, but Lundgaard had a better one. The Dane angled his ART down the side of the Russian and towards the inside line, just about forcing himself ahead at the exit of Turn 1.
Vips stuttered off the line on his first front row start and instantly dropped down to fourth place behind Delétraz, while Schumacher kept it clean and held on to fifth.
Lundgaard had garnered a strong 2s lead over Markelov by the end of the first lap alone, but the Dane would need to be wary of wearing out his rubber. As he stretched his lead, Markelov’s focus switched to Delétraz behind. The Swiss driver made light work of the passing the HWA racer, pulling off a tidy move at the first turn.
Vips attempted to follow Delétraz through, but tapped tyres with Markelov and wobbled, remaining in third. The Estonian gathered himself together and went again, making a similar move work on the next tour of Mugello.
Markelov told his team he wouldn’t give up, but the HWA racer collided with Schumacher and was forced to dive into the pits with front wing damage.
Schumacher’s main title rival, Ilott, had been making moves from 12th and climbed up to ninth, ahead of Marcus Armstrong. Meanwhile, Shwartzman lost a place to Ilott’s teammate, Guanyu Zhou, who was putting on a storming drive from 20th.
Having finished one-two in the Feature Race on Saturday, Mazepin and Ghiotto’s Sunday was entirely different. The Italian racer attempted a move on his teammate, but the Russian locked up and the two collided. Ghiotto was dumped into the gravel trap and forced to retire, before Mazepin was handed a 10s-time penalty for causing the crash.
Spotting the collision, Lundgaard would have suffered unpleasant flashbacks from Saturday, when his lead of the race was crushed by a Safety Car. The Dane will have been relieved to see only a Virtual Safety Car on this occasion, allowing him to retain his 11s gap at the front.
Little changed at the restart, although Zhou did manage to find a way past Armstrong to line up behind Ilott in eighth. The duo then gained a further place from Felipe Drugovich who suffered from a wide moment. Zhou kept on moving, first picking off Ilott, and then gaining fifth from Daruvala as well.
Yuki Tsunoda briefly nabbed the final points’ position from Drugovich, but was forced into the pits by Race Control, having suffered damage to his front wing earlier in the race.
Just two laps remained and Lundgaard continued to look comfortable out in front, but Delétraz was clinging on to second by the skin of his teeth with Vips right behind him. The Estonian made an attempt at the first turn of the penultimate lap, but couldn’t make it stick, despite possessing fresher rubber.
Lundgaard crossed the line first for a controlled victory, as Delétraz followed in second 14s later, hanging on ahead of Vips. Schumacher took fourth, brushing off a late challenge from Zhou. Ilott nabbed sixth after a late pass on Daruvala, with Marino Sato taking his first points in F2, with P8.
Schumacher now has 161 points at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, with Ilott in second on 153. Lundgaard is third with 145, five ahead of Shwartzman. Mazepin is up to fifth on 127. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first with 301 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 261 points, and Hitech on 216. ART are fourth, with Carlin fifth.
KEY QUOTE – CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD (ART GRAND PRIX)
“P1 today, and redemption for yesterday when I was leading the whole race until the Safety Car ruined it. I think that we showed the pace that we had today, and I am just happy to come away with 17 points.
“I said to the team before we went on track, it is 17 points or nothing today and we came away with all 17, so I am very happy.”
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Mazepin scores 2nd F2 win; Jehan Daruvala takes a point
Mugello, 12 Sept 2020: Nikita Mazepin scored his second FIA Formula 2 win from 14th on the grid in an incredible Feature Race at Mugello. The Russian capped off a Hitech Grand Prix one-two, with Luca Ghiotto claiming second on home soil ahead of Charouz Racing System’s Louis Delétraz.
Indian racer Jehan Daruvala took a point finishing P10 after another difficult day. “It was a tough race today. Radio dint work, so I had no idea when to pit. When I did so, Yuki was already in the pits so we had to double stack and I lost a lot of time. Positive thing is that on the prime tyres the pace was really good,” tweeted Daruvala about the race.
The race was turned on its head by the Safety Car as Giuliano Alesi’s stricken HWA RACELAB machine was recovered from the gravel trap. Mazepin was gifted a golden opportunity for victory on the alternate strategy. The Russian driver found himself in third place after the Safety Car with fresh soft tyres.
The Hitech racer made light work of passing long-time race leaders Christian Lundgaard and Ghiotto, who were both on heavily degraded hard tyres. Ghiotto was able to cling on to second ahead of Delétraz, but poleman Lundgaard plummeted to sixth having dominated most of the race.
There was also a shift in the Drivers’ Championship as Mick Schumacher stole first place from Callum Ilott, becoming the third different leader in 2020. Ilott had looked on course to retain his lead but suffered front wing damage during a SC restart and was forced to pit, dropping him out of the points.
The third of the Championship’s top three, Robert Shwartzman, saw his own title hopes take a battering as well, as the PREMA racer was forced to retire.
AS IT HAPPENED
Starting from the front of the grid for the first time in F2, Lundgaard tore into the distance when the lights went out and broke away from the pack. Dan Ticktum held on to second, but Ilott suffered a disastrous start from P3 and was swallowed up by the field and fell to seventh.
Ghiotto got the best start of the lot, hurling his Hitech machine from seventh and up to third ahead of the first turn, finding a gap down the right and then diving through the middle.
The top ten was shuffled in the opening laps, as Felipe Drugovich fired up to fourth ahead of Marcus Armstrong, and Ilott regained a place from Jack Aitken to nab sixth. Yuki Tsunoda made a move himself and nabbed P8 from Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala.
On the hard Pirelli tyres, Mazepin enjoyed a solid start to the race from 14th and had fought his way up to P9 – the highest of the drivers on the alternate strategy – by the time the pit window opened. Race leader Lundgaard was the first to ditch the softs for the hard rubber, returning at the back of the field.
Ticktum inherited the race lead as he attempted to eke more out of his soft Pirellis, but the decision looked to be the wrong one as Ghiotto fizzed ahead of him. The pair then pitted on Lap 10 and returned behind Lundgaard.
The Dane started picking off the field on his return to the track, as Ghiotto got stuck behind Nobuharu Matsushita, costing him valuable time. The Italian eventually got through and was followed in tow by Ticktum and Ilott, who were fiercely locked in battle.
Tsunoda joined the British duo’s fight, having made a move past Armstrong. Ticktum came out on top, while Ilott lost a place to Tsunoda. Meanwhile, Lundgaard was warned on the radio to look after his tyres, but had a Ghiotto-shaped shadow following in his wheel tracks.
Robert Shwartzman dived into the pits and returned with fresh soft boots, but he’d not get the opportunity to use them, as he was forced to pull off the road and retire – a big dent to his Championship hopes.
Lundgaard was handed back the race lead when Mazepin pitted on Lap 22, but Ghiotto had fresher tyres and was hot on his heels from second. Ghiotto’s job was made a whole lot easier by the emergence of a Safety Car after Giuliano Alesi slowed to a stop on the gravel trap.
Lundgaard held on at the restart, but Ticktum was thrown wide after a coming together with Tsunoda. The Briton got going again but had fallen to 11th. The Carlin driver was served with a 5s time penalty, ending his chance of points.
Theirs wasn’t the only collision, as Aitken, Guanyu Zhou and Schumacher all collided in the midfield. The German survived, but Zhou and Aitken both stopped on track with damage, bringing out another Safety Car.
Ilott was caught up in the chaos and suffered damage himself, forcing him into the pits for a new front wing and dropping him to last. Schumacher was fortunate, holding on to sixth to take the Championship lead.
The other beneficiary of the carnage was Mazepin, who had been gifted third while wearing a shiny new pair of soft tyres.
The front three went three-wide at the restart as Mazepin made a stunning move for first place, clinching the position at the exit of Turn 1. The second Hitech of Ghiotto leapt to second, as all of Lundgaard’s hard work was undone. The Dane’s tyres had nothing left to give and he continued to fall down the order, eventually falling to P6.
Mazepin held on with ease at the chequered flag, but his teammate was clinging on to second by the skin of his teeth. Ghiotto was desperately defending from Delétraz and the Swiss driver’s fresher, faster soft tyres.
The Italian managed to cling on to P2 across the line, with Delétraz forced to settle for third place. Drugovich finished fourth, with Schumacher in fifth and Lundgaard in sixth. Jüri Vips took his first points in F2 with seventh, ahead of Artem Markelov, who took his first points of 2020. Armstrong ended up in ninth, with Daruvala tenth.
Schumacher now sits first in the drivers’ standings on 153 points, four ahead of Ilott. Shwartzman is third on 140 points, with Lundgaard fourth on 128. Mazepin is one point further back in fifth. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first on 293 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 251. Hitech Grand Prix are third, with ART Grand Prix fourth and Carlin fifth.
KEY QUOTE – NIKITA MAZEPIN (HITECH GRAND PRIX)
“I am over the moon with the result. Starting P14, realistically, you need to be very careful setting your goals for the race. To win the Feature Race, the main race, with my teammate in second place, which makes it a double for Hitech, is a dream come true. We could not have even dreamed of this the night before.
“I had a very frustrating Friday and it makes it difficult to go to sleep when you are not satisfied with the job that you have done. I won the race from P14, and it was extremely fun inside of the car, but also tough at the same time. I am sure that it was also great to watch. Thankfully it happened, and thank you for the support.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Artem Markelov will have the chance to take his third points finish of the season from reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race on Sunday at 11.55am (local time).
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Tsunoda takes 2nd F2 pole; Jehan Daruvala to start on P9
Spa Francorchamps (Belgium), 28 August 2020: Carlin’s Yuki Tsunoda was in scintillating form around Spa-Francorchamps, taking pole for the second time this season in FIA Formula 2 Qualifying. The Red Bull Junior finished a tenth faster than Nikita Mazepin, who squeezed every drop of power out of his Hitech Grand Prix machine in his attempts to beat Tsunoda.
Mazepin settled for a career best Qualifying of P2, ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita, who will start in the top three for the first time this year.
The rain that struck Formula 3 Qualifying earlier in the afternoon had passed by the time F2 got out there, which allowed the grid to feed out onto a dry circuit. Jüri Vips’ first Qualifying session couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start, as the DAMS’ driver was forced to pull off the road and stop with an issue without setting a time. The stewards wheeled his car behind the barriers and his day was done.
After swift work from the marshals, Roy Nissany completed his first full tour of Spa as the times began to come in. Teammate Marino Sato topped the early standings, with a time of 1:58.959.
The session was brought to a brief halt when the rear of Guilherme Samaia’s Campos started smoking. The Brazilian was quickly out of his machine, and the flames were put out, but his day was over and a red flag was required to get it moved.
The field were in a hurry to set some fast laps when running resumed and Tsunoda got the best of the lot, at the end of the first full run for everyone. The Carlin racer lapped two tenths faster than his nearest rival Mick Schumacher.
Mazepin was already on for his best Qualifying of the year at the halfway point, but he returned from his tyre change wanting even more. He briefly held P1, after a stunning middle sector, but Tsunoda looked to be on another level around Spa. The Red Bull junior found even more pace from his Carlin to reclaim first from the Russian.
Matsushita followed up his stunning Feature Race win in the previous round at Barcelona with his best Qualifying of the year in third place, only two tenths off the pace.
Robert Shwartzman settled for fourth, as Felipe Drugovich made it two MP Motorsport machines in the top five. Guanyu Zhou clinched sixth, ahead of Schumacher, Louis Delétraz, Jehan Daruvala and Luca Ghiotto.
Championship leader Callum Ilott finished outside of the top three for the first time in 2020 and will start the Feature Race back in P12.
Tsunoda will be looking for his second win of the season in the Feature Race tomorrow, when the lights go out at 3.45pm local time.
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Facile win for Felipe Drugovich; Daruvala hopes to turn the tide
Barcelona, 16 August 2020: Felipe Drugovich dominated the Barcelona Sprint Race for his second FIA Formula 2 win of the season, finishing 9s ahead of Luca Ghiotto. The Hitech Grand Prix driver couldn’t touch the MP Motorsport man for pace but comfortably held on to P2 for his second podium of the season, ahead of Mick Schumacher.
It was a forgettable week-end for Indian racer Jehan Daruvala who ended up last in the Feature Race on Saturday after starting P12 and could only finish P17 in the Sprint race on Sunday. With the season at the half-way stage, Daruvala, however, is not letting the guard down and is looking forward to make amends and work with he team turn the tables. “Half the season is done… It really has been tough… I have been through times like these before… I believe In myself and will work hard with my team to get back to where I want to be. Thank you for all the support!,” the Mumbai-born racer tweeted.
In a race where most of the grid struggled to manage their Pirelli tyres, Drugovich bombed ahead of pole-sitter Ghiotto off the line and kept it calm and controlled out in front, showing no sign of any detrimental wear.
Schumacher had a mixed start to the race, which had initially seen him challenge for the lead before falling to P4. The German forced his way ahead of Callum Ilott for his fourth podium of the season.
Despite heavy degradation, Championship leader Ilott was able to cling on to eighth and the final points position. Robert Shwartzman wasn’t so lucky, finishing out of the points in 13th.
AS IT HAPPENED
Sean Gelael was unable to take part in the race following an incident on the last lap on Saturday, which led to a back injury. The Indonesian is expected to make a full recovery.
Ghiotto was sluggish off the line, Drugovich wasn’t. The Brazilian flung down the right and into the lead ahead of the first corner. Schumacher initially enjoyed a solid getaway himself from third, and attempted to fire down the middle for first but couldn’t find a way through, ending up losing a place to Ilott.
Drugovich was in a league of his own out in front, building up an impressive early advantage of 3s inside of the opening four laps. Having gotten comfortable, the MP Motorsport driver eased off on the throttle to preserve his rubber.
Louis Delétraz had been stalking the rear wing of Shwartzman in a fight for eighth, but their brawl was brought to an abrupt halt thanks to a mammoth overtake from Nikita Mazepin. The Russian swung to the right and hurtled down the side of him on the main straight and into the first corner. The Charouz Racing System driver was clearly struggling with degradation, which allowed Christian Lundgaard to follow Mazepin through four laps later.
If Shwartzman thought this had given him some breathing space, he was wrong. Mazepin managed what Delétraz could not, braving a late brake at the first turn and edging ahead of the Russian.
Drugovich had extended the gap to eight seconds, as Ilott reeled in Ghiotto. The door was open and Ilott dived down the inside on the main straight to spark a wheel-to-wheel brawl with the Italian. Ghiotto managed to close the door and narrowly retained the lead, with Schumacher following the pair, ready to pounce on any mistakes.
In the end, the PREMA racer wouldn’t need one. Ghiotto got a move on and escaped the clutches of Ilott, which robbed the UNI-Virtuosi racer of DRS and allowed Schumacher to ease past at the first corner.
Yuki Tsunoda had snuck up on Guanyu Zhou and nabbed fifth from the UNI-Virtuosi driver in a move that appeared all too easy down the main straight. He followed this up with an overtake of Ilott for fourth, who was struggling with degradation.
Ilott wasn’t the only one, as his teammate Zhou was forced into the pits for fresh Pirellis, which cost the Renault junior a points finish. Jack Aitken and Dan Ticktum also had to go in for a change of boots.
Drugovich coolly took the chequered flag for MP Motorsport’s second win of the weekend – the first time any team has won twice on the same weekend in 2020. Ghiotto kept hold of second ahead of Schumacher and Tsunoda.
Matsushita stole fifth, ahead of Mazepin in sixth. Pedro Piquet made a late charge to seventh for his first points in F2. Ilott dropped back to ninth on the final lap, although a late time penalty for Lundgaard promoted him to eighth.
Ilott extends his lead over Robert Shwartzman in the Drivers’ Championship by one point to 121, ahead of the Russian on 103. Lundgaard remains third on 87, followed by Tsunoda and Schumacher. In the Teams’ Championship, UNI-Virtuosi remain first with 197 points, ahead of PREMA on 182. ART Grand Prix are third with 121, followed by Hitech and MP Motorsport.
KEY QUOTE – FELIPE DRUGOVICH (MP MOTORSPORT)
“Amazing race for me. I started P2 and got the jump past Luca into Turn 1. After that, the car was just amazing, basically the same as yesterday. It is a shame we couldn’t capitalise on that yesterday, because of the Safety Car, otherwise, we were pretty much in the same spot or second.
“Shame about that, but this pretty much makes up for yesterday and I am really happy, and really happy for the team, because for sure, we have made a big step forward this weekend.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Championship battle is heating up ahead of the third triple-header of the season in just under two weeks’ time. Ilott and Shwartzman will reconvene at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, for Round 7.
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Callum Ilott, first repeat pole-sitter for 2020: F2
Silverstone,7 Agust 2020: UNI-Virtuosi’s Callum Ilott got his title challenge firmly back on track in the first points’ paying session of Round 5, becoming FIA Formula 2’s first repeat polesitter of the season. ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard led the majority of the session at Silverstone, but Ilott dragged his car up from the midfield positions to beat the Renault junior by just one-tenth of a second.
Indian racer Jehan Daruvala of Carlin, who despite staying within a second of the pole-sitter, was caught up in the yellow flags and will be starting from a lowly- P16 on Saturday for the Feature race.
Ilott’s British counterpart Jack Aitken also enjoyed his best qualifying session of the season so far, finishing just 0.2s further back in third place.
Clouds had begun to form over Silverstone at the start of the session, but the temperature remained a warm 28 degrees as Jehan Daruvala led the cars out onto the track.
Lundgaard set the fastest of the first flurry of laps. The title challenger was briefly usurped by Louis Delétraz but leapt back ahead of the Charouz Racing System driver on his next attempt, as did Aitken, Luca Ghiotto and Nikita Mazepin.
The field fed into the pits for a change of rubber at the halfway point and returned with fresh tyres. They will race on Pirellis soft compound at Silverstone in the Feature Race on Saturday, having used the mediums last weekend.
Ilott had struggled in the first stint but responded emphatically in the second. The UNI-Virtuosi racer was off the pace in Sector 1, but then went fastest in the second and third sectors to leap from 10th to first.
Dan Ticktum was the only other driver to improve significantly on the first push laps of the second stint. The Briton’s tour was only good enough for fourth though as he nestled in behind Aitken, Lundgaard and Ilott.
Ilott’s route to pole was then made a whole lot easier as Sean Gelael spun on track and brought out a yellow flag in Sector 2, ruining many final pushes. Ghiotto completed the top five, ahead of Guanyu Zhou, Mazepin, Mick Schumacher, Delétraz and Yuki Tsunoda.
Starting from P1 at his home circuit in Silverstone, Ilott will hope for victory on home soil when the Feature Race gets underway at 3.45pm local time.
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Last two laps were super-exciting: Jehan Daruvala
Silverstone, 2 August 2020: Red Bull Racing Junior, Jehan Daruvala finished fourth here, in Silverstone in the Sprint race of the FIA Formula 2, part of the British Grand Prix weekend. The Indian racing sensation started in twelfth and worked his way up the field after a sensational last three laps.
Jehan in his first Formula 2 season, started twelfth for the Feature race and after a decent start remained in the same position for most of the race. The extremely competitive grid, meant Jehan although faster than some cars in front was unable to overtake due to their ability to also use DRS (Drag Reduction System).
Lap 16 saw the safety car being deployed to retrieve a car. Jehan and his team Carlin, took the gamble to pit for fresh medium compound tyres. Other drivers ahead and behind Jehan, also took the same gamble, and Jehan gained two places.
The moment the safety car pulled into the pits, it was a three lap dash to the finish. Last year’s FIA Formula 3 second runner up, immediately went on a phenomenal charge up the order. While attempting a move Jehan initially lost two positions to fall to twelfth, but a few corners later he made a brave move around the outside at Brooklands overtook four cars in one corner to move to eighth.
On the penultimate lap, Jehan overtook two more cars. He continued his charge, with a brilliant move on the last lap, to finish fourth. Local racer Dan Tictum won the race ahead of Christian Lundgaard of Denmark.
“The last two laps were super exciting. The team did a great job with the tyre strategy. Moving from P12 to P4 in the last few laps and hanging around the outside at Brooklands to pass four cars was good fun. Looking forward to being back here next week.” said Jehan.
Jehan returns to Silverstone again next weekend for the fifth round of the FIA Formula 2 championship. Indian fans have been able to catch the live action as the Formula 1 YouTube channel is broadcasting the F2 races live in India for the first time.
Photo Gallery
Jehan Daruvala at Silverstone on Saturday. Photos by James Gasperotti -
Superb last few laps get Jehan Daruvala P4, after starting from P12: F2
Silverstone, 2 August 2020: Indian racer Jehan Daruvala, a Red Bull Junior in F2, recovered from the setbacks in the first part of the Sprint race and helped by circumstances, managed to push through and finished a brilliant P4, just outside the podium after starting from P12 here on Sunday.
It was Dan Ticktum, who won the race, stopping a marauding Lundgaard on fresh rubber and managed his hard tyres to perfection around Silverstone to survive a late charge from Christian Lundgaard, on faster medium Pirellis. The Briton brought home a historic first victory in FIA Formula 2 at his home circuit.
After his tyres gave up, Daruvala lost a couple of places and ended up P12 in qualifying, but the luck which deserted him all these days, seemed to have spared him today, as the car worked perfectly at the stat and he managed to leave the starting blues behind him. With Illot forced to retire midway and Zhou spinning towards the end, Daruvala, raced the last three laps, to maximise his results and put the Carlin in P4.
“P4 from P12 on the grid… The race came alive after the safety car at the end… And I really enjoyed myself and had a lot of fun overtaking,” said a jubilant Jehan Daruvala after the race and thanked his team, “Thanks to the team for the call on the tyres.”
File photo of Jehan Daruvala from Yesterday’s Feature race. Twitter @DaruvalaJehan Starting from pole, the DAMS driver led for the entire race, but came under threat in the final lap after ART Grand Prix had made the brave decision to pit Lundgaard during a safety car period and change his heavily degraded hard compounds to mediums.
UNI-Virtuosi suffered a race to forget, with both of their drivers finishing outside of the points from strong positions. Ilott spun from second and was forced to retire midway through the race, before Zhou suffered a similar fate, spinning from fourth on the final lap. The Chinese driver was able to get going again, but he’d dropped to ninth.
A slow pitstop during the safety car period crushed any hope of a top eight finish for Championship leader Robert Shwartzman, who departs Round 4 without scoring a single point.
AS IT HAPPENED
It wasn’t the first time that Ticktum had started on reverse grid pole this season, but unlike in Spielberg Round 2, he held onto the lead in the first lap. The DAMS driver got away speedily when the lights went out and dashed into the distance, ahead of Felipe Drugovich who was swallowed up by the pack. Lundgaard flung his ART Grand Prix machine off the line to fire into second at Turn 2, as Delétraz darted from fifth to third, dropping Drugovich to fourth. Ilott endured a tough start, with heavy wheelspin plunging him from third to sixth.
The UNI-Virtuosi racer was then at fault in a coming together with Yuki Tsunoda. Ilott touched the Carlin racer at the exit of Turn 3 and sent him into a spin. Ilott kept it together, but was served a 5s time penalty.
Guanyu Zhou had put in a sublime drive in the Feature Race on Saturday, with a late charge from eighth to second, and was on the metal again on Sunday. The UNI-Virtuosi racer picked up a double tow and DRS to thunder ahead of both Drugovich and Nikita Mazepin in one fell swoop for fifth.
Ilott knew the importance of the Sprint Race in his fight for the Championship and was giving it everything he had, well aware that his main title rival, Shwartzman, was out of the points in 11th but on the charge, having started from P14. He managed to build a 5s gap between himself and P6, before dashing ahead of Drugovich for P4. He eyed up Delétraz next and smoothly dispatched of the Charouz driver a few laps later. By Lap 14, he was in second, having gone around the outside of Lundgaard at Stowe. He knew he needed more though, as his 5s penalty would still drop him back down to P5.
Ticktum had a decision to make: use up his tyres in an attempt to keep Ilott behind, or let him pass to use DRS and attempt to keep the gap below that magic 5s mark.
n the end, he wouldn’t have to make the choice. Ilott lost the rear at the exit of Club and spun 180 degrees. He couldn’t get his Virtuosi going again and his race would end in retirement with the safety car brought out.
ART were amongst a number of teams to roll the dice and make the bold call to pit their driver’s during the SC period, changing heavily degraded hard compounds to the faster mediums.
This move dropped the Dane down to fifth behind Mazepin, with the front four opting against switching, Although Zhou radioed to tell his team they’d made the wrong decision.
Both PREMA’s pitted, but Shwartzman’s stop was uncharacteristically slow, and all of his early progress was undone, as he returned in 17th.
The Safety Car returned with two laps to go and Ticktum retained the lead at the restart, but Lundgaard instantly fired ahead of Mazepin for fourth. Zhou’s prediction that his team had made the wrong call was borne out, as his Renault Academy teammate eased ahead of him for the final podium spot on the fresher tyres.
Delétraz proved to be sterner competition, but he too was left ruing his team’s decision not to change rubber, as he lost grip and wobbled, which handed Lundgaard third. The delay in getting past the Charouz proved pivotal, as Lundgaard ran out of laps to get past Ticktum. The DAMS driver brought home a historic home victory ahead of the Dane with Delétraz third.
Zhou’s race ended in disaster as the UNI-Virtuosi driver spun on the last lap to hand Jehan Daruvala a career-high finish of fourth. The Carlin driver was followed by Mazepin, Drugovich, Nobuharu Matsushita and Jack Aitken.
Shwartzman retains the Championship lead with 81 points, eight ahead of Ilott. Lundgaard’s tally is up to 69 in third, 11 ahead of fourth place Mazepin, while Ticktum is two points behind in fifth. In the Teams’ Championship, UNI-Virtuosi are first on 124 points, two ahead of PREMA on 122, with ART third, Hitech Grand Prix fourth and DAMS fifth.
KEY QUOTE – DAN TICKTUM (DAMS)
“It feels just as good – even without the fans – and I am over the moon to be honest. I haven’t crossed the line first in a while, so it feels good and it is a nice confidence boost. I don’t know what to say really, it was a very tough race all the way through.
“The first five laps in particular were pretty close, but then in the middle of the race I controlled it pretty well to be honest. The management of the tyres and the setup, with what we did with the aero balance was very good. At the end, if we had one less Safety Car lap, he (Christian Lundgaard) would have passed me. The last three laps were absolutely flat out, and I’m sure the blood pressure was pretty high.
“I am really happy, so a big thank you to the team, because it hasn’t been the easiest of starts, but we seem to have always made the best of not-so-ideal qualifying sessions, so to come away from this weekend with 20 odd points, or something like that, I am happy.
“This is the best track in the world, so I am happy that we’ll back next weekend.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
The F2 grid will remain in Great Britain with Round 5 taking place at Silverstone again in less than a week’s time. The Championship battle has been blown wide open with Ilott and Shwartzman’s inability to score in the Sprint Race, as Lundgaard, Ticktum, and Mazepin’s title bids all gained traction.SHARE
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Mazepin takes first-ever win; Jehan Daruvala slips to P12
Silverstone, 1 August 2020: Nikita Mazepin’s astonishing turnaround of form has continued in Round 4, as he followed up his first Formula 2 podium, in the previous round, with his first-ever victory, in the Feature Race at Silverstone, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou.
The Hitech racer took just one point from the first four races, but has added 51 to his tally since then and cruised to a comfortable victory for Hitech Grand Prix’s second win in as many races.
Starting from eighth, Guanyu Zhou worked wonders on the alternate strategy. Pitting with seven laps to go, he returned in P8 and made a late dash to the podium, getting past Christian Lundgaard for second on the penultimate tour of the circuit.
Having looked so strong early on in the afternoon, Lundgaard was also beaten by Yuki Tsunoda on the last lap, with the Carlin racer putting in a stunning drive of his own, from ninth.
UNI-Virtuosi’s duo suffered contrasting fortunes, as Callum Ilott was forced to start from the pits, having originally qualified in second place. The Briton will at least be pleased to have recovered to fifth place.
Round 4 had started so brightly for Felipe Drugovich, but the polesitter endured a tough day at the office on Saturday, falling back to seventh.
Championship leader Robert Shwartzman struggled in Qualifying on Friday and was unable to make up much ground in the Feature Race, finishing outside of the points in 14th, and failing to extend his lead at the top of the Championship.
AS IT HAPPENED
Starting on the front row, Ilott would have gone to bed last night dreaming of a historic home victory at Silverstone, but the Briton must have thought he was having a nightmare at the start of the Feature Race. His UNI-Virtuosi machine failed to get going on the formation lap due to a lack of power, and he was forced to start from the pitlane.
The sun had returned after a gloomy morning in Northamptonshire, but it was still 10 degrees cooler than during the sizzling hot Qualifying on Friday. Just like the weather, Drugovich wasn’t as hot as the previous day. The MP Motorsport driver had made the hard tyres his own in the opening three rounds, but struggled to get them going off the line.
Schumacher’s start however was scorching. Starting from third on the medium compound, the German flung his PREMA around Drugovich, making the most of the gap left by Ilott to swing to the right and dive ahead for the race lead.
Drugovich’s demotion didn’t stop there, the MP Motorsport racer fell down as far as fourth, with Mazepin and Lundgaard both getting ahead as well.
Mazepin, who had also started on the medium tyres, was straight on the wheel tracks of Schumacher and made his move when the DRS window opened on Lap 3. The in-form Hitech racer made a daring manoeuvre around the outside of Stowe, finding enough grip to go the long way around Schumacher and into the lead.
Four laps in and Drugovich had finally turned on the hard tyres, but he’d already lost a lot of ground on his rivals, sitting in fourth and stuck in traffic. He eyed up a move on Lundgaard, but daren’t take the risk, with the pit window for those on the option-prime strategy not far off.
Mazepin and Schumacher pitted from the lead on Lap 8 and returned in 13th and 14th after swift stops from their teams. Lundgaard changed his boots on the following lap and this handed Drugovich back P1. The Brazilian was on the alternate strategy and required a gap of at least 30s to stand any chance of retaining first after his own stop.
Mazepin made light work of moving up to eighth, with the gap standing at just 25s. Schumacher was struggling though – he got held up in traffic and this allowed Lundgaard to sweep ahead of him.
Drugovich pitted with 10 laps remaining and returned all the way down in 12th, but on the faster medium tyre. The remainder of those on the alternate tyre, which included Zhou, followed within the next three laps, which handed Mazepin back the lead.
Schumacher was back where he started, in third, but the German was struggling with grip and his pace had deserted him. He had Louis Delétraz in his mirrors, and eventually succumbed to the Swiss driver.
Zhou returned from his pit stop in eighth and what followed next was astonishing. He made light work of switching on the medium tyres and instantly dispatched of his teammate, Ilott, before lunging ahead of Jehan Daruvala, Schumacher, Tsunoda and Delétraz within a single lap to put himself provisionally on the podium.
It looked as if second would prove a place to far for the Chinese driver, but he caught up with Lundgaard in rapid time and the Dane had little choice but to let him pass.
Having looked good for a podium, Delétraz wilted and allowed both Tsunoda and Ilott ahead of him. Tsunoda then made a last lap leap on Lundgaard for third to snatch a podium at the death.
Unlike the ART Grand Prix driver, Mazepin was not going to be caught, and even on the hard tyres, his pace remained relentless. He crossed the chequered flag with a margin of 5.3s over Zhou.
Tsunoda completed the podium, while Lundgaard held on to fourth and Ilott fifth. Delétraz kept sixth, ahead of Drugovich, Dan Ticktum, Schumacher and Nobuharu Matsushita.
Shwartzman remains at the top of the Drivers’ Championship with 81 points, but Ilott has closed the gap to just eight between them after the Russian failed to score any points. Lundgaard remains third on 55, while Mazepin has leapt to fourth on 52. Zhou is up to fifth with 51 points.
There has been a change in the lead in the Teams’ Championship, with UNI-Virtuosi leapfrogging to first with 124, ahead of PREMA Racing on 122. ART are third ahead of Hitech and Carlin.
KEY QUOTE – NIKITA MAZEPIN (HITECH GRAND PRIX)
“I am extremely happy, but it is a little bit difficult to put how I feel into words because it was reasonably unexpected. There was so much going on that I wasn’t really thinking about leading the race.
“I am extremely happy because it really feels like a nice string of progression and I am very chuffed for the team. They gave me a fantastic car, which helped me to look after those tyres, and make them last the race on a difficult track like Silverstone where tyres are an issue.
“To come away with my first win the Formula 2 Championship after having my first podium last weekend, makes me extremely motivated and extremely happy and I am very much looking forward to the rest of the season.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Ticktum will look to add a win to his trophy collection from reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race on Sunday, at 10.10 am (local time), 2.30 pm IST.
