Mick Schumacher moved to within three points of the championship lead after bouncing back from Friday’s qualifying crash to win the Formula 2 feature race at Monza.
The Prema driver rocketed up from seventh on the grid to second at the start behind pole-sitter and fellow Ferrari junior Callum Ilott. Despite early pressure from Schumacher, Ilott led for the first 11 laps before making his mandatory pitstop.
But Ilott’s victory hopes were dashed after stalling his car as he tried to leave his pit box, losing several seconds. That gave the advantage to Schumacher, who pitted on the following lap, and assumed the lead with 11 laps to go once DAMS drivers Dan Ticktum and Juri Vips – running the alternate strategy – made their stops.
Schumacher cruised to his first win of the season, three seconds clear of Hitech’s Luca Ghiotto – who snatched second from ART’s Christian Lundgaard with a move into the first chicane in the closing stages.
Yuki Tsunoda recovered from a bad start from second on the grid to finish for fourth for Carlin. But it almost ended in tears for the Red Bull and Honda protege early in the race after a three-wide battle into turn one with Ghiotto and Lundgaard. Tsunoda and Lundgaard just made it around the corner after braking desperately late, while Ghiotto was forced to take to the escape road.
Ilott made a great recovery to finish sixth after his pitstop drama, passing Guanyu Zhou, Ticktum, title-rival Robert Shwartzman and Charouz’s Louis Deletraz in the latter stages. But Zhou, running the alternate strategy, having started from 17th on the grid, used his fresh soft tyres to retake Virtuosi team-mate Ilott and finish in fifth.
Williams development driver Ticktum finished seventh after passing Shwartzman and Deletraz late on, with Shwartzman denied eighth place and reversed-grid pole for Sunday’s sprint race pole by Deletraz. Carlin driver Jehan Daruvala finished in tenth for Carlin.
Nikita Mazepin failed to finish after a late car issue. The Hitech driver had been running strongly early in the race on the alternate strategy, before ending up in the gravel exiting the first chicane after locking wheels with Trident’s Roy Nissany as they contested third place.
The result means that Ilott and Shwartzman are tied at the top of the standings, with Schumacher just behind them in third – all three drivers part of the Ferrari academy, and potentially competing against each other for an Alfa Romeo seat in Formula 1 next season.
Race result (30 laps)
| 1 | Mick Schumacher | Prema | 48m24.641s |
| 2 | Luca Ghiotto | Hitech | +3.185s |
| 3 | Christian Lundgaard | ART | +7.321s |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | +9.279s |
| 5 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | +12.553s |
| 6 | Callum Ilott | Virtuosi | +15.145s |
| 7 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | +15.291s |
| 8 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz | +17.561s |
| 9 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | +18.238s |
| 10 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | +21.154s |
| 11 | Juri Vips | DAMS | +23.947s |
| 12 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz | +25.004s |
| 13 | Jack Aitken | Campos | +27.859s |
| 14 | Marcus Armstrong | ART | +28.379s |
| 15 | Nobuharu Matsushita | MP Motorsport | +28.666s |
| 16 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | +29.257s |
| 17 | Artem Markelov | HWA | +29.927s |
| 18 | Giuliano Alesi | HWA | +30.343s |
| 19 | Roy Nissany | Trident | +33.081s |
| 20 | Marino Sato | Trident | +51.408s |
| 21 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos | +52.406s |
| DNF | Nikita Mazepin | Hitech |
Feature image credit: @fia_f2 official twitter
