Despite not getting underway until July due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 Formula 2 season will still be remembered as a classic.
Five drivers arrived at the final round in contention for the title, with three of them earning F1 drives for next year. We assess how the season went for some of the main competitors.
Consistency pays off for Schumacher
Despite not being as quick over the season as some of his rivals, Mick Schumacher’s unmatched consistency played a key role in him taking the 2020 crown. His 10 podium finishes for Prema were the most of any driver, and he combined solid points-scoring in the feature races with the highest points total across the sprint races to end the season on top.
Schumacher’s slight lack of outright speed was highlighted by qualifying, which determined the grid for the feature races. On average he was the sixth-best qualifier, a pair of third spots his strongest efforts across the year. But he was consistent, only missing out on the top ten on two occasions.
Another aspect that defined Schumacher’s season was his starts, which he mastered better than anyone else. Regularly he gained several places off the line, which was not only key to making up ground in the feature races, but also in the shorter sprint races in which track position was even more important.
It would be easy to think Schumacher took a risk-averse approach, but he did make as many mistakes as his rivals overall, having an uncanny knack of riding his luck on those occasions while his rivals didn’t.
A key moment in Schumacher’s season came at Monza. Despite a hefty shunt at the Ascari chicane in qualifying, he lined-up seventh for the feature race. Having made one of his great launches off the line to move up to second, he took his first win of the year after chief title rival Callum Ilott stalled in the pits. A second and more convincing win came a couple of rounds later in the feature race at Sochi, where he also outpaced his rivals during his most commanding weekend of the season.
This upturn in form combined with consistent points scored across the season gave Schumacher a healthy championship lead heading into the Bahrain double-header. A collision with Trident’s Roy Nissany in qualifying forced him to recover from the back of the field to score points in the feature race, before a lock-up caused an unscheduled pitstop in the sprint race which dropped him down the order. But he was let off the hook by fellow Ferrari Academy driver Ilott, who struggled with his own tyre issues, enabling Schumacher to take the title.
Across the season, his calculated approach to scoring points paid off. And, with a CV that contains both this year’s F2 title and the 2018 FIA Formula 3 crown, Schumacher has fully earned his step up to Formula 1 with Haas next year.
Speed not enough for Ilott
On the back of a promising rookie campaign, Ilott went up a gear in 2020, where he proved to be undoubtedly the quickest F2 driver in the field. As well as scoring five pole positions, he qualified on the front two rows for the feature races on ten occasions – twice as many as anybody else.
Despite putting himself in good starting positions many times, he only managed to convert them into victories twice, one of which came at the season-opening race in Austria after Virtuosi team-mate Guanyu Zhou broke down while leading.
His race pace was often strong, as evidenced by his second win of the season on home soil at Silverstone, when he dominated the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix feature race from pole. There were other occasions where he should have notched up further comprehensive wins. A week earlier during the British GP weekend, he stalled from the front row of the grid before storming from the back of the grid to finish fifth. He stalled again – in the pits – at Monza, when on course for victory, and he was denied a dominant win at Barcelona by a late safety car period.
Another factor that hurt Ilott over the season was the sprint races, where he was the seventh-highest points-scorer. His only win in these races came at Monza, where he finished second on the road behind fellow countryman Dan Ticktum, who was subsequently disqualified. But too often, Ilott wasn’t able to make up places in the reversed-grid encounters as well as chief rival Schumacher, and he lost points through incidents too. A spin out of second place during the British GP sprint race and a collision with Carlin’s Yehan Daruvala while trying to pass Schumacher during the penultimate round in Bahrain were both costly.
Ilott arrived at Sakhir GP finale still within touching distance of the title. But, despite Schumacher’s errors presenting him with an opportunity, Ilott couldn’t deliver his best form when he needed it most, missing out on the title by 14 points.
Overall, his season was impressive, and he can consider himself unfortunate to miss out on a 2021 F1 race drive, especially when three of his rivals will be making the step up. Instead, he will spend next season as a Ferrari test driver, a role that has led to race opportunities in F1 for the likes of Daniil Kyvat and Antonio Giovinazzi in the past.
Top rookie Tsunoda just misses out on crown
Yuki Tsunoda never led the F2 standings during the year, trailing the main contenders in the points throughout. But, in a season in which he finished as top rookie, a late run of form enabled Tsunoda to clinch third overall, just one point behind Ilott, and 15 points shy of beating Schumacher to the overall title.
Without the puncture sustained at the start of the penultimate sprint race in Bahrain while running second, a race Tsunoda arguably would have won given the pace he had shown during the weekend, he could have ended up as champion.
His speed was something that was evident throughout the year. Driving for Carlin, the Honda protege shone, scoring four pole positions – one less than Ilott – and three wins. He ended the season as the top points-scorer in the feature races, a notable feat.
As with Ilott, it was the lack of points in the sprint races that ultimately cost Tsunoda, with eight drivers outscoring him over the year. He was also blighted by mistakes and inconsistent performances. He qualified outside the top ten on four occasions, and was penalised three times for collisions, the most costly of which came at the opening race after tangling with team-mate Daruvala. He was denied victory a week later during the Stryrian GP feature race after a radio issue caused him to miss the optimum window to pit for new tyres, and he retired from the sprint race the following day with a clutch issue.
Despite missing out on the title, his top-four finish in the championship was enough to secure him the superlicence points needed to move into F1 with Alpha Tauri next year. His speed and rate of development over the 2020 season indicate that he could flourish on the big stage.
Early favourite Shwartzman’s title hopes fade
On the back of his 2019 FIA F3 title-winning campaign, Robert Shwartzman burst onto the F2 scene at the beginning of his rookie season this year, winning two of the first three feature races. That put him at the top of the standings, making him an early championship favourite. He added two further victories during the campaign, making him the most winning driver over the year, and he also led more laps than any of his closest title rivals.
Despite this, his challenge faded over the season, slipping to an eventual fourth place overall. Qualifying was his biggest undoing, where he had only the 10th best record in the field. A front-row start in Barcelona proved to be a rare highlight in a season where he often left himself too much ground to make up, missing out on the top ten on five occasions.
In the races Shwartzman’s pace was much stronger, and comparable with any of the other front-runners. He was often able to manage his tyres better than his rivals, which played a key role in some of his wins.
Luck deserted him at times. During the 70th Anniversary GP sprint race at Silverstone his front wing was damaged by team-mate Schumacher during a battle for the lead, resulting in Shwartzman tumbling out of the points. Mechanical problems caused him to retire from the Mugello feature race, and a difficult home event followed at Sochi where he failed to score a point. That ultimately left Shwartzman with too much of a deficit to make up in the championship, despite strong form during the final two rounds in Bahrain.
Shwartzman will continue in F2 next year with Prema, where he will undoubtedly be one of the title favourites if he can improve his qualifying performances.
Mazepin displays speed but too much aggression
Nikita Mazepin has courted controversy in recent days over his off-track antics on social media, putting his F1 drive with Haas next year under huge scrutiny. On-track, Mazepin showed himself to be talented enough to make the step up from F2, however, finishing fifth in the championship having still had an outside chance of the title prior to the final round.
Driving for F2 rookies Hitech, Mazepin outperformed experienced team-mate Luca Ghiotto at times, winning two feature races and having a third victory taken away from him by the stewards for a late incident with Tsunoda at Spa.
Mazepin didn’t always qualify well, but he was able to make up for it in the races, as evidenced by his second win at Mugello from 14th on the grid. His aggression in battle helped him at times in moving forwards, but he sometimes took it too far. In addition to his Spa transgression, his double-penalty following the Sakhir GP feature race for excessive blocking was a concerning trait that he will need to improve upon.
Drugovich and Ticktum show promise
Expectations were high for Felipe Drugovich and Ticktum as they embarked on their rookie F2 campaigns this year on the back of previous successes in F3.
Drugovich had an impressive season for the slightly unfancied MP Motorsport. His pole position during the fourth round at Silverstone was arguably the best single lap of the season, especially as he rarely came close to repeating the feat again. His pace in the races was also very strong on his day. All three of his wins came in dominant fashion at the front, which contributed to him leading more laps than anybody else over the year. Next season he makes the switch to Virtuosi, where he will have the opportunity to add more poles and wins, and will be one of the title favourites.
Ticktum had a solid season too for DAMS in which he led more laps than Schumacher, Ilott and Tsunoda. Although only the ninth best qualifier on average across the year, some decent efforts saw Ticktum visit the second row of the grid for the feature races four times. But it was the sprint races where he was most effective, all of his four podium finishes came in the reversed-grid encounters, including his win on home soil during the British Grand Prix. Without the disqualification at Monza through no fault of his own, and tyre degradation issues that hampered him all season, Ticktum would have won more races. A switch to Carlin for 2021 will give him a shot at the title.
Mixed seasons for other F1 juniors
Driving for front-running teams Virtuosi and ART, Renault F1 juniors Zhou and Christian Lundgaard were tipped as potential title contenders ahead of the 2020 season, as was Ferrari Academy driver Marcus Armstrong, who partnered Lundgaard at ART.
Zhou underlined his status as one of the pre-season favourites by largely dominating the first race from pole position, before being cruelly robbed of the win due to a car failure. But he was unable to replicate that performance again all season, and it wasn’t until the 10th round at Sochi that he took a victory, in a heavily shortened sprint race. There were occasional glimpses of strong form, in both qualifying and the last few laps of races, but he went missing too often during a season where he was largely outshone by team-mate Ilott.
Armstrong finished second at the opening race and scored another podium during the following weekend at the Styrian GP, prompting hopes of another championship battle with 2019 FIA F3 title rival Shwartzman. But these results proved a bit of an outlier in a largely disappointing season for Armstrong, who failed to score a single point during the next six rounds after the Austria double-header. He only made the top ten in qualifying on three occasions, though two of these efforts came in the final four rounds during a late-season improvement.
In contrast, Lundgaard was consistently strong in qualifying, missing out on the top ten only twice during a mid-season slump at Barcelona and Spa. He wasn’t always able to convert that pace into results in the feature races, however, collisions in Budapest and Sochi in particular proving costly. He made up for that to a degree in the sprint races, where he was only outscored by Schumacher. Lundgaard’s strongest weekend came at Mugello, where was comfortably the fastest driver throughout. Starting from his first F2 pole, he was denied a dominant feature race win by a late safety car intervention, but bounced back to take his second sprint race victory of the year the following day.
Other highlights
Luca Ghiotto returned to F2 for a fifth campaign, and used his experience to give Hitech its maiden series victory in the Hungarian GP sprint race, a weekend dominated by tyre issues, and scored a further three podiums during a solid season.
The most unlikely triumph of the season was delivered by another experienced F2 driver Nobuharu Matsushita, who came from 18th on the grid to win the Barcelona feature race for MP Motorsport, with the help of great tyre preservation and a well-timed safety car period.
Daruvala had to wait until the final race of the season to take his maiden F2 victory, having been largely outshone by Carlin team-mate Tsunoda for most of the year. His late-season improvement in form will give him reason to be optimistic ahead of a second season with the team in 2021.
Despite qualifying no higher than eighth during the year, Haas F1 reserve driver Louis Deletraz finished on the podium five times with some impressive drives for Charouz, albeit none of those on the top step.
Jack Aitken was unable to add to his four F2 victories during his third season in the series. Driving for the struggling Campos team, Aitken still showed his talent to grab a couple of unlikely podium finishes during the year, prior to making his F1 debut with Williams in Bahrain.
All images courtesy of @fia_f2 official twitter
