Richard Verschoor scored his first FIA Formula 2 victory after leading Saturday’s second sprint race at Silverstone from start-to-finish.
The MP Motorsport driver dominated the reversed-grid encounter from pole, despite two early safety car periods, with DAMS driver Marcus Armstrong and Carlin’s Dan Ticktum completing the podium places.
A big crash on the opening lap necessitated the first caution period, with Ralph Boschung (Campos) spinning at the Loop after being squeezed out wide and then being collected by the hapless Alessio Deledda (HWA).
Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou, who started from the back of the field after retiring from Saturday’s earlier race, miraculously avoided Boschung after swerving onto the grass.
The safety car was deployed again after six laps, when Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala and Trident’s Bent Viscaal collided at Stowe while contesting 13th place. Viscaal retired on the spot, while Daruvala rejoined after pitting for a new front wing – but was handed a 10s penalty by the stewards for the incident.
Verschoor controlled the remainder of the race, with Amstrong holding off a late charge from Ticktum to finish second.
Prema’s Oscar Piastri and HItech’s Liam Lawson continued their battle from the first race, with Piastri again coming out on top to snatch fourth after passing his rival into Brookands with four laps remaining.
Piastri extended his points lead, while team-mate and championship rival Robert Shwartzman spun out of ninth place with one lap to go and failed to score. Zhou, who had led the standings prior to the weekend, failed to score for the second race in a row despite recovering to 11th place. Piastri will start Sunday’s feature race from pole.
Hitech’s Juri Vips held off MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich to finish sixth, the pair having been embroiled in an exciting late battle.
David Beckmann scored the final point in eighth for Charouz, with MP’s Lirim Zendelli and ART’s Theo Pourchaire rounding out the top 10.
Race result (21 laps)
| 1 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 42m38.809s |
| 2 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | +1.202s |
| 3 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | +2.350s |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | +7.726s |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Hitech | +12.161s |
| 6 | Juri Vips | Hitech | +14.879s |
| 7 | Felipe Drugovich | Virtuosi | +15.522s |
| 8 | David Beckmann | Charouz | +16.562s |
| 9 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | +18.150s |
| 10 | Theo Pourchaire | ART | +18.619s |
| 11 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | +19.583s |
| 12 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | +21.141s |
| 13 | Christian Lundgaard | ART | +21.893s |
| 14 | Matteo Nannini | Campos | +23.047s |
| 15 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | +24.329s |
| 16 | Marino Sato | Trident | +26.701s |
| 17 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | +33.083s |
| 18 | Jack Aitken | HWA | +35.937s |
| 19 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | +42.390s |
| DNF | Bent Viscaal | Trident | |
| DNF | Ralph Boschung | Campos | |
| DNF | Alessio Deledda | HWA |
Featured image credit: @fia_f2 official twitter
