Tsunoda claims Belgium F2 victory after Mazepin penalty

Yuki Tsunoda picked up his second Formula 2 victory of the season at Spa-Francorchamps after Nikita Mazepin was handed a five-second penalty for forcing him off the track.

Tsunoda led the way in the first stint, building a substantial lead over Mazepin in second during the first ten laps but the net lead of the race changed hands through the pit stop phase.

Hitech opted to pit Mazepin on Lap 10 to perform the undercut and it proved crucial with Carlin performing a slow stop as Tsunoda stopped a lap later.

The Japanese driver came out behind and closed up to the back of the Russian in the closing laps, but Mazepin stood firm and defended hard into the Les Combes chicane - defending the inside line meaning Tsunoda had to resort to the run-off area on multiple occasions - ultimately ending up with a penalty for over-aggressive defending.

Mazepin took the win on track but was awarded a five-second penalty shortly after taking the chequered flag handing Tsunoda the victory.

The Russian driver is also under investigation for an unsafe release.

Mick Schumacher endured a lonely race on his way to third and the final podium place.

The German made a great start from sixth on the grid and was running third in the early laps, where he stayed for the remainder of the afternoon.

Louis Deletraz was another fast starter in the Charouz Racing System car, eventually finishing fourth ahead of championship contender Robert Shwartzman in fifth place.

Dan Ticktum was an impressive sixth on the reverse medium to soft strategy, fending off Guanyu Zhou in the closing laps.

Roy Nissany claimed eighth and reverse grid pole in what was a great performance from the Israeli driver.

Nissany overtook Luca Ghiotto with a daring lunge into Les Combes and will line up on pole in Sunday’s sprint race.

Ghiotto and points leader Callum Ilott rounded out the top ten with the Ferrari junior struggling for pace all weekend. 

It was a bad day for MP Motorsport with Nobuharu Matsushita and Felipe Drugovich coming to blows on the rundown to Blanchimont, with Matsushita ending in the barriers resulting in a brief Virtual Safety Car period on Lap 5.

Ilott now leads the championship by just seven points, with Tsunoda a further four points back from Shwartzman in second.