Shwartzman storms to Spa sprint race win, takes F2 points lead

Ferrari Formula 1 junior Robert Shwartzman moved back into the lead of the FIA Formula 2 Championship standings with an emphatic victory in the Spa-Francorchamps sprint race.

Shwartzman made a great start to jump up to third at the start, before he inherited the lead of the race when Dan Ticktum and Roy Nissany collided at Les Combes on Lap 4.

Ticktum swept around the outside of Nissany at Les Combes and looked to have the move done but ran wide and launched over the kerbs, before connecting with Nissany’s Trident as he rejoined the circuit, sending his fellow Williams F1 junior into the barriers and out of the race.

Shwartzman controlled the Safety Car restart and checked out to pull into a comfortable lead which he converted into his third victory of the 2020 season and his first since the Hungary feature race.

The reigning Formula 3 champion subsequently reclaimed the lead of the championship, moving 10 points clear of Callum Ilott, who was taken out on the first lap.

Mick Schumacher took his sixth podium of the season to complete a Prema 1-2, while Renault F1 protégé Guanyu Zhou rounded out the podium positions in third.

Hitech Grand Prix’s Nikita Mazepin claimed fourth ahead of teammate Luca Ghiotto, while Louis Deletraz was sixth for Charouz.

ART Grand Prix driver Christian Lundgaard rose up the order to take an impressive seventh ahead of Artem Markelov, who sealed his first points finish of the season for Arden in the final points-paying position in P8.

Following on from his feature race victory, Red Bull and Honda junior Yuki Tsunoda missed out on points by just one-tenth off a second after the Carlin driver was hit with a five-second time penalty for his involvement in spinning Ilott out of contention.

Early race-leader Dan Ticktum rounded out the top 10 in his ailing DAMS car which picked up damage from his collision with Nissany, resulting in him dramatically falling down the order through the 18-lap race.