Schumacher claims first F2 victory of 2020 at Monza

Mick Schumacher has put his name in title contention following a comfortable win in the Formula 2 feature race at Monza as he became the tenth different winner this season.

The German made a lightning start from seventh on the grid, rising to second place on the opening lap.

Schumacher pressurised race leader Callum Ilott up until the pit stop phase, where the race changed hands after Ilott stalled in the pits on Lap 11.

The Prema driver stopped a lap later than Ilott and rejoined comfortably clear of Christian Lundgaard, who was running in a net second place following Ilott's botched stop.

Schumacher went on to win comfortably, ending the race 3.1s clear of Luca Ghiotto, who managed to overtake Lundgaard for second in the closing laps.

Ghiotto’s podium on home soil means he now has 23 F2 podiums to his name.

Ilott dropped well down the field but managed to recover well, setting times nearly one second faster than his competitors at some points on his way to sixth place - behind Yuki Tsunoda in fourth and Guanyu Zhou fifth.

Zhou made the most of the reverse strategy, going long on the mediums avoiding the midfield madness and made the most of the soft tyres in the closing laps.

Like Zhou, Dan Ticktum made the most of the reverse strategy to come home seventh ahead of Louis Deletraz - who will start Sunday’s sprint race from pole position.

Robert Shwartzman recovered to ninth after qualifying in 16th, with Jehan Daruvala rounding out the top ten.

Today’s result means Shwartzman and Ilott are level on 134 points in the standings, while Schumacher is just behind on 131 points.