Mick Schumacher scored his first Formula 2 win of the season, and his first in a feature race, after a superb start from seventh on the grid at Monza.
Schumacher, who crashed at Ascari in qualifying yesterday, made a rapid getaway the fourth row of the grid and was swiftly up to second place behind pole winner and fellow Ferrari Driver Academy emmber Callum Ilott. With their title rival Robert Shwartzman 16th on the grid after a messy Friday, both were looking to capitalise.Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, who won the feature race at Spa, also looked like a threat from second on the grid. But a terrible start left him fifth after the first few corners.
Luca Ghiotto, who started from the second row with Christian Lundgaard, also dropped down the order as Ilott drew clear in the lead. Ilott made the soft tyres last 12 laps before coming in to pit.
However Ilott stalled as he made to rejoin the track and had to be restarted, losing a huge amount of time. He returned to the track in 21st place behind every other driver on the same strategy.
Ghiotto waited until lap 15 to pit, emerging in an effective third place behind Schumacher and Lundgaard, a tactical move which helped rescue his race following that poor first lap. After that, however, Schumacher’s lead was essentially uncontested – having pitted, he was able to draw out a gap in front and to take control of the race.
Lundgaard and Ghiotto battled for the two remaining podium positions, which allowed Schumacher to further extend his lead. Ghiotto ultimately passed Lundgaard for second as tyre degradation started to kick in, and Ghiotto’s later pit stop gave him an advantage.
Ilott was able to recover to fifth, meaning he draws even with Shwartzman in the standings with both on 134 points. Schumacher’s win, at the track where his father took five victories for Ferrari, pushes him up to third, just three points behind. In an closely-fought championship, Schumacher is the 10th different winner from the 15 races so far.
Deletraz came eighth, taking reverse-grid pole for tomorrow’s sprint race with Dan Ticktum beside him on the front row.
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Chaitanya
5th September 2020, 17:34
Absolute flawless drive by Mick today in what was a crazy race behind him.
sam3110 (@sam3110)
5th September 2020, 17:51
People a few races ago were writing Schumi Jr off as a flop with nothing but a famous last name, pointing to mistakes and lack of wins, but I thought he had been pretty unlucky last season with reliability and incidents, and just needed a run of luck to go his way. A win today and his recent spate of podiums show he can be the real deal, and with all 3 FDA guys at the top of the pile I could see at least 1 of them stepping up to F1 next season, maybe even 2
BasCB (@bascb)
5th September 2020, 17:55
Well, @sam3110 I certainly remained unconvinced that young Schumacher was a better pick to get into F1 than either Ilot or Shwarzmann. However the last two races weekends certainly show some progress with him, so who knows, he might come out ahead of them before the end of the season.
That is called development.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
5th September 2020, 19:39
I’m more annoyed with sky, they pulled his name as a potential 2020 sauber driver but resorted to belittling him as a name, just a name. “Let me just bring this guy up to drag him as far down as possible.”
One thing stands out about Mick is that he is focused and ambitious, some guys look to have more speed but just not ready for prime time.
Shimks (@shimks)
6th September 2020, 16:59
@sam3110 @bascb @peartree I was very impressed with Mick today. That blinding start and then good solid racecraft. I still don’t see him as a front runner for a place in F1 yet. Shwartzman, Tsunoda, Mazepin, Zhou are all more exciting and seem more mature. Ghiotto has flashes of brilliance but isn’t consistent enough. Ticktum puts me off, he’s such a cry baby. I think another year in F2 will do Mick the world of good. I think promoting him to F1 too early could be disastrous.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th September 2020, 19:11
From what he’s shown so far, I am also inclined to see it as a better way forward for Mick Schumacher to stay in F2 for another season @shimks.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
5th September 2020, 18:03
It’s a real shame there’s not that many seats available in F1 because Ilott, Shwartzman, Schumacher, Tsunoda and Zhou all look pretty decent enough to be in F1. We almost need another two or three teams in F1 just to give some of these guys a good shot.
This championship in F2’s really impressed me, it’s quite tight but you’ve got a few teams and a few drivers in with a good chance of winning and some really good skill there.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
5th September 2020, 19:08
Indeed! I would also ad Lundgaard, Druguvic and maybe even Ticktum to that list of exciting young drivers.
Plus we have rapid and very young drivers already in F1. Future looks bright. However I hope characters like Raikkonen and Hamilton will still be around for a while as I enjoy the clash of generations
Miani (@miani)
5th September 2020, 20:33
In my opinion Lundgaard is the most talented of all those names, closely followed by Drugovich, Shwartzman and Tsunoda. Ilott and Schumacher are in their second year and are older. Zhou never did anything excepcional until last year, and I think it was more due to Virtuosi having the best car overall than his skills alone. He’ll never make it to F1.
Pit
5th September 2020, 23:32
I agree for Lundgaard but I diasgree for Zhou. He has done some fantastic overtakes throught the series. I am not talking for DRS etc. but for ballsy stuff. In my opinion he is THE racer of the whole grid.
Sumedh
5th September 2020, 18:53
Look at the F2 talent in the Ferrari driver academy and the 4 seats available in the Ferrari powered customer teams:
Antonio: has got lot of chances, but not showing much improvement
Kimi: age 40+
Romain: Romain
Kevin: Occasionally fast, but not consistent.
I think at least 3 of these drivers should get replaced for next season by the academy folks.
Gunther was talking of 2 year contracts for the next driver, taking young promising ones from your engine supplier’s driver academy seems to be a wise sporting and financial move.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
5th September 2020, 20:56
You got me at Romain, thanks for the laugh :) I agree with you, however, I’m not sure whether Haas will be willing to put a rookie in their seat – they are tragic for the second year in a row, the economic situation is bleak and we’re actually lucky to have them on the grid for the next year. If Grosjean loses his seat, I can only imagine someone who’s bringing money to get his seat. Likewise with Alfa – I’m not convinced by Antonio either, I can imagine his seat to free towards to the end of the season. It would be fantastic and beautifully symbolic to have Kimi and Mick in the same team, an old experienced driver and once a young pretender to his father’s reign to guide Mick in his F1 debut. If Kimi decides to retire this year, I can see Sauber offering one seat to one of the youngsters and the second to Rob Kubica, who can bring even more lucrative deal with his sponsors (not to diminish his driver qualities, I still see him as an exceptional driver).
Shimks (@shimks)
7th September 2020, 11:25
Romain: Romain
Haha! Me too!! :O)
jlb
5th September 2020, 18:55
Mick’s F3 2018 season part II.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
5th September 2020, 19:22
Indeed. Again it’s the 2nd part of his 2nd season in the series. Mick seems to need a season and a half to get up to speed, but when he does, he’s almost unstoppable. Let’s see how the rest of the season unfolds, but my money is now on Mick for the title win.
Dave
5th September 2020, 19:31
And everyone cheered.
milansson
5th September 2020, 20:16
i mean, unless there is something shady going on in prema with doing something with the car in his favour, he is on a mighty run. He was killing his tyres earlier in the season (silverstone feature race for instance), but since then he’s been great. he consistently has awesome starts (he blew the start in one of the races in spa though), and i think he is a good character. a lot of pressure on his shoulders, no idea in what condition his dad is, which is not helping either. but to me he is a mature, sympathetic guy who does for sure have some skill, not just a famous name. hope he can win the title, but it will be tough.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
5th September 2020, 20:44
I must admit I wasn’t convinced by Mick a few weeks back either, but looking at the last six or seven races, he’s the most consistent and constantly appearing on the podium, which is decisive in the title battle right now. Rob Schwartzmann is a promising talent, however, his performances were too up and down lately, winning a race and then finishing out of the points – I feel Mick might be a bit more mature and experienced in this respect. I’m still cautious and won’t predict who’ll get the better of whom, but if Mick can keep his consistency in the second half of the season, adding more wins to his tally, he might deserve the seat.
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
5th September 2020, 22:20
I was never a fan of his dad, but no one can say he wasn’t one of the best. I do like mick a lot, just being able to continue on with his in the condition he is in. Reminds me of the strength leclerc had when his dad passed.
He sure is making a case for a race seat.