Dan Ticktum controlled proceedings in the Formula 2 sprint race win in Monza, leading every lap after taking the lead from second on the grid.
However the DAMS driver came to a stop in a gravel trap immediately after taking the chequered flag. He had to take a lift back to parc ferme in the Medical Car.The reason for Ticktum’s stoppage, and whether it might cost him his second with of the season, remains unclear. But he wasn’t the only driver to suffer technical problems during a largely processional Sunday morning race.
Louis Deletraz had taken reverse-grid pole in yesterday’s feature race, with Ticktum lining up alongside him on the front row. Callum Ilott, who had drawn level on points with Robert Shwartzman in the lead of the championship, started in third with Christian Lundgaard fourth.
Ticktum made a rapid getaway, taking the lead smoothly into turn one while Deletraz seemed unable to keep up. Immediately falling into the pack, Deletraz’s tyres began to fade and was unable to stay with the leaders.
Two championship contenders retired with strangely similar faults. Championship contender Yuki Tsunoda was running fourth when his car slowed on lap three. Five laps later Guanyu Zhou, who lost a likely win at the Red Bull Ring to a technical problem earlier this year, also crawled back to the pits with a loss of power. Tsunoda was eventually able to continue, albeit six laps down.
Ilott made a DRS pass on a rapidly fading Deletraz on lap 12 for second, putting him on course to bolster his championship lead, but was still over one-and-a-half seconds back from Ticktum. Lundgaard, Schumacher and Shwartzman behind were in pursuit.
Felipe Drugovich spun out of the race on lap 18, prompting a Virtual Safety Car period which neutralised proceedings. The green flag was shown with two laps to go, giving Ilott the opportunity to pass Lundgaard, which he took.
Behind Ticktum, second place for Ilott means he edged ahead in the championship on 146 points. He has a seven-point lead over Schumacher, who came in fourth behind Lundgaard. Behind Deletraz in fifth came Shwartzman, who has fallen to third in the title chase on 138 points.
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Chaitanya
6th September 2020, 11:40
Incompetent stewards were back with both Piquet and Ghiotto shown warning flags too late in the race.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
6th September 2020, 11:52
I’ve started enjoying F2 much more than F1, especially due to this year’s strong line-up. I can easily imagine drivers like Illot, Lundgaard, Mick, Ticktum and Schwartzmann on the F1 grid, just too bad there are no seats for half of them at the moment.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
6th September 2020, 12:30
@pironitheprovocateur Schwartzmann sounds like a German version of Robert Shwartzman :D
Mashiat2 (@mashiat2)
6th September 2020, 13:32
@pironitheprovocateur I’m still not sure if this year’s lineup is strong, or that there isn’t really anyone who is quite good or consistent enough. I had high expectations for Shwartzman in F2, but he’s been slightly disappointing with his inconsistencies. He is the quickest in one race, then not even top 15 in another. I think last year was the worst F2 grid in years, and although this year is better in that regard, I don’t see many stand-outs who jump out as deserving of F1 seats. In prior years, we had the likes of Norris, Giovinazzi, Gasly, Russell, Leclerc, Vandoorne etc. who were clearly standouts in the categories. I personally still believe that Shwartzman, Tsunoda and Schumacher have the potential to maybe prove themselves, but right now, none of them are good enough for F1 in my opinion.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
6th September 2020, 16:46
@mashiat2 If you dig deep, though, maybe the fact that none of these drivers are having standout seasons is because it’s such a strong grid? Giovinazzi’s 2016 was an almost Regalia-level anomaly, he did drive very well, for the best team at the time, but this was after three seasons in Euro F3 where he was unable to fight for the title there. Also, I’m surprised you left out Lundgaard, he’s been arguably nearly as impressive as Tsunoda, and was very strong in F3 last year among the non-Prema cars.
Also, one thing people easily gloss over about Norris and Russell, they had less of a learning curve during their F2 rookie seasons, as the 2018 F2 car was a completely new car and concept, and a lot of the returning drivers had to unlearn a lot of stuff. This year, except for the 18-inch wheels and a new clutch, it’s pretty much the same car since 2018.
Jockey Ewing
9th September 2020, 9:25
There are a lot of rookies this year at F2. Many of them have only 1-2years of F3 experience. And there are many sophomores in F2 too. But it’s still better than having many paydrivers in a very expensive development series. I think a lot of inconsistency or random result is coming from the new 18″ tyres with that big rim, I’m sure that took at least a few races for most of the entrants to understand, so there were random strats and guesses too.
Dave
6th September 2020, 11:58
Most hated driver wins again…
jlb
6th September 2020, 12:01
What on earth is going on with race direction in F2 and F3. We’ve got a car stopped in the middle of the track, crane has to pick the car and they don’t release Safety Car. Pretty incompetent from Silvia Bellot. They are being slow and unconscious since a few races. About the race, Guanyu has a serious problem with starts, he needs to improve that. The most unlucky driver of the season I would say. He deserves at least one victory.
Chaitanya
6th September 2020, 12:17
Dont forget the cars with damaged front wings running around and not shown warning flags or blackflagged for doing the same.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
6th September 2020, 12:33
Сompared to the F3 race, this one was much less exciting. Still, not bad.