Start, F2, Paul Ricard, 2019

De Vries takes championship lead with third win

Formula Two

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Nyck de Vries moved into the Formula 2 championship lead by taking his third win from the last four races at Paul Ricard.

The ART driver took the lead from fourth on the grid at the start, bursting through to the front with fellow second-row starter Jack Aitekn.

However the race was neutralised soon after. Prema driver Sean Gelael cut across the inside of the turn three chicane and made heavy contact with Mick Schumacher, the impact lifting his team mate’s car off the ground.

Schumacher limped into the pits with a right-rear puncture and terminal damage, shedding debris as he went. Meanwhile other first-lap problems claimed Mahaveer Raghunathan, Dorian Boccolacci and Nikita Mazepin, and prompted race control to throw the red flag.

After the race restarted De Vries held his lead but fell behind Aitken after his rival made his mandatory pit stop a lap sooner. De Vries wasted no time in hitting back, however, repassing his rival with DRS as they approached the chicane. He capped an impressive day’s work by setting the fastest lap on his final tour, collecting the bonus point.

Aitken later lost second place to pole sitter Sergio Sette Camara, who fought his way forward after a sluggish getaway. He finished well clear of Guanyu Zhou, who was the first rookie home, and Nicholas Latifi, the Williams test driver and pre-race points leader managing only fifth.

Jordan King returned to the series with sixth place ahead of Juan Manuel Correa. The American driver was hit by Luca Ghiotto late in the race which put the Uni-Virtuosi racer out and cost him a potential pole position for the sprint race. Anthoine Hubert profited at Ghiotto’s expense, and the last points were taken by Nobuharu Matsushita and Giuliano Alesi.

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    4 comments on “De Vries takes championship lead with third win”

    1. Mick Schumacher is very overrated, unlucky today but the guy has no pace. He will probably be a Jolyon Palmer type will win GP2 in his 3rd year or something.

      1. While I definitely think that his surname means nothing in regards to his skills, and up to this point we didn’t exactly see how he is conquering the autosport, I still think you are a bit harsh.

        His team is not the top-team in F2, if he manages to adapt and win in 3 years, I think it will be a worthy achievement. Maybe not F1-grade worthy, but still good.
        Most probably, though, if he manages to gather enough super license points (though this looks increasingly unlikely this year) he will be taken straight into F1, without winning F2.

        If he manages to prove himself in F1… is not the question we can answer now. F1 is not always predictable… heck, certain Pastor has a win to his name, and certain Jacques is a World Champion!
        F1 sometimes throw wild surprises at us… so if Mick is in F1… let’s just wait and see for ourselves.

        1. Prema is a top team in F2. It’s far better than Arden or Charouz, and both Hubert and Correa are performing better than Mick. I’m not saying he’s bad, maybe he’s a slow learner, but his results are not promissing.

      2. He is not the only one many drivers with their relatives who were in F1 ended up being overrated.

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