F2: Radio woes for Tsunoda as Shwartzman takes emotional win

When Formula 2 kicked off its delayed season in Austria last week it was Callum Ilott who won his first race in the series, whilst the sprint race was won by surprise victor Felipe Drugovich.

One week later, and with Saturdays feature race affected by wet conditions, it would be a completely different contest for the competitive F2 grid.

Friday’s qualifying was in the scorching summer sun, but with heavy rain expected for Saturday’s feature race, the need for a clear view ahead was becoming increasingly more important.

Carlin’s Yuki Tsunoda had been strong all day, and his pace from the practice session transferred into qualifying and the Red Bull junior took a first pole position in Formula 2 at only the second attempt.

Round one’s pole sitter Guanyu Zhou had another strong showing in the qualifying session, the Chinese driver endured a weekend of poor luck seven days ago, but once again showed great pace as he lined up on the front row alongside Tsunoda.

Championship leader and feature race winner in round one Ilott made it successive third place starts, and behind him it was much better for Luca Ghiotto and Jack Aitken as the F2 stalwarts would start in fourth and fifth respectively.

Due to the torrential rain on Saturday, it looked like Formula 2 would call off the feature race. The rain was streaming from the sky, and with just a few laps behind the safety car to judge racing conditions the decision was taken to delay the start with both Dan Ticktum and Robert Shwartzman declaring the track undrivable.

The field lined up in the pit-lane and endured over an hour long wait, and when it looked a certainty the race would be cancelled, race control announced the race would go ahead, as the clock ticked well into the evening in Spielberg.

The safety car led the grid around the circuit for the opening four laps, but as the race began on lap 5 the tricky on track conditions were still evident as the cars scattered across the track surface looking for visibility.

Yuki Tsunoda after taking a superb pole position on Friday was once again looking in fine form as the Japanese youngster bridged an early gap over the UNI-Virtuosi of Zhou with the Renault hopeful struggling to stay with him.

Christian Lundgaard had been on the radio during the red flag impatient to get going, and the reason showed immediately as he started to move forward, first passing Shwartzman and then Luca Ghiotto and Jack Aitken, yet his progressed was halted after a mistake chasing Callum Ilott forced the Dane onto the gravel as he fell back into the chasing pack.

As the race progressed and drivers started making their mandatory pit-stops, it was the Prema of Robert Shwartzman who was steadily making his way up the order, as the 2019 F3 champion dispatched Callum Ilott for third.

Race leader Tsunoda was enjoying a comfortable margin, but devastatingly a radio issue between Tsunoda and the Carlin pit-wall meant he would miss his pit window by four laps as Carlin desperately tried to gain his attention using the pit-boards and vigorous hand gestures imploring him to stop. The resulting time lost on old tyres, compounded by a slow stop would drop Tsunoda behind Shwartzman and Zhou.

Shwartzman had come alive in the second half of the race, and on lap 27 of 36 made a supreme move around the outside of Zhou at turn four, and from there the race result looked nailed on for the Russian.

However, fired up after his pit-stop calamity Tsunoda was tearing the times apart as he looked to close on Zhou and Shwartzman. The Japanese F2 rookie would pass Zhou on lap 30, but was frustratingly unable to pass Shwartzman as the pair crossed the line separated by 0.7s.

Shwartzman made it a first win in Formula 2 and emotionally dedicated the win to his late father who he lost in April to the Coronavirus.

“I’m really happy. I’ve run out of words. A big thanks to the team and to my father.”

Elated with his first victory, Shwartzman said after the race;

“I feel super happy, I wasn’t expecting at the beginning of this race to be in this position. The strategy was mega, so big thanks to the team.

“We changed the tyres quickly and when I exited the pit lane I was behind Zhou. I saw him struggling with the grip as it started to get drier, and it was a close move, but I managed to get a crossover on the exit.“

Robert Shwartzman

Tsunoda and Zhou rounded out the podium, which after round one was a dramatic upgrade in fortunes for the pair.

Victory for Shwartzman propelled him into an overnight lead in the championship with Callum Ilott who was only able to finish fifth. Christian Lundgaard recovered to sixth after his excursion across the gravel, with ART team mate Marcus Armstrong in seventh and DAMS Dan Ticktum picking up the reverse grid pole in eighth.

Sunday morning looked a different world after Saturday’s deluge with clear skies and a bone dry track surface as the grid lined up for the sprint race.

ART’s Christian Lundgaard used a superb start to rocket past Ticktum and lead the field into turn one.

Whilst it seemed that the pack all got through unscathed on the exit of turn one, feature race victor Robert Shwartzman spun his Prema unaided as the Russian got on the power, stalling the car, he was unable to get back in the race, as his attempt at extending a lead at the top of the standings faltered at the very start.

Lundgaard would steadily increase his advantage over Ticktum, whilst behind it was once again a weekend to forget to Mick Schumacher. The much touted son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher had started well, passing Marcus Armstrong for third as he looked at a podium to make up for a poor start to the season.

However, as the German rounded turn nine a freak accident occured, as a rubber marble hit a switch and caused his cockpit fire extinguisher to go off not only covering his steering wheel, but helmet visor as he struggled to find the visor tear off.

He would frustratingly retire once again and now looks ahead to next weeks race in Hungary, a circuit where he holds his current one and only victory in Formula 2 so far.

Back at the front, the day belonged to Christian Lundgaard, the Danish Renault Academy driver took a first win in Formula 2, and much like Formula 3 made it four different winners to open the season.

Dan Ticktum scored a second consecutive sprint race podium in second, with Lundgaard’s ART team mate Marcus Armstrong held off a late charge from both Zhou and Ilott to hold third.

Even with his sprint race retirement, Robert Shwartzman holds onto the championship lead by a small margin as he takes a five point to Budapest over Ilott and Lundgaard, but with four of the top five after two rounds rookies to Formula 2, it is already proving that the next generation of single seat racing drivers are already biting at the heels of Formula One looking for their opportunity to shine.