F2: Rookies Shine in New Normal as Ilott Wins in Austria

Formula Two returned after its extended absence with a bang after the opening races to their season presented us with two new winners in the final step before Formula One.

Friday’s qualifying session saw the UNI-Virtuosi driver Guanyu Zhou put his car on pole by a comfortable four tenth margin alongside surprise front row sitter Felipe Drugovich in second. The MP Motorsport driver had made the step up from Formula Three, but with only one points finish last season wasn’t considered to be one of the drivers to watch for in the 30 minute session.

However as the lights went out and started the 2020 season for Saturdays ‘Feature Race’ it was pole sitter Zhou’s team-mate Callum Ilott who made a superb getaway and lead into turn one from third on the grid. The UNI-Virtuosi pair duelled over the following corners and Zhou managed to slip back into the lead before the end of lap one.

Carlin have seen race winners in previous seasons with the likes of Nobaharu Matsushita and Lando Norris taking to the top step, but the last thing they wanted was to see team-mates and Red Bull Junior Team drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Jehan Daruvala coming to blows in the early stages as Tsunoda mis-judged his braking point and spun Daruvala out of ninth place. The spin would relegate the Indian driver Daruvala to last, whilst Tsunoda would be slapped with a five second penalty for the incident.

Zhou was seemingly in control of the race until an electrical glitch caused the Chinese driver to slow and limp back to the pit-lane promoting Ilott and a fast starting Mick Schumacher into the a two car battle for the lead. The trio had been embraced in a superb battle on circuit after breaking away from the pack, but after fighting his way back through the pair after being undercut in the pit-stops, it was an effective end of Zhou’s winning chances.

Ilott re-took the lead that he briefly held on lap one and then held off the charge of Schumacher’s Prema behind until lap 31 when an error from the young German saw him miss the braking point for turn seven and skate across the gravel. This left the door open for Ilott to cruise home to a first victory in Formula Two and perfect way to open his season.

The pack behind Ilott was made up of four Formula Two rookies as 2019 F3 runner-up Marcus Armstrong held off his former team-mate and F3 champion Robert Shwartzman with some strong defensive driving.

The pair came to blows in Austria last year, but one year later they kept it clean and it was the New Zealander Armstrong who got the upper hand on Shwartzman as the pair crossed the line.

Christian Lundgaard finished in fourth after fighting off a late challenge from DAMS Dan Ticktum, whilst Felipe Drugovich managed to hold onto eighth after dropping through the field during the race and scored the all important reverse grid pole for Sunday’s sprint race.

It was a race to forget for the likes of Zhou, Jack Aitken and Schumacher. Zhou’s issues dropped him a lap down and out of contention for the points. Whilst Aitken’s error of being out of position at the start saw him pick up a large penalty and finish a lowly 15th.

Schumacher admitted post-race that he was at fault for the incident that saw him lose what looked a guaranteed podium as he finished just outside of the points in eleventh.

“I am very annoyed with myself that I gave away a possible podium. The race had been running almost perfectly up to that point: I had a good start from fifth to third place and also got on very well with the tyres.”

It was a Ferrari Driver Academy 1-2-3 as all three shared a quiet and somewhat reserved podium celebration, but it was Ilott who started off his second season in Formula Two in the strongest way.

Sunday’s ‘Sprint Race’ saw Felipe Drugovich make a second appearance on the front row this time starting from the pole.

Holding off the much more experienced Louis Deletraz into turn one the Brazilian did a fine job of holding his nerve through a safety car affected race with the race put under full caution on three occasions in the 28 lap long race.

Firstly it was the unfortunate Giuliano Alesi who saw his HWA Racelab go up in smoke as fire spurted from the back of the pink car on exit of turn three ending his good start.

Luca Ghiotto’s weekend didn’t get any better as the Italian who had already started from the back on the grid was spun by Jehan Daruvala into turn four, and unable to get the car restarted ensured that he would leave round one with no points and subsequently bringing out the second safety car of the race.

On lap 14 the ART of Marcus Armstrong who was running well in third slowed and then grinded to a halt on the run up to turn three as the safety car was redeployed immediately as the New Zealander attempted to roll his broken ART back down into a service road. This retirement promoted Dan Ticktum into third, the DAMS driver has had a colourful journey to F2 but looked on the pace immediately all weekend as he fended of F3 champion Robert Schwartzman’s Prema.

Late in the race Ticktum would close in on Deletraz, but it was Drugovich who took his first race win in F2 at the second attempt as MP Motorsport celebrated their first victory since Sergio Sette-Camara’s win in the Sprint race at Spa in 2017.

Drugovich stunned the field with his consistent driving and calm restarts as the 20 year old stood upon the top-step of the rostrum for the first time in his career since his dominant season in 2018’s Euroformula Open Championship.

Deletraz added a fifth second place finish as he desperately hunts his first win in Formula Two, whilst Dan Ticktum ended a successful first weekend with a debut podium in third.

Ticktum said of his debut weekend

“This was a very strong weekend. The real positive is I still have a lot left in myself. The pace was pretty good across both races and I think I managed the tyres quite well”

It was more solid points for Robert Shwartzman and Christian Lundgaard in fourth and fifth, whilst Feature Race winner Callum Ilott missed the chance to extend a lead in the points as he struggled to emulate his pace fro race one and missed out on the final point to the Campos of Jack Aitken.

However, it is Ilott who leads the way after round one on 27 points with Schwartzman starting his season off well with two good results meaning he sits in second on 23 points.

It was a weekend to forget to Guanyu Zhou who after the pain of race one was caught up in Luca Ghiotto’s spin and after taking to the gravel could only manage 14th.

Formula Two once again offered some superb on-track entertainment, and with a long list of drivers caapble of challenging for the 2020 title, it could mean we enjoy the most open and competitive season yet for the drivers on the final stop before F1.

They will return next week at the same circuit for round two, and no doubt we will see as much action as the field get back up to speed after their long time away from racing on track.