2020 Sochi Sprint Race

The 2020 Sochi Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2020 Sochi Formula 2 Race 2, was the twentieth race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia on 27 September 2020. The race, held in support of the Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020, would see Guanyu Zhou claim victory as a huge accident caused the race to be suspended after just five laps.

Guanyu Zhou would start the race from pole position, having claimed eighth place in the Feature Race. The Chinese racer duly translated pole position into an early lead at the start of the race, while behind Nikita Mazepin fell from second into the swarm.

Jack Aitken hence moved up to challenge Zhou in the long drag into turn two, although the #3 UNI-Virtuosi held the #9 Campos at bay on the brakes. Behind, Mick Schumacher shot up from eighth to third, while at the back Guilherme Samaia launched off a kerb and into the side of Jake Hughes.

A Virtual Safety Car was thrown to cover the removal of Samaia and Hughes' cars from the circuit, with the race resuming at the start of lap three. At the restart, Mazepin moved back up the field to second with moves on Schumacher and Aitken, before Schumacher danced his way past Aitken to reclaim third.

A few laps later and Aitken was under attack from Luca Ghiotto for fourth, with the #25 Hitech Grand Prix driving around the outside of the #9 Campos through turn three. Unfortunately Aitken, who hung on down the inside of the Italian racer, would suffer a puncture, which dragged the Campos into the side of Ghiotto's Hitech while both were flat-out.

Ghiotto was sent skating sideways into the barriers on the outside of turn three, destroying the car and tearing into the tec-pro barriers. Aitken too would find his car burying itself into the barriers a few yards further on from Ghiotto, with the damage to both cars and barriers causing a red flag.

Marshals quickly descended on the scene, with both Ghiotto and Aitken able to climb out of their cars and walk away unaided. Yet, the repairs to the barriers would take too long, resulting in the race being suspended after six laps, with half points awarded based on the order of the field ending on lap five.

Zhou hence claimed his maiden F2 victory ahead of Mazepin, while Schumacher's tenth podium of the campaign saw him extend his lead. Aitken and Ghiotto were then classified in fourth and fifth, while Yuki Tsunoda was the best of the title pretenders in sixth. Callum Ilott was next up in seventh, while Dan Ticktum claimed the final point in eighth.

Background
The Sochi Autodrom remained unchanged after the Feature Race, with the DRS zones and chicane run-off areas unmodified in spite of several infringements. There would also be no changes to the entry, with Guanyu Zhou set to start the Sprint from pole position after sweeping to eighth in the Saturday race. Indeed, Mick Schumacher's race winning #20 Prema would have a question over its legality after a lengthy post-race investigation, although the German racer escaped punishment.

DRS Dramas
After the Feature Race the top three cars were subject to scrutineering, the usual practice for an FIA event to ensure that all cars met the technical rulebook. However, while the #20 car was deemed legal in terms of tyre pressure, fuel sample, and front and rear wing parameters, an anomaly was spotted on the DRS system, prompting a further investigation. This investigation revealed that Schumacher's car had been fitted with elements of a DRS system that had been replaced on safety grounds after the 2019 Bahrain Sprint Race, with Prema summoned to the stewards as a result.

After a lengthy investigation and discussion with the stewards, the officials decided that no sporting advantage had been given to Schumacher as a result of the part, although Prema were instructed to change it. Furthermore, all teams were to be issued with technical specifications to check whether they were also using the superseded part, after Prema had acknowledged that they had fitted it at the Monza round after an issue. Furthermore, Dallara agreed to update the system completely ahead of the 2021 season, in order to avoid issues with cross pollination of older parts.

Pitwall Protests
Having survived an investigation into Schumacher's DRS, the Prema Racing team would also be investigated for an infringement during their pitstops, after team boss Rene Rosin was seen shouting across from the pitwall. Rosin's involvement was investigated under Article 21.5 of the sporting rulebook, which limits the number of personnel able to work on a car to twelve. Rosin was hence considered as a thirteenth team member for his attempts to communicate across the pitlane, although he was cleared of any wrong doing as the incident occurred before Schumacher and Robert Shwartzman came into the pits. Other mitigating circumstances were also cited, including the ambient noise of the pitlane meaning Rosin was unlikely to be heard, and the fact that he opted against using the pit-to-pit radio headset.

However, after the investigation outcome was published several teams, cited as ART Grand Prix, Carlin, DAMS and UNI-Virtuosi were reported as having lodged their attention to appeal the decision. This came as the stewards opted to fine Rosin and Prema €10,000, an acknowledgement of some breach of the regulations, despite their being precedent to disqualify both Schumacher and Shwartzman. Regardless, no formal appeals would be lodged before the Sochi Sprint.

Schumacher Stunner
Mick Schumacher appeared to have taken an important step towards the Championship after the Sochi Feature, with victory allowing the German youth to open up an eighteen point lead. That meant that Callum Ilott could not overhaul Schumacher even with a perfect score in the Sochi Sprint, although he still remained a principle pretender to the Championship. Behind, they had both opened a gap to Christian Lundgaard in third, who ended the day level with Yuki Tsunoda on 145 points, while Robert Shwartzman had slipped 46 off the lead in fifth.

Prema Racing had ended the Feature Race having further enhanced their lead in the Teams' Championship, as they moved onto 326 points for the campaign. That left the Italian squad 46 clear of UNI-Virtuosi in second, while Hitech Grand Prix were a further 46 behind in third. A 51 point gap then separated Hitech from ART Grand Prix in fourth, while Carlin completed the top five on 181.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:
 * * Placeholder liveries are show for the second drivers in each team.

Grid
The grid for the Sprint Race was formed from the finishing positions from the Feature Race, with the top eight reversed as per-FIA Formula 2 Championship rules:

Race
Conditions remained clear and dry at the Sochi Autodrom for the Sprint Race, with no threat of rain for the 45 minute battle on Sunday morning. Likewise, there were no changes to the grid, with Guanyu Zhou set to lead the field away from pole position with all 22 drivers starting on the medium compound Pirelli tyres.

Report
Zhou duly aced the start to secure the lead at the start, with Jack Aitken likewise making an excellent start from third to claim second. Nikita Mazepin, meanwhile, would find himself under instant attack from Jehan Daruvala and Luca Ghiotto after dropping to third after starting on the dirtier side of the grid. Behind it was a similar story, with those on the racing line getting far better starts than those on the dirty side of the grid.

Into turn two for the first time and Zhou would fend off a half-hearted look from Aitken on the brakes, while Mazepin held the inside line from Daruvala and Ghiotto to hold third. Indeed, that fight would also see Ghiotto forced wide, and hence lose fifth to Mick Schumacher on the exit, the German racer having been the exception to the start rule in leaping from eighth to sixth. Behind, however, there would be chaos on the exit, as Guilherme Samaia and Jake Hughes clashed after the Brazilian racer clattered the outside kerb and had a half spin into the side of the #17 BWT HWA Racelab.

Samaia and Hughes were out as a result, although both were able to drive to safe places to be dragged away from the circuit. Yellow flags were thrown in order to cover their cars' removal from the circuit, which was withdrawn before the end of the opening tour. That meant that fighting could resume with only a brief intervention, with Callum Ilott coming under attack from Yuki Tsunoda into turn two.

While Ilott kept Tsunoda at bay through turn three, Mazepin was working to make up for his miserable start, firing down the inside of Aitken into turn five to reclaim second. With that the Russian racer was off to chase Zhou, although the #3 UNI-Virtuosi had established a two second lead. Aitken, meanwhile, was left under attack from Schumacher, before a Virtual Safety Car was thrown due to issues removing Samaia's car.

The race resumed as the leaders came through turn four on lap three, with Zhou and Mazepin now well clear of Aitken. Indeed, the Anglo-Korean racer was having to defend hard from Schumacher at the restart, with the #20 Prema trying a lunge down the inside of turn thirteen on the brakes, although Aitken held on. However, the German youth was not deterred, and duly threw his car down the inside of Aitken of the penultimate corner.

Schumacher hence established third and powered away, while Aitken was compromised on the exit and was powerless to prevent Daruvala firing past into the final corner. Aitken was, however, able to respond to Daruvala's move down the start/finish straight with the slipstream, and claimed the inside line into turn two as they hit the brakes. Daruvala tried to resist on the outside of the #9 Campos, but slid wide and had to take the escape road, allowing Ghiotto to close right onto his tail.

As that fight concluded Ilott would lose seventh to Tsunoda, who quickly pulled clear of the Brit, while Ilott drifted back into the sights of Dan Ticktum. Out front, meanwhile, Zhou was holding a small margin over Mazepin, while Schumacher appeared to have settled for third, unable to match the lead duo's pace. Aitken, meanwhile, would hold onto fourth, after Daruvala tried another lunge around the outside of turn two, only to lock his rear wheels and bounce across the kerbs, handing fifth to Ghiotto.

A lap later and Ghiotto was on the back of Aitken and lining up a move into turn two, and duly fired the #25 Hitech down the inside of the #9 Campos to secure fourth. However, Aikten had a better line through the corner and hence got a better exit, allowing him to draw back alongside the Italian racer, crucially with the inside line for turn three. That, however, would be a huge factor a few moments later, as a puncture caused a race ending accident between the two a few moments later.

Indeed, as Aitken held off Ghiotto through the flat out left hander, the Anglo-Korean racer would have a sudden deflation of his right rear tyre, which kicked the car into a small slide. That slide resulted in the #9 Campos slapping the side of the #25 Hitech mid-corner, and hence sending both skating into the outside wall at high speed. Their mutual impacts shredded the tec-pro barriers as both cars ended up buried and with heavy damage, although both Ghiotto and Aitken would escape unaided and without injury.

The extensive barrier damage caused the race to be red flagged, with no time on when the race would restart given. Indeed, the fate of the race was ultimately sealed when Ghiotto's car caught fire while buried in the barriers, resulting in the race being abandoned on lap seven. The final classification was hence based on the finishing order of lap five, with half points awarded due to the fact that the race had not reached 75% of its scheduled distance.

Zhou was hence classified as the winner, claiming 7.5 points, while Mazepin claimed just half a point less for finishing second with the bonus point for fastest lap. Schumacher then completed the podium in third to extend his Championship lead, while Aitken and Ghiotto were still classified in fourth and fifth despite causing the red flag. Tsunoda was next up ahead of Ilott, while Dan Ticktum claimed the final point in eighth.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * The race was originally scheduled to last for 21 laps / 122.808 km (76.309 mi), but was abandoned on lap six and the final classification taken from the end of lap five.
 * † Daruvala was awarded a five second time penalty for ignoring the Race Director's instructions.
 * ‡ Drugovich was awarded a five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.

Milestones

 * First FIA Formula 2 Championship race to be awarded half points.
 * Also the first FIA F2 race to be abandoned since the 2019 Spa Feature Race.
 * Roy Nissany entered his 40th F2 race.
 * Twentieth race for Marcus Armstrong, Jehan Daruvala, Felipe Drugovich, Pedro Piquet, Guilherme Samaia, Robert Shwartzman and Yuki Tsunoda.
 * Maiden victory for Guanyu Zhou.
 * Zhou became the first Chinese driver to win an GP2/F2 level race.
 * Tenth podium for Zhou.
 * UNI-Virtuosi secured their eighth win as an entrant.
 * Fifth podium for Nikita Mazepin.
 * Tenth podium of the season for Mick Schumacher.

Standings
Mick Schumacher rounded out the Sochi weekend with a 22 point lead in the Championship with two rounds to go, the German youth having moved onto 191 points for the campaign. Callum Ilott had retained second on 169, while Yuki Tsunoda had fully assumed third place, a further 22 points off of Ilott. Christian Lundgaard and Robert Shwartzman ended a miserable weekend having slipped to fourth and fifth, while Nikita Mazepin had moved level with the latter on 140 points.

In the Teams' Championship it was Prema Racing who would head to Bahrain in complete control, having claimed 331 ahead of the two weekend finale. That left them 42.5 ahead of UNI-Virtuosi in second, while Hitech Grand Prix occupied third, a further 44.5 points away. ART Grand Prix and Carlin then completed the top five, sat on 183 points apiece.