2020 Red Bull Ring Sprint Race

The 2020 Red Bull Ring Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2020 Formula 2 Red Bull Ring Race 2, was the second race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria on 5 July 2020. The race would see Felipe Drugovich sweep to his maiden F2 victory, having escaped from the field at the start.

The Brazilian racer would start the race from pole position, having finished the Feature Race in eighth. He would be joined on the front row by Louis Delétraz, while Feature winner Callum Ilott would start from eighth.

Drugovich aced his getaway from pole to secure the lead, with Delétraz dropping too far back to challenge on the brakes for turn one. Behind, Dan Ticktum moved to challenge the Swiss racer but settled for third, with Marcus Armstrong coming to his aid with a successful attack on Ticktum.

The race quickly settled down, although smoke and flame would begin pouring out of Giuliano Alesi's car, forcing him to pull off when running in sixth. That triggered a safety car to bunch the field back up behind Drugovich, who had escaped by two seconds before the SC was deployed.

A quick turnaround seemed to be on the cars with Alesi's car towed away, only for Sean Gelael to stop on track with an issue of his own, just as the field were released. The SC returned a lap later to allow the #1 DAMS to be snatched away, with Drugovich again sprinting away to secure a lead when the race finally resumed.

However, the race had barely got into a rhythm before the SC was called up again, this time for a spectacular off for Luca Ghiotto. The Italian racer had spun into the gravel while fighting at the back of the top ten, with an unfortunate Guanyu Zhou having to bounce across the grass to try and avoid Ghiotto's spinning car.

With a handful of laps to go the race resumed for a fourth time, with Drugovich belaying his rookie status as he again aced the restart. The Brazilian duly re-established his two second lead, as behind Armstrong had to pull into the pits having lost drive, handing third to Ticktum.

Indeed, with time running out there would be very little change to the order in the closing stages, as Drugovich controlled the pace of the race beautifully to claim his maiden F2 victory. Delétraz was an unopposed second ahead of Ticktum, while Robert Shwartzman battled his way to fourth ahead of Christian Lundgaard. Nobuharu Matsushita was next up after fending off a half-hearted challenge from Mick Schumacher, while Jack Aitken secured the final point in eighth after a late move on Ilott.

Background
There had been several technical checks across the field after the 2020 Red Bull Ring Feature Race, after several drivers had encountered engine issues during the race. Regardless, there would be no engine changes across the field, meaning there were no changes to the grid due to penalties. As a result it would be Felipe Drugovich who started from pole position due to the reverse grid rule, while Feature winner Callum Ilott would start from eighth.

Victory on the opening day ensured that Callum Ilott headed the field with one race in the books, with two points for fastest lap leaving him on 27 points. Marcus Armstrong was next up in second, nine behind, while Robert Shwartzman, Christian Lundgaard and Dan Ticktum completed the top five with eleven drivers on the scoresheet.

In the Teams' Championship it was, unsurprisingly, UNI-Virtuosi who headed the charge, having claimed 31 points across the opening day. However, their lead was only a single point from ART Grand Prix after a strong opening day for Armstrong and Lundgaard, while Prema Racing had half of their tally in third. Behind, there were five other teams on the scoresheet after the opening day, with Carlin, Hitech Grand Prix and Campos Racing having failed to score.

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
It was a cooler than it had been on Saturday afternoon in the Styrian mountains for the Sprint race, with the track temperature hovering at 40°C, while the air temperature was in the low 20°Cs. Otherwise, there were no changes to the field ahead of the race, with the mechanical woes from the Feature cured without the need for penalties for those afflicted. As a result it was Felipe Drugovich who would lead the field onto the grid for the start, with the Brazilian starting on pole position for the first time in only his second race.

Report
The start of the race saw Drugovich make a clean getaway, although second place starter Louis Delétraz would draw alongside on the run to the first corner to challenge for the lead. Ultimately the Swiss racer had to back off due to the tight first corner, with Giuliano Alesi weaving around behind them having been unable to find a gap to try and launch his own bid for the lead. That allowed Dan Ticktum to dive around the outside of the Frenchman to secure third, while behind Marcus Armstrong aced his start to overhaul Christian Lundgaard.

An exciting opening lap saw Ticktum challenge Delétraz for second into turn three, although the Swiss racer would block the move and power away to chase Drugovich on the exit. That left Ticktum in a rearguard action to hold third, although the lost momentum from having been run wide by Delétraz meant that both Alesi and Armstrong were able to draft along either side of the #2 DAMS on the run to turn four. Armstrong duly claimed third with a strong run on the outside, while Alesi scrambled back ahead of Ticktum on the inside of the right-hander on the brakes. That then allowed Robert Shwartzman to harass the #2 DAMS on the exit, with the pair running side-by-side through turn five before Ticktum finally managed to hold the position.

Untroubled by all of this was Drugovich, who was able to build a healthy two second lead before the end of the opening tour due to the intense scrapping behind him. Delétraz, meanwhile, would solidify his hold on second ahead of Armstrong, while Alesi's joy was shortlived as his car began jetting flame from the exhausts at the start of lap two, forcing him out. That promoted Ticktum to fourth, although he was still having to fend off Shwartzman, who would again try to run around the outside of the Brit through turn five, before the Safety Car was scrambled to recover Alesi's smokey HWA from turn three.

After Alesi had been plucked from the grass the race would resume on lap six, with Drugovich acing the restart to escape the attentions of Delétraz into the first corner. Indeed, Delétraz would be otherwise occupied having to fend off the attentions of Armstrong as the race resumed, with the New Zealander throwing a lunge inside the Swiss racer into turn three. The Swiss racer would hang on around the outside exiting the corner to hold the position, before fending off a lunge from Armstrong around the outside of turn four a few moments later.

With that Delétraz took control of second, leaving Armstrong to fend off Ticktum who had finally shaken off the attentions of Shwartzman after the restart. That left Mick Schumacher as the centre of attention over the following laps, with the German racer having climbed into the top ten, before getting stuck behind a very defensive Nobuharu Matsushita. Indeed, the #20 Prema would draw ahead of the #14 MP Motorsport on the run to turn four on lap eight, although the Japanese racer was better on the brakes on the inside line and held the position.

As their fight rumbled there would be drama further back, as Jehan Daruvala inadvertently punted Luca Ghiotto into a spin at turn four, with the Italian racer coming to a stop on the edge of the gravel. That caused chaos behind with Guanyu Zhou the big loser, having to take to the gravel to avoid the stationary car, with Ghiotto only managing to pull a few metres further before his engine cut out. He was therefore out of the race, while Zhou slipped to the very back of the field after his avoiding action.

A few laps later and Daruvala was at the centre of another incident, this time at turn one as the Indian racer tried to lunge inside the #10 Campos Racing of Guilherme Samaia. Indeed, while the Brazilian racer fended off Daruvala's lunge, the lost momentum for the #8 Carlin ensured that Daruvala was slow off the apex of the corner. Artem Markelov tried to take advantage of that fact, although a mistimed move to pass the Indian racer saw the Russian racer rip the front wing off of his #16 HWA, sending him to the pits for repairs.

Fortunately there would be no interventions from the Safety Car stemming from those incidents, meaning the fights on the track would remain uninterrupted as the race developed. Roy Nissany showed his fighting spirit in a battle with Jack Aitken, the Israeli's lunge to the inside of turn four almost working until he slid wide, while Zhou managed to battle past Marino Sato at the back of the field. Schumacher, meanwhile, would continue to crawl all over the back of Matsushita without much success, with Feature winner Callum Ilott watching on behind.

At the head of the field, meanwhile, Drugovich was escaping from Delétraz, setting a series of fastest laps as he moved clear of the Swiss racer. Behind, Armstrong looked to have secured third ahead of Ticktum, until the #5 ART Grand Prix dramatically slowed heading into turn one after a mechanical failure shortly before half-distance. He subsequently limped the car back to the pits to retire at the end of the lap as, on track, Yuki Tsunoda was elbowed wide at turn three when attacking Nissany and lost a handful of places.

As the race wore on Schumacher was still stuck behind Matsushita in the main battle in the top ten, although the German racer repeatedly tried to lunge around the outside of turn four, to which Matsushita was consistently able to swat aside. Schumacher then tried to lunge around the outside of turn three on lap twenty which again was thwarted, although this time Matsushita was on a tighter line exiting the corner, and hence was slower off the corner. However, Schumacher was too close to the back of the #14 MP Motorsport exiting the corner and had to lightly lift off the throttle, and hence remained behind the Japanese racer.

Behind there was an enticing fight for tenth containing six cars, with Pedro Piquet briefly holding the position before being elbowed back into the middle of the group by Nikita Mazepin. Roy Nissany then challenged Mazepin with a lunge around the outside of turn four, which gave the Israeli racer the inside line for turn five. The #22 Trident then washed out wide of the apex at turn five, although he had enough speed to prevent Mazepin from ducking inside. A lap later and Mazepin was back ahead with an excellent lunge to the inside of turn three, with Tsunoda following him through having sneaked ahead of Daruvala and Piquet off camera.

Out front, meanwhile, there was nothing stopping Drugovich, who swept across the line to claim an impressive maiden victory, two seconds clear of Delétraz and with the bonus points for fastest lap. Ticktum was next up to claim his maiden podium finish ahead of Shwartzman, while Lundgaard was a lonely fifth to complete a solid weekend for the Dane. Matsushita kept Schumacher at bay to the flag to secure sixth, while a late lunge from Aitken around the outside of Ilott at turn three on the final tour ensured that the Williams F1 reserve secured the final point ahead of the Ferrari junior.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * Maiden victory for Felipe Drugovich.
 * Also Drugovich's first podium finish.
 * Second victory for MP Motorsport.
 * This was MP Motorsport's first win since the 2017 Spa Sprint Race.
 * Maiden podium for Dan Ticktum.

Standings
Callum Ilott had held the lead in the Championship despite failing to score in the Red Bull Ring Sprint, although his advantage had been cut in half as a result. Indeed, Robert Shwartzman had moved up to second after a strong debut weekend, moving to within four of the Brit, while Felipe Drugovich had streaked up to third after his maiden triumph. Dan Ticktum was next up ahead of Louis Delétraz, with thirteen drivers on the scoresheet after one race meeting.

ART Grand Prix had shuffled to the head of the field as the first race weekend in Austria came to a conclusion, having moved five ahead of UNI-Virtuosi. Indeed, a non-score in the Red Bull Ring Sprint for Virtuosi had dropped them down to second, just four ahead of MP Motorsport after their first victory in almost three years. Prema Racing and DAMS then completed the top five, with nine of the eleven teams having scored on the opening weekend.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.