2019 Hungaroring Sprint Race

The 2019 Hungaroring Sprint Race, formally known as the 2019 Hungaroring Formula 2 Race 2, was the sixteenth race of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Hungaroring near Budapest, Hungary, on 4 August 2019. The race, held in support of the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, would see Mick Schumacher claim his maiden F2 victory, ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita.

Schumacher started the race from pole position, having claimed eighth in the Feature Race, and duly aced his start to claim an early lead. Matsushita tried to go with the German youth and tried a lunge around the outside of the #9 Prema into the first corner, before ultimately settling in behind Schumacher in second.

Schumacher and Matsushita would exchange a series of fastest laps as they tried to escape in the early stages, although Sérgio Sette Câmara was able to pace them as the top three broke clear. Elsewhere, Jordan King and Jack Aitken found themselves fighting for fourth, while Nyck de Vries and Nicholas Latifi, winner of the Feature, were fighting for sixth with Luca Ghiotto.

Ghiotto briefly dropped out of the from the fight when Nikita Mazepin dived through to claim eighth, although the Russian's pace began to drop as the track temperature suddenly dropped by 5°C. Ghiotto quickly got past and managed to reign de Vries and Latifi back in, while Mazepin was left to try and fend off the attentions of Callum Ilott and Guanyu Zhou.

Back with the leaders and Schumacher managed to get a second ahead of Matsushita, with the Japanese racer coming under pressure from Câmara behind. Indeed, the Brazilian racer almost forced his way through with a lunge inside the Carlin at turn three, although Matsushita got a better exit and held the position.

With that Matsushita would break clear of Câmara, who had used the best of his Pirelli tyres in his bid to attack the #2 Carlin. The Japanese racer duly went on to restart his assault on Schumacher's lead, although the German rookie positioned his Prema perfectly to block all of the Japanese racer's lunges.

Indeed, Schumacher's resistance was not to be broken, meaning he swept across the line to claim his maiden F2 victory just ahead of Matsushita. Câmara was few seconds back ahead of King and Aitken, while de Vries kept Latifi and Ghiotto at bay to claim sixth and extend his Championship lead.

Background
There were no changes made to the Hungaroring circuit after the Feature Race, with the DRS zones remaining as they had as well. Furthermore there had been no late revisions to the order once Luca Ghiotto and Jordan King had their penalties rescinded, leaving Mick Schumacher on the reverse grid pole.

de Vries Defence
Nyck de Vries retained his lead in the Championship after the opening race at the Hungaroring, although his advantage had been reduced to 28 points. Nicholas Latifi had been the man to do the damage, although remained more than race's worth of points behind, while Luca Ghiotto had lost ground in third. Sérgio Sette Câmara and Jack Aitken completed the top five, while Guanyu Zhou was still the best placed rookie in the Championship in sixth.

In the Teams' Championship it was DAMS who once again ended the day as the best team in the field, a haul of 35 points putting them onto 295 points for the campaign. UNI-Virtuosi were next, but had slipped 54 points behind, while ART Grand Prix were in third, holding 198 points. Campos Racing were next ahead of Carlin, the last two teams in triple figures, while Trident remained at the foot of the table.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Race
Ahead of the Sprint Race on Sunday morning clouds would begin to gather over the Hungaroring, with a few spots of rain falling on the circuit although not enough to cause a rush to wet tyres. Otherwise, there would be no changes to the grid after Luca Ghiotto and Jordan King had their Feature Race penalties revoked, with Mick Schumacher set to start the race from pole with the entire field starting on medium compound Pirelli slick tyres.

Report
Schumacher made a strong start when the lights went out to secure an early lead, sweeping across to the inside of the circuit to block Nobuharu Matsushita into the first corner. Matsushita duly jinked to the outside of the German racer on the brakes, although Schumacher would simply run the Japanese racer out wide in order to hold the position. That cost Matsushita valuable momentum on the run to turn two, with Sérgio Sette Câmara and Jordan King trying to go either side of the #2 Carlin on the brakes for the left hand hairpin.

Matsushita would ultimately win that battle, while Sette Câmara just managed to hold onto third around the outside of King. Those two would continue fighting throughout the rest of the opening tour, with the field beginning to settle down as they made it onto the tighter section of the circuit. Out front, meanwhile, Schumacher would claim a healthy early lead ahead of Matsushita, while the Japanese racer had escaped from Sette Câmara and King.

At the start of the second lap Callum Ilott fired the #11 Charouz-Sauber down the inside of Guanyu Zhou into turn one, claiming tenth place as a result. Zhou, however, would get a better exit and challenged around the outside of turn two, with the pair duly going side-by-side through to turn three. Zhou would ultimately have to back down with the tighter line through the right hand kink, leaving Ilott free to harass Ghiotto.

As the early laps ticked away Matsushita would begin to close back up onto the back of Schumacher, with a succession of fastest laps, aided by DRS, putting him within striking position. However, the German racer would resist his early bid for the lead, and duly began to pull away again when the Japanese racer received a message about his tyres. With that Matsushita began to slip back into the sights of Sette Câmara, who still had King glued to his tail after their early duel.

Elsewhere, Tatiana Caldéron was to become the race's first and ultimately only retirement, after a seemingly innocuous collision with Arjun Maini. The Indian racer had thrown a late lunge at the Colombian racer into the first corner, with Caldéron tapping the left-rear of the #14 Campos when trying to cut back inside Maini when he ran wide. That contact broke the front right suspension of the #18 BWT Arden, with Caldéron immediately pulling off the circuit.

The race again settled down after that, with no real on-track action until after the halfway point, as Sette Câmara moved into striking position behind Matsushita. The Brazilian racer duly made his bid for second with a late lunge down the inside of the #2 Carlin on the brakes for turn one. However, the #5 DAMS was carrying too much speed and ran wide, before a slight twitch at the rear as be picked up the throttle, allowing Matsushita to ease back ahead on the exit.

Behind, a more ferocious duel was being fought between Ghiotto and Nikita Mazepin, with the Italian veteran trying everything he could to pass the Russian. After one unsuccessful lunge into the first corner on lap seventeen, Ghiotto tried again on lap eighteen with an over-under manoeuvre at the same corner, and duly muscled the #3 ART wide and onto the run-off area. Mazepin kept his foot on the throttle, however, and ran across the grass trying to remain inside of Ghiotto, although that would instead allow Ilott to dance the #11 Charouz around the outside of turn two to relegate Mazepin to tenth.

Into the closing stages at Matsushita was back on the tail of Schumacher, having preserved his tyres better mid-race to escape from Sette Câmara. After several half-hearted looks at passing the #9 Prema, Matsushita would start the final tour tucked right under Schumacher's rear wing, although he would not throw a lunge into turn one. That, however, proved to be a mistake, for Schumacher would get a better exit from the hairpin, and hence managed to run into turn two without pressure from the Japanese racer.

With that the race was run, with Schumacher escaping over the rest of the final lap to secure his maiden F2 victory, Matsushita's pace collapsing in the middle sector. Behind them, Sette Câmara would finish in third, just ahead of King, while Jack Aitken claimed fifth having been unable to pass the two drivers ahead of him. Nyck de Vries was next up ahead of title rival Nicholas Latifi, while Ghiotto's late surge carried him onto the Canadian's tail and the final point in eighth.

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

Milestones

 * Maiden FIA Formula 2 Championship victory for Mick Schumacher.
 * Prema Racing secured their twelfth win in Formula 2.
 * This was their first F2 win since the 2018 Spa Feature Race.
 * Also Prema's 21st triumph at GP2/F2 level.

Standings
Nyck de Vries saw his Championship lead extended as a result of the Hungaroring Sprint Race, leaving the Hungarian circuit with a 30 point advantage. Nicholas Latifi had retained his status as the Dutchman's closest challenger in second, while Sérgio Sette Câmara had secured third, moving six ahead of Luca Ghiotto. Jack Aitken completed the top five, just a point off of Ghiotto, while race winner Mick Schumacher had moved into eleventh.

In the Teams' Championship DAMS had broken the 300 point barrier as they continued to their domination of the Championship, leaving Hungary on 307 points and with a 65 point lead. UNI-Virtuosi were their closest challengers, albeit with their own healthy margin over third placed ART Grand Prix. Campos Racing and Carlin were therefore the closest Teams in the top five, sat on 164 and 145 points respectively, while Prema Racing had moved closer to the Sauber Junior Team at the bottom end of the table.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.