2020 Mugello Sprint Race

The 2020 Mugello Sprint Race, alternately known as the 2020 Mugello Formula 2 Race 2, was the eighteenth race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Mugello Circuit in Scarperia e San Piero, Tuscany, Italy on 13 September 2020. The race. which was held in support of the Gran Premio Della Toscana Ferrari 1000 2020, would see Christian Lundgaard sweep to a dominant victory to move back into title contention.

Artem Markelov would start the race from pole after finishing a season best eighth in the Feature Race, while Mick Schumacher was the highest placed title pretender in fifth. However, while Markelov would make an okay start, he would be supplanted by Lundgaard, who stormed through from third to claim the lead.

Lundgaard duly sprinted clear on the opening tour, opening out a two second lead over Markelov, while the Russian racer secured second. Behind front row starter Jüri Vips slipped to fourth behind Louis Delétraz, while Schumacher held station in fifth with title rival Callum Ilott having moved up to eleventh.

The #6 ART's lead would only grow during the race, with Markelov instead having to defend from Delétraz, until the Swiss racer finally broke the Russian racer's resistance. Vips tried to follow him through but bounced off the side of Markelov instead, although he would recover from a huge wobble to storm past the #17 BWT HWA Racelab on the following tour.

Markelov's podium hopes were ended a few laps later, as his attempts to keep Schumacher at bay ended with the HWA sustaining a broken front wing. Elsewhere, Ilott was marching up towards the points with a succession of moves into turn one, while his UNI-Virtuosi teammate Guanyu Zhou was storming up from twentieth.

Midway through the race Ilott would find himself in the points, as the two Hitech Grand Prix drivers Luca Ghiotto and Nikita Mazepin, who claimed a one-two in the Feature, crashed into each other. Ghiotto was out on the spot with damage, while Mazepin was handed a ten second time penalty for locking up and hitting the sister Hitech.

A Virtual Safety Car was thrown to cover the incident, meaning Lundgaard was able to keep his mammoth eleven second lead when the race resumed. Several drives would, however, take the opportunity to pit for fresh soft tyres in a late bid to climb up the field, resulting in some late shuffles for the minor points late on.

That, however, was of little concern to Lundgaard, with the Dane cantering to his second win of the campaign fourteen seconds clear of Delétraz in second. Vips claimed his maiden podium in third ahead of Schumacher and Zhou, the #20 Prema having beaten away the #3 Virtuosi in the closing laps, while Ilott finished sixth ahead of Jehan Daruvala and Marino Sato.

Background
There were no changes made to the Mugello Circuit after the Formula 2 Feature Race, with the F2 field likewise unchanged. As a result Artem Markelov would start from pole position after finishing eighth in the Feature, while race winner Nikita Mazepin would start from eighth.

Late Race Shuffles
The late race chaos in the Mugello Feature had catapulted Mick Schumacher to the top of the Championship hunt, the German racer ending the afternoon with 153 points to his name. That meant that he had a four point advantage over Callum Ilott in second, while a non-score for Robert Shwartzman had dropped the Russian racer thirteen behind his teammate in third. Christian Lundgaard was next up ahead of race winner Mazepin, while points for Jüri Vips meant that only Marino Sato and Guilherme Samaia had yet to score in 2020.

There had been little change to the Teams' Championship barring changes in points tallies, meaning Prema Racing had retained the initiative in the title hunt, and enhanced their lead to 42 points. That meant that they would retain the lead regardless of what UNI-Virtuosi did in the Mugello Sprint, with Hitech Grand Prix likewise too far back in third to overhaul their second placed compatriots. ART Grand Prix and Carlin then completed the top five, while BWT HWA Racelab had inched away from Trident in the fight to avoid the wooden spoon.

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 stable in Tuscany on Sunday morning ahead of the Sprint Race, with no threat of rain hanging over the Mugello Circuit as the F2 field assembled on the grid. Likewise, there would be no changes to the grid ahead of the Sprint, with everyone starting the race on the hard compound Pirelli tyres.

Report
The start of the race saw Christian Lundgaard make a perfect getaway from third, leaping ahead of a slow starting Jüri Vips to challenge Artem Markelov into the first corner. Markelov would likewise have no answer to the Dane as Lundgaard fired the #6 ART down the inside of the #16 BWT HWA Racelab into the first corner, leaving Lundgaard in the lead. Behind, Vips found himself having to fend off Mick Schumacher and Louis Delétraz on either side of him, with Delétraz ultimately emerging ahead on the outside.

Vips would spend the rest of the opening tour fending off the attentions of Schumacher for fourth as, out front, Lundgaard escaped in the lead ahead of Markelov. Indeed, the Dane's pace was so strong on the opening tour that he ended the first lap some two seconds clear of the #16 HWA, who was himself a second clear of Delétraz. Elsewhere, Robert Shwartzman and Guanyu Zhou had made a fair amount of ground, gaining four places apiece, while Dan Ticktum had to stop at the end of the opening tour after contact with the aforementioned Shwartzman.

Shwartzman and Zhou would enjoy a frenzied battle for fifteenth in the early stages, with the pair running side-by-side for almost half a lap before the Russian racer finally brushed off the Chinese racer on lap three. Out front, meanwhile, Lundgaard's lead would only grow in the early stages, with Markelov instead coming under attack from Delétraz as the Swiss racer dragged Vips and Schumacher up with him. The Swiss racer duly made his bid for second on lap six, driving right around the outside of the #16 BWT HWA through turn one to claim second and the inside line for turn two.

A lap later and it was Vips' turn to attack the Russian racer, with Vips committing to the outside line as Delétraz had done. This time, however, Markelov would brake later than he had against Delétraz, while Vips turned in tighter than Delétraz had done a lap before. The result was contact between the two as the #16 HWA washed wide on the brakes, although fortunately for Vips he would only be nudged into a small slide that dropped him back behind Marleov's car.

As the race wore on the two Hitechs began moving through the field, with Luca Ghiotto claiming sixth from Felipe Drugovich, while Nikita Mazepin made an identical move on Marcus Armstrong into turn one to claim eighth. A lap later and Mazepin was firing his car down the inside of Drugovich for seventh, while Ghiotto was closing in on Schumacher, getting within DRS range within a lap. Those moves came as Vips worked to get back on terms with Markelov, with the Estonian racer this time managing to throw the #1 DAMS down the inside of the #16 BWT HWA into the first corner, with Markelov unable to respond.

With the two Hitechs closing in Schumacher made a risky, but calculated, move on Markelov at the end of lap ten, lunging down the inside of the pink HWA into the long turn fifteen sweep. However, that move was a mistimed one, for Markelov would be the one to get DRS down the start/finish straight on the exit of the final corner, and duly drafted back past the #20 Prema on the run to turn one. Furthermore, it allowed Ghiotto to lunge down the inside of Schumacher into the first corner, although barring a slight touch on the exit the German youth was able to hang onto fifth.

A slide from Ghiotto exiting Casanova would allow Mazepin to pass his teammate, and give Schumacher more breathing room a few moments later, allowing the #20 Prema to line up a move on Markelov through Arrabbiata. That proved to be a better decision from the German youth, with Schumacher throwing his car down the inside of Markelov through the near-flat right-hander to clinch fourth, with Mazepin just unable to follow him through. Yet, on the exit of the second element Markelov would slide wide and kiss the gravel, with the lost momentum allowing Mazepin to charge past into Scarperia. Ghiotto then followed the sister #24 Hitech past the #16 BWT HWA through Correntaio a few moments later, although Markelov's attempts to hang on resulted in a broken front wing when he kissed the rear-left wheel of the Italian veteran.

Three laps later and Ghiotto was on the tail of teammate Mazepin to challenge for fifth, with the Russian racer making a very questionable late move to the inside line for turn one. Ghiotto hence committed to the outside line for the first corner and drew marginally ahead through the sweeping right, only for Mazepin to lock-up and slam into the side of his teammate. The contact would briefly throw Ghiotto up onto two wheels before he slid straight into the gravel and out, while Mazepin was left with damage on his front left tyre.

Ghiotto's stranded #25 Hitech would require outside assistance to be plucked from the gravel at San Donato, with the officials throwing a Virtual Safety Car to cover his retrieval. That was music to the ears of race leader Lundgaard, who had established a huge ten second lead as the fighting behind him erupted, although it would give several drivers the chance to gamble on soft tyres. Indeed, Marino Sato, Nobuharu Matsushita, Giuliano Alesi, Jack Aitken, Yuki Tsunoda, Guilherme Samaia, Ticktum and Mazepin would all stop, all of whom had either been carry damage or been running outside of the top fifteen.

Unfortunately for Alesi the gamble would not pay off, as a lose wheel ensured that he had to stop at the end of the pitlane and retired from the race. When the race resumed Zhou suddenly began storming up the field, climbing into the top eight, before lunging past Drugovich when the Brazilian racer ran wide through the final corner on lap seventeen. That left the Chinese racer on the tail of teammate Ilott, with the #3 Virtuosi duly lunging past the #4 Virtuosi into the first corner for sixth a few moments later.

Shwartzman was also fighting having shadowed Zhou's charge up the order, although the Russian racer's hopes of points would evaporate in a fight with Armstrong, which ended with the #21 Prema bouncing across the gravel at turn four. Indeed, Shwartzman's wayward moment saw him bounce right back across the circuit exiting turn five before entering the gravel trap on the exit of that corner, with Yuki Tsunoda just jinking around the errant Prema. Shwartzman eventually rejoined just ahead of Nissany and Sato, although struggled for pace from that moment, while Tsunoda moved up ahead of Armstrong later in the lap on his comparatively fresh softs.

Into the closing stages and Zhou's charge from twentieth was continuing, with the Chinese racer breezing past Daruvala down the start/finish straight to claim fifth. Tsunoda, meanwhile, would slam the back of Drugovich into the turn thirteen/fourteen sweep and break his front wing, forcing him to make a stop at the behest of a mechanical warning flag with two laps to go. That elevated the #15 MP Motorsport back into the points, only for an issue to drop the Brazilian back down the field and elevate a charging Sato into the points.

Out front, meanwhile, that would be immaterial for Lundgaard, who swept across the line to claim a dominant victory, almost fifteen seconds clear of Delétraz in second. Vips was next up in third to claim a maiden podium, having closed in on the #11 Charouz in the final laps, while Schumacher was just able to hold fourth from Zhou. Ilott was next up to claim sixth with a late move on Daruvala, while Sato claimed his maiden points finish with eighth ahead of Shwartzman.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Ticktum set the fastest lap of the race, but was ineligible to claim the bonus points as he finished outside of the top ten.

Milestones

 * 25th start for Marino Sato.
 * 20th start for Christian Lundgaard and Dan Ticktum.
 * Second win for Lundgaard.
 * ART Grand Prix secured their sixteenth win as an entrant.
 * Also their 64th win at GP2/F2 level.
 * Maiden podium finish for Jüri Vips.
 * Marino Sato claimed his maiden points finish.

Standings
Mick Schumacher would end the Tuscan weekend with the Championship lead in Formula 2 with three weekends to go, with an eight point margin over his closest challenger. Former leader Callum Ilott had made way for the German youth, slipping to second, while Christian Lundgaard broke up the Ferrari Driver Academy hold on the top of the table by climbing to third. Indeed, the Dane had moved five points ahead of Robert Shwartzman as the Russian racer slipped to fourth, while behind Nikita Mazepin was four ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in fifth.

In the Teams' Championship Prema Racing had ended their second home race weekend with a comfortable margin over second placed UNI-Virtuosi, with the Italian squad leaving Tuscany with a 40 point margin. Indeed, the British squad had chipped into Prema's lead in the Mugello Sprint, but only by enough to ensure that they remained within a Feature Race's worth of points of Prema. Hitech Grand Prix, meanwhile, had slipped 85 points off the lead in third after a self-inflicted non-score, while ART Grand Prix and Carlin rounded out the top five.