2020 Anniversary Sprint Race

The 2020 Anniversary Sprint Race, formally known as the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Anniversary Race 2, was the tenth race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, UK on 9 August 2020. Held in support of the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, the race would see the two Premas collide while leading, resulting in Yuki Tsunoda sweeping to his maiden F2 victory.

Indeed, the two Premas would share the front row after finishing seventh and eighth in the Feature Race, with Robert Shwartzman on pole ahead of Mick Schumacher. The start of the race duly saw the pair immediately dart off the grid to claim an early one-two, with Schumacher briefly entertaining a bid for the lead down the Hangar Straight, before backing off.

Behind, Tsunoda would make a clean getaway to claim third, while behind Jack Aitken streaked up to fourth from sixth on the grid. Louis Delétraz and Christian Lundgaard, meanwhile, would have an early duel for fifth, before the Dane slowly began tumbling down the field as his hard Pirelli tyres began to wear.

As Lundgaard fell into the sights of Callum Ilott with badly blistered tyres, the fight for the lead was beginning to boil, with Schumacher closing right onto Shwartzman's tail as a tame race ticked on. They had been drawn in by an increasingly strong Tsuonda as their hard tyres showed increasing signs of fatigue, with fourth placed Aitken trailing by thirteen seconds.

With two laps to go Schumacher made his bid for the lead, throwing the #20 Prema down the outside of the sister #21 car into Brooklands, largely due to the proximity of Tsunoda. Unfortunately the German race would ruin his move, seemingly drifting across the nose of Shwartzman to take the apex for the left hander, and hence causing Shwartzman to run into the back of him to send both skating wide. Tsunoda duly swept past the pair of them for the lead as Schumacher recovered into second, while Shwartzman sustained heavy front wing damage and began falling down the field.

That settled the race, with Tsunoda easing to a surprise maiden victory ahead of the Schumacher, who survived a late race investigation for causing a collision. Aitken finished a distant third ahead of Delétraz and Guanyu Zhou, while Championship leader Ilott finished sixth to enhance his lead. Dan Ticktum, meanwhile, would quietly climb up to seventh from fifteenth after his controversial radio comments in the Feature, while Nikita Mazepin claimed the final point in eighth.

Background
The 2020 Formula 2 field reconvened at the Silverstone Circuit on Sunday morning for the Anniversary Sprint Race, with no changes made to the venue after the Feature Race. Likewise, there were no changes to the order in-spite of some controversial comments by Dan Ticktum, with the Brit only receiving a warning for his conduct after his radio outburst. The front of the grid, meanwhile, would be occupied by the two Premas of Robert Shwartzman and Mick Schumacher, after they finished eighth and seventh respectively.

Anniversary Anecdotes
Victory in the Anniversary Feature had left Callum Ilott at the head of the Championship with nine races completed, with the Brit heading into the Anniversary Sprint with a fifteen point lead. Second was occupied by Christian Lundgaard on Sunday morning, while former leader Robert Shwartzman had slipped to third on Saturday, seventeen off the new leader. Nikita Mazepin and Dan Ticktum then completed the top five, with no new names added to the score sheet after the Feature.

In the Teams' Championship there had been very little change at the head of the hunt after the Anniversary Feature, with UNI-Virtuosi having enhanced their advantage to a reasonable 25 points. Prema Racing had retained second but lost ground to those around them, with ART Grand Prix having closed to within fifteen of the Italian effort. Hitech Grand Prix were next up ahead of Carlin, while reigning Champions DAMS had slipped back to sixth, and were almost 100 points off the lead.

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 were dry and warm in Silverstone ahead of the Sprint Race, with a very low threat of rain despite the cloud filled skies as the track temperature hovered at 34°C. There would be a change to the entry list for the race, however, with Sean Gelael withdrawn from the race due to damage sustained in the Feature Race.

Report
It was an even start for the two Premas when the lights went out, with Robert Shwartzman easing ahead of Mick Schumacher into turn one to secure the lead. Behind, Yuki Tsunoda got away cleanly to claim third, while Louis Delétraz and Nikita Mazepin were both blindsided by Jack Aitken as the #9 Campos shot through to fourth. Mazepin would also lose out to Christian Lundgaard as the Dane chased Aitken up the order, with Lundgaard going on to throw a lunge at Delétraz into turn three.

Delétraz force the Dane out wide at turn three, although the #6 ART held on to claim the inside line for turns four/five, meaning the pair entered the Wellington Straight side-by-side. Delétraz would, however, benefit from the tow from Aitken and hence pulled ahead, before sweeping across to the inside of the track for Brooklands. Lundgaard instead opted to try an over-under to get past the #11 Charouz, and duly scrambled around the outside of Delétraz through Luffield as the Swiss racer got caught behind Aitken.

Lundgaard went on to harass Aitken for fourth over the rest of the opening tour, while Delétraz fended off the attentions of Mazepin, which allowed Guanyu Zhou to take seventh from the Russian racer on the brakes for Vale. Elsewhere, Roy Nissany pinched Pedro Piquet to the apex of turn five, with Piquet's attempts to keep alongside resulting in contact and the #12 Charouz completing several pirouettes. Out front, meanwhile, Shwartzman and Schumacher were working together to break away, although Tsunoda managed to keep up with them through the opening tour.

Indeed, the order at the head of the field quickly settled down in the early stages, with the two Premas breaking into a two second lead over Tsunoda, while the Japanese racer established a one second margin over Aitken. The Anglo-Korean racer then had a half second lead over Lundgaard, while Delétraz and Zhou were half a second apart in a stalemate for sixth. Dan Ticktum, meanwhile, would fall to Championship leader Callum Ilott down the Wellington Straight after DRS came online on lap three, with the #4 UNI-Virtuosi's move into ninth the only change in the top ten in the first quarter of the race.

However, there was tension brewing at the head of the field, with Schumacher having a half look at teammate Shwartzman into Brooklands on lap five, only to take too much kerb on the apex and have a small tank-slapper, dumping him a second and a half behind. Elsewhere, Delétraz led Zhou onto the back of Lundgaard as tyre wear came into play, and a lunge down the inside of Stowe saw the #6 ART run wide. Lundgaard hence had to cede fifth to the Swiss racer into Maggotts a few moments later, with Zhou almost squeezing past on the outside of the flat-out kink.

Yet Lundgaard would hold on, and hence Zhou would have to wait until the start of the following lap to make his bid for sixth into Brooklands, although Lundgaard held the inside line and hence held the position. Behind, Zhou's teammate Ilott made a late lunge down the inside of Mazepin into the very same corner a fraction of a second later, with Mazepin making a late lunge to the inside himself to block the move. A couple of touches would result as the #4 Virtuosi squeezed inside the #24 Hitech, with Mazepin hence sliding out wide from the contact. Ticktum duly seized on the opportunity to relegate Mazepin to tenth, and would almost manage to pass Ilott around the outside of Luffield only for the Championship leader to gain the upper hand on the exit.

As the fallout from that confrontation was played out on their respective radios, Zhou completed his assault on Lundgaard, forcing the Dane to take a defensive line into Stowe that compromised the #6 ART's run to Maggotts. Zhou was hence able to dart down the inside of Lungaard with the slipstream effect to grab sixth, before quickly charging away to hunt down a rapidly escaping Delétraz. Lundgaard, meanwhile, would continue to struggle with his tyres, and as the race ticked past half distance would get out of shape through turn two and slide off track, allowing Ilott to pass without issue.

A few laps later and Lundgaard's race was run, with his front left tyre deflating as he entered Maggotts and hence sending the #6 ART skating off circuit, albeit with Lundgaard maintaining control. As he limped back to the pits for a fresh set of softs and a late glory run to set the fastest lap, the fight for the lead was hotting up, with Schumacher moving right onto the tail of Shwartzman. Indeed, the two Premas had been steadily slipping into the sights of Tsuonda as the race wore on, resulting in Schumacher increasing his pace and hence challenge teammate Shwartzman for the lead.

Schumacher made his bid for victory with three laps to go, using DRS down the Wellington Straight before committing to the outside line into Brooklands, with Shwartzman defending the inside. Such was the overspeed for the #20 Prema that Schumacher was ahead before they hit the brakes, although as they did so Schumacher began moving across the nose of Shwartzman. As a result the #21 Prema whacked into the back of the #20 Prema as Shwartzman full locked his front wheels trying to avoid the drifting German, with both running wide as a result.

Tsunoda was in prime position to profit from the collision, scampering past the two red-white cars for the lead as Schumacher rejoined through Luffield. Shwartzman, meanwhile, was left with a damaged front wing from the contact, and would rejoin just ahead of Aitken with the wing visibly hanging low off the nose. Yet, rather than pit Shwartzman would opt to stay out, knowing that it was his best shot of claiming some points after the incident.

As a result the final two laps would be focused on Shwartzman's decent through the field, with Schumacher unable to challenge the #7 Carlin of Tsunoda out front. Aitken was the first to draw onto the #21 Prema's tail, and duly streaked past unopposed down the Hangar Straight on the penultimate tour, with Shwartzman having had a poor run through Maggotts/Becketts/Chapel due to his damaged wing. Delétraz, Zhou and Ilott then fired past him through Stowe and Vale, while Ticktum, Mazepin, Jehan Daruvala and Luca Ghiotto found their way past on the final lap.

Out front, meanwhile, Tsuonda collected what had for most of the race appeared to be an unlikely victory, escaping from Schumacher by three seconds to claim his maiden F2 triumph. Schumacher claimed second after surviving a post-race investigation into the incident, while Aitken was almost a quarter of a minute behind in third to complete the podium. Delétraz was next up ahead of Zhou, Ilott, Ticktum and Mazepin, while Shwartzman limped across the line down in thirteenth after being caught by Artem Markelov and Felipe Drugovich at Stowe.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Lundgaard recorded the fastest lap of the race, but was unable to claim the bonus points as he finished outside of the top ten.
 * † Gelael was unable to start the race due to mechanical issues after the 2020 Anniversary Feature Race.

Milestones

 * Maiden victory for Yuki Tsunoda.
 * Carlin claimed their fourth victory as an entrant in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Standings
Callum Ilott would leave his second home race weekend with the Championship lead, having secured a nineteen point advantage over his closest challenger. Christian Lundgaard was the Brit's main rival as the fifth race weekend came to a conclusion, with the Dane himself two ahead of a disappointed Robert Shwartzman. Nikita Mazepin was next up ahead of Louis Delétraz, while Jack Aitken had inched closer to the top ten after two podiums in a row.

In the Teams' Championship UNI-Virtuosi were left in command of the title hunt, although their lead had been reduced to 21 points following the fourth battle of Silverstone. Prema Racing had therefore inched closer to the British squad in second, while ART Grand Prix had lost ground to both after a rare non-score. Hitech Grand Prix and Carlin then made it three British teams in the top five, while DAMS had slipped further down the order to seventh.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.