2020 Spa Feature Race

The 2020 Spa Feature Race, formally known as the 2020 Spa Race 1, was the thirteenth race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Liège, Belgium, on 29 August 2020. The race was staged in support of the Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2020, and was the first F2 round to be held at Spa since the death of Anthoine Hubert in the 2019 Spa Feature Race.

Qualifying would see Yuki Tsunoda sweep to his second pole position of the campaign ahead of Nikita Mazepin, as two incidents interrupted the session. The first saw debutante Jüri Vips roll to a stop with an issue on his out lap, before Guilherme Samaia caused a red flag with an engine fire in the opening minutes.

After a minute's silence to mark the anniversary of Hubert's death, the Spa Feature got underway, with Tsuonda fending off a lunge from Mazepin into La Source to claim the lead. Indeed, having been elbowed wide by the Japanese racer, Mazepin would instead slip behind Nobuharu Matsushita on the sprint down towards Eau Rouge, while behind Mick Schumacher fired up from seventh to fourth after a strong start.

The early laps would see the order settle, with Schumacher harassing Mazepin, while Louis Delétraz elbowed his way up to fifth. Elsewhere, Championship leader Callum Ilott had moved into tenth while Robert Shwartzman had slipped to seventh, while debutante Vips would stealthily climb up into the top fifteen.

With Schumacher on his tail Mazepin was forced to make a move of his own, firing past Matsushita on lap three as the Japanese racer worried about his tyres. Indeed, it was not long before Matsushita had slipped behind both Schumacher and Delétraz, before contact with teammate Felipe Drugovich at Blanchimont ended his race with a lurid spin into the barriers to trigger a Virtual Safety Car.

The VSC came and went before the drivers who started on soft tyres could contemplate a switch, meaning there would be some more on-track running before the pitstops began. Mazepin duly became the first to stop with Schumacher on lap six, with Mazepin controversially driving so close to the Trident pitcrew that he was placed under investigation.

A lap later and Tsunoda was in, although a slow stop from the Carlin crew meant that he would rejoin behind Mazepin, and was only able to remain ahead of Schumacher as the German racer had pit woes of his own. They hence ran at the bottom of the top ten, as Guanyu Zhou inherited the lead as the first driver on the alternate hard-soft strategy.

Zhou held on until the closing stages to make his stop, rejoining down in sixth as Mazepin inherited the lead. However, the Russian racer now faced a rejuvenated Tsunoda after the Japanese racer had paced himself against the #24 Hitech Grand Prix, with the #7 Carlin pulling right onto the Russian's tail with five laps to go.

On lap twenty Tsunoda made his first bid for the lead lunging down the inside of Mazepin into Les Combes, just as Mazepin moved across to block him. That questionable defence worked as Tsunoda was forced to back out of the move and bounce across the kerbs, with the Japanese racer dropping back and regrouping over the following laps.

Onto the penultimate tour and Tsunoda was back in striking distance, and would again try to pass for the lead into Les Combes, albeit this time trying to the outside of the Hitech. However, Mazepin would decide to open up his steering and run the #7 Carlin off-track, forcing Tsunoda to again cede the position while also earning himself a second investigation.

Ultimately, Mazepin would go on to cross the line in first, only for the stewards to award him a five second time penalty for forcing Tsunoda off-track. Tsunoda was hence classified as the winner ahead of the irate Russian racer, while Schumacher was just shy of the five second margin he needed to jump Mazepin, so finished third. Delétraz was next up ahead of Shwartzman, a recovering Dan Ticktum and Zhou, Roy Nissany claimed a surprise reverse-grid pole, while Luca Ghiotto and Ilott secured the final points.

After the race there would be a petulant display from Mazepin, as the Russian racer almost hit Tsunoda with the 2nd place pitboard when pulling into Parc Fermé. He was subsequently handed a suspended five place grid penalty for his actions in Parc Fermé, which were deemed "potentially dangerous" by the stewards.

Background
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was largely unchanged since the tragic events of the 2019 Spa Feature Race, barring some increased barrier protection on the exit of Raidillon, the scene of Anthoine Hubert and Juan Manuel Correa's fatal accident. Otherwise there had been no modifications to either the layout nor the DRS zones for the reinstated trip to Spa. There would however be a change to the entry list, with an injured Sean Gelael ruled out for at least three weeks.

Pour Hubert
To mark the anniversary of the death of Hubert, the Formula 2 Championship would make several gestures in support of the Frenchman. Ahead of both F2 races, as well as the Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, the F2 field would hold a minute's silence, while all cars in F1, F2 and Formula 3 would carry the AH19 logo. Furthermore, the FIA permanently retired the number #19 for F2, after initially suspending the use of the number for the 2020 season.

Gelael's Woes
DAMS pilot Gelael would be forced to sit out the race, after a collision between himself and Jack Aitken at the 2020 Barcelona Feature Race had caused the Indonesian racer to sustain a fractured vertebra. Gelael was expected to make a full recovery after quick and safe work from the marshals got him into an ambulance within five minutes of the incident, although the Indonesian racer would be unable to race for at least a month. In his place, DAMS would sign Red Bull Junior Team member and former F3 racer Jüri Vips to sit in the #1 car for the next three rounds, with the Estonian racer making his F2 debut in Spa.

Ticktum Troubles?
On the eve of the race meeting it was announced that Dan Ticktum, DAMS's second driver, had delivered an inconclusive Covid-19 test upon arriving in the paddock. As a precaution the Brit was made to sit out free practice pending a secondary test, which, if positive, would force Ticktum to sit out the race. Fortunately for both the Brit and the DAMS squad Ticktum's second test would comeback negative, meaning he was declared fit to drive in time to take part in qualifying.

Calendar Conclusion
Ahead of the seventh round of 2020 the FIA and F2 revealed the final 2020 season calendar, with two additional meetings to be staged to bring the season to twelve rounds and 24 races. Those two rounds were to be held at the Bahrain International Circuit, with alternate layouts to be used on 27 - 29 November and 4 - 6 December to conclude the season. The Bahraini circuit was also set to host the Post-Season Test, after plans to complete the season at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi dropped.

Barcelona Battles
Callum Ilott had ended the first half of the condensed 2020 season with a reasonable lead in the Championship, having scored 121 point across the first twelve rounds. Robert Shwartzman was his closest challenger in second, sat eighteen behind, while Christian Lundgaard held third on 87 points. Yuki Tsunoda was next up, five off the Dane in fourth, while Mick Schumacher rounded out a top five dominated by Ferrari Driver Academy members.

In the Teams' Championship it was UNI-Virtuosi who led the charge heading into the second half of the season, having claimed 197 points in the first six rounds. Prema Racing were next up in second, fifteen behind the British squad, while ART Grand Prix were a distant third on 121. Hitech Grand Prix and MP Motorsport then rounded out the top five, with all eleven teams having scored in the first half of the campaign.

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

Qualifying
Qualifying used the well established format for the FIA Formula 2 Championship, with a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday. All 22 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time. There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of either compound of Pirelli tyres.

Report
After rain had interrupted proceedings in the FIA Formula 3 Championship qualifying session, the F2 field would be greeted by a surprisingly dry circuit, with no threat of rain predicted for the half-hour session. Debutante Jüri Vips was the first man on circuit, although he barely made it around his out-lap before the #1 DAMS hit mechanical trouble and pulled off to the side of the circuit. Fortunately his removal would be covered by a brief yellow flag period, although the majority of drivers set their first flying laps having had to lift off due to the yellows.

Roy Nissany hence became the first driver to set a flying lap, although it was his teammate Marino Sato who set the initial pace for those who missed the Vips incident, claiming a 1:58.959. The rest of the field would slot in behind the Japanese racer after their first wave of times due to Vips' yellows, before a red flag was thrown midway through their second runs. The cause would be Guilherme Samaia, who was forced to park his Campos in a dangerous position at Blanchimont as smoke and flames began pouring out of the exhausts.

When the #10 Campos was dragged clear and extinguished the session resumed, with the field leaving the pits as one, using their original set of softs. In the middle of the group Yuki Tsunoda would find some space and set a new benchmark, ending the first proper runs as the fastest driver, a tenth ahead of Mick Schumacher. With that remaining twenty drivers would sweep back into the pits for a quick tyre change, with everyone rejoining for a final run on a fresh set of softs.

Nikita Mazepin appeared to be the man to watch during the second runs, with the Russian racer leaping to the top of the timesheet with an impressive middle sector. However, Tsuonda trailed him across the line and went back to the top of the charts, with strong first and third sectors carrying him to a 1:57.593, a tenth faster than Mazepin. Mazepin hence had to settle for second ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita, who made a late charge up the order, while title pretender Robert Shwartzman claimed fourth. However, it would be a miserable session for Championship leader Callum Ilott, as the Brit failed to qualify in the top three for the first time in 2020, and instead settled into twelfth.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Race
There were clear skies over the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps as the FIA Formula 2 Championship field gathered onto the grid for the start. After a minute's silence mark the death of Anthoine Hubert, which included the Frenchman's family and Juan Manuel Correa, whom had been heavily injured in the accident, the field were sent away for the formation lap. Yuki Tsunoda hence led the drivers around for a slow tour around Spa, with the majority of the field starting on the soft compound Pirelli tyres.

Report
Tsunoda would get an okay launch off the grid to claim the inside line into turn one, which forced a faster starting Nikita Mazepin to commit to the outside of the #7 Carlin into La Source. Mazepin was hence elbowed wide at the exit, with Nobuharu Matsushita almost taking advantage, although Mazepin would have the inside line into the first element of Eau Rouge. Regardless, Matsushita would refuse to left, resulting in the pair climbing the hill side-by-side through to Raidillon.

Matsushita would emerge ahead of Mazepin as they entered the Kemmel Straight, although in doing so he had cost both himself and Mazepin momentum heading down the long straight. As a result a swarm of fellow drivers would draft onto their tails, with Mick Schumacher, Robert Shwartzman, Felipe Drugovich and Louis Delétraz joining the fray, almost running four abreast into Les Combes. Mazepin would also try to lunge down the inside of Matsushita as Schumacher tried to lunge around the outside of the pair of them, although the Japanese racer would still retain second ahead of Mazepin and the aforementioned Ferrari protege.

Shwartzman was the big loser as he slipped back behind Guanyu Zhou, before fighting back past the Chinese racer at the end of the opening tour on the brakes for the Bus Stop chicane. Elsewhere, Jehan Daruvala had managed to damage his front wing in an incident unseen by the cameras, while Guilherme Samaia had to be pushed into the pitlane after stalling on the grid. Out front, meanwhile, the intense fighting for second had allowed Tsunoda to escape, with the #7 Carlin establishing a near two-second lead come the end of the opening tour.

Tsunoda's lead continued to grow in the early stages, with Matsushita soon falling to Mazepin on lap two, before Schumacher forced his way past around the outside of the Bus Stop on lap three. Indeed Matsushita appeared to be in free-fall with his tyres, slipping behind Delétraz into La Source a few moments later, before Shwartzman eased past him down the inside of Les Combes. Drugovich then had a half-look at his teammate into Bruxelles, only to have Zhou dance right around the outside of him for seventh.

Zhou subsequently made his way past the ailing #14 MP Motorsport on the run to Les Fagnes, while Drugvich, on the medium tyres, would have to wait until they entered the long run back to the Bus Stop from Stavelot to challenge. He duly got a run on Matsushita on the outside into Blanchimont, only for Matsushita to drift across and clip Drugovich's front wing with his right-rear tyre. Matsushita's tyre instantly came off the rim and sent the #14 MP Motorsport spinning across Drugovich's nose and into the barriers, while Drugovich had to limp into the pits for a new wing and fresh tyres.

Matsushita's trip to the barriers was more catastrophic, with the #14 MP Motorsport entering the tyre barriers backwards and destroying the back of his car. That, unsurprisingly, would trigger a Full Course Yellow to allow the ruined #14 MP to be pulled clear of the barriers, while Matsushita climbed out of his cockpit unaided. Fortunately it would be a quick clean up, with the race resuming midway through lap seven, just as the pit window opened.

Unsurprisingly what would trigger an early trickle into the pits by those drivers on soft compound Pirelli tyres, although that would not include race leader Tsunoda, who remained out until lap ten, a lap after Mazepin and Schumacher stopped. Mazepin was subsequently placed under investigation for an unsafe release as he tried to scramble out of his pit box, running so close to the Trident pitcrew that they had to jump out of the way of the #24 Hitech. Tsunoda, meanwhile, would suffer a delay during his stop due to a sticking tyre, and hence slipped behind Mazepin as he emerged back onto the circuit in tenth, leaving Mazepin in the net lead in ninth.

On track, meanwhile, Zhou would manage to draft past Shwartzman down the Kemmel Straight with the aid of DRS before the Russian racer stopped, leaving the #3 Virtuosi as the lead car on mediums, while behind Callum Ilott tried a move around the outside of Pedro Piquet into Les Combes. Ilott would, however, overshoot the first element of the chicane and hence cut across the inside of the second element, meaning he had to cede seventh back to the Brazilian racer. That failure to pass Piquet would cost the Championship leader, with Dan Ticktum and Roy Nissany passing him over the following lap, the latter with a smart dive down the inside of Les Combes.

With that the race settled down, with Mazepin establishing a one second margin over Tsunoda, while Schumacher fell away in de facto third ahead of Delétraz. They would also quietly make their way through those who were yet to stop on the alternate strategy, although by lap seventeen everyone had served their stop. Indeed, the Chinese racer would rejoin on fresh, but cold, softs in sixth place, just ahead of a squabbling duo of Ghiotto and Piquet.

Ghiotto duly forced Zhou into a mistake at Les Combes with Zhou snatching a brake on cold tyres and running wide, sending him skating across the tarmc on the inside of the corner. The #3 Virtuosi hence backed off into the final right-hander of the complex to let Ghiotto through, with Piquet pouncing expertly to rob the Chinese racer of eighth on the run to Bruxelles. Ticktum then led Ilott past the Chinese racer, with Zhou having to wait until his fresh softs warmed up to an effective temperature.

Ticktum would soon elbow his way up to sixth past Ghiotto and Piquet, while Zhou managed to ease past both Piquet and teammate Ilott down the Kemmel Straight on lap nineteen. Out front, meanwhile, Tsunoda was beginning to inch back onto the tail of Mazepin, and on lap twenty would get a run on the #24 Hitech down the Kemmel Straight with the aid of DRS. Unsurprisingly Mazepin would move to the inside line into Les Combes to cover off a lunge, before half running the #7 Carlin out wide when Tsunoda tried to go around the outside of the Russian racer.

Tsunoda had to bail out of the move and dropped back by half a second, and hence began plotting his next bid for victory. As that fight entered a stalemate, Zhou continued his recovery up the order from his cold tyres with a lunge past Ghiotto, while Nissany stealthily shadowed the Chinese racer's rise. Indeed, with three laps to go the Israeli racer was firing past Ghiotto himself into Les Combes to grab eighth, putting him on reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race.

Onto the penultimate lap and Tsunoda was back on Mazepin's tail, and again committed to taking the #24 Hitech around the outside of the first part of Les Combes. This time, however, Mazepin would not only take the inside line, but then opened out his steering at the apex of the corner, and hence crowd the #7 Carlin off track. Tsunoda hence went bouncing over the outside kerb and across the inside of turn six, meaning he had to again drop back in behind Mazepin as he rejoined.

Starting the final lap and Mazepin was placed under investigation for deliberately driving Tsunoda off track, while Tsunoda had one last try to pass him into Les Combes, although his third attempt around the outside of the Hitech was no less successful. The Japanese racer then had to sit and wait behind the Hitech until they made the long climb from Stavelot to the Bus Stop, although the #7 Carlin was too far back to try an effective lunge on the brakes. As a result Mazepin was able to hang on to cross the line first ahead of the Japanese racer, albeit with two investigations hanging over him.

As they awaited news of whether Mazepin would be penalised, Schumacher would cross the line in a lonely third, some six seconds behind to complete the podium. Delétraz was next up ahead of Shwartzman, while behind Ticktum fended off a late lunge from Zhou into the Bus Stop to hold sixth. Nissany then crossed the line in eighth to claim reverse-grid pole and his best ever F2 result, while Ghiotto and Ilott held onto the final points ahead of debutante Jüri Vips.

Post-Race
Midway through the cool-down lap Mazepin was handed a five second time penalty for forcing another driver (Tsunoda) off track, meaning he was relegated to second in the final standings. Tsunoda instantly dedicated the victory to the fallen Hubert, while Mazepin reacted furiously, slamming into the 2nd place pit board in Parc Fermé so hard that he almost hit Tsunoda. That earned Mazepin another post-race investigation, although he would escape punishment for his unsafe release in the pit phase.

Six hours after the race Mazepin was handed a suspended five place grid penalty, after being found to have caused a "potentially dangerous" situation in Parc Fermé. That penalty would hence have to be served by Mazepin if he caused another incident or indiscretion within an unknown period. Other penalties were handed to Marcus Armstrong in the form of a five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, as well as a three place grid penalty for Matsushita for causing the collision with Drugovich.

Drugovich himself, meanwhile, was disqualified from the results of the race, after he was ruled to have failed to serve his compulsory pitstop within the allotted pit window, as stipulated in article 36.9 of the sporting rulebook.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Mazepin was awarded a five second time penalty for forcing another driver (Tsunoda) off circuit. He was also handed a suspended five place grid penalty for causing a "potentially dangerous" situation in Parc Fermé.
 * † Armstrong received a five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage on the final lap.
 * ‡ Drugovich was disqualified from the results of the race for failing to take his mandated pitstop within the pit window.
 * § Matsushita was handed a three place grid penalty for causing a collision.

Milestones

 * Debut race for Jüri Vips.
 * Yuki Tsunoda scored his second F2 victory.
 * Carlin claimed their fifth victory as an entrant.
 * Maiden fastest lap recorded by Robert Shwartzman.

Standings
A single point for Callum Ilott would ensure that the Brit retained a small margin at the head of the Championship, keeping him seven clear of second placed Robert Shwartzman. The Russian racer himself had likewise done just enough to hold his position in the table, as victory for Yuki Tsunoda had catapulted the Japanese rookie into third, eleven off the lead. Mick Schumacher and the furious Nikita Mazepin completed the top five, both just shy of the 100 point barrier, with no new names on the score sheet.

In the Teams' Championship it had been a strong Saturday afternoon for Prema Racing, as they returned to the top of the title hunt for the first time since the 2020 Hungaroring Sprint Race. Indeed, the Italian effort had established a five point lead over UNI-Virtuosi as both broke into the 200 point region, while Hitech Grand Prix had moved into third with 138. Carlin had also gained ground as they moved up to fourth ahead of ART Grand Prix, while Trident had inched towards HWA Racelab at the foot of the table.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.