2018 Silverstone Sprint Race

The 2018 Silverstone Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2018 Silverstone Race 2, was the fourteenth race of the 2018 FIA Formula Two Championship, staged at Silverstone on the 8 July 2018. The race would see Maximilian Günther claim a maiden victory, as Santino Ferrucci earned himself a four race ban.

It was Günther whom would lead the field away at the start, sprinting clear after the safety car pulled into the pits to hold a healthy lead over Nyck de Vries. They were chased by Artem Markelov in third, while Louis Delétraz and Antonio Fuoco worked together to leap ahead of Luca Ghiotto.

The early stages would see Günther maintain a small lead over de Vries, who had to look in his mirrors as much as the circuit ahead due to the attentions of Markelov in third. Behind, title pretenders George Russell and Lando Norris were on the move, with the two Brits picking their way through the order to run in third and sixth just after half-distance.

Indeed, the only blight in their charge came when Norris and Fuoco hit each other at Laffield, contact which spat Fuoco into the gravel and caused a VSC. Norris, meanwhile, would continue on with a small amount of damage to his car, and would go unpunished for the collision.

The Günther/de Vries tussle would come to an end after the VSC, although the Dutchman had never got close to a move on the German even with the advantage of DRS. Indeed, after the VSC de Vries would come under direct fire from Russell, with the Brit sweeping through with three laps to go to claim second.

Günther, meanwhile, had pulled out a four second lead over the pair during their scrap, and ergo looked set to claim his maiden victory at a cruise. Yet, Russell was on a mission, and duly demolished the gap to under a second as the pair started the final lap.

Yet, Günther was in no mood to roll over for the Championship leader, and duly managed to hold his lead to the chequered flag. Russell therefore had to be content with second, while title rival Norris put together a late charge to take Markelov and de Vries in the closing stages to claim third. Markelov himself was fourth ahead of Delétraz and Ghiotto, while de Vries' pace fell apart in the closing stages to finish seventh ahead of Alexander Albon.

After the race there would be a rather distasteful incident between Trident teammates Arjun Maini and Ferrucci, with the latter driving into the former on the slow-down lap after the chequered flag. Ferrucci was duly slapped with a €60,000 fine, with additional fines handed to him for using a phone while driving the car, driving with one glove off and failing to meet with the stewards of the meeting. Furthermore, the American racer was banned from the next F2 meetings, although his antics on social media caused Trident to question whether they wished to employ Ferrucci after his ban.

Background
Silverstone was in near-perfect condition ahead of the second Formula Two race of the weekend, with the lower temperatures of the morning set to aid the field in terms of pace. In terms of the grid, it was Maximilian Günther whom would start from pole, the German having finished eighth in the Feature Race to secure pole for the Sprint. Otherwise the field was unchanged from the Saturday race, although Nirei Fukuzumi was a doubt after an ignition issue in the F2 paddock.

Into the Championship and in spite of missing out on a victory in front of his home fans, Championship leader George Russell had managed to extend his lead, moving 23 points clear of Lando Norris at the head of the field. The latter had endured a miserable Saturday in Silverstone, and was now under threat from race winner Alexander Albon. Indeed, the Thai racer had leapt back ahead of Artem Markelov to move into the top three, with those four all in triple figures for the season.

Carlin had seen their lead in the Teams Championship slashed apart by ART Grand Prix during the first race of the weekend, the French squad heading into the Sprint Race just four points behind the British effort. Behind, Charouz Racing System had pulled marginally closer, as had DAMS thanks to Albon's victory. Russian Time were next ahead of Pertamina Prema while, at the back of the field, BWT Arden had moved ahead of Trident.

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

Grid
The grid for the fourteenth race of the 2018 campaign was formed from the finishing positions of the Feature Race, with the top eight reversed as per-FIA Formula Two rules.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Ghiotto was awarded a five second time penalty for speeding during the VSC.
 * † Ferrucci was disqualified from the results and banned for four races after hitting teammate Maini after the chequered flag.
 * ‡ Fukuzumi was unable to start due to an ignition failure.

Milestones

 * Maximilian Günther claimed his first victory in Formula Two.
 * BWT Arden earned their second victory as an entrant in F2.
 * It was also the British squad's sixteenth triumph at GP2/F2 level.

Standings
George Russell had extended his lead atop the Championship standings in the second race of the Silverstone weekend, the Brit now leading compatriot Lando Norris by 37 points. Those two were on their own once again in the fight for the title, with Alexander Albon losing ground in third, just ahead of Artem Markelov. That quartet were still the only four drivers in the field that had score more than 100 points, while Roy Nissany was still the only driver yet to score.

There was a major change atop the Teams' Championship after the second Silverstone race, with Carlin finally pushed off the top of the Championship having led since the start of the season. Indeed, ART Grand Prix had been the team to finally topple the Brits, with the French squad leaving the UK level on points with the British effort, but with more wins to their name. Behind, Charouz Racing System had slipped to sixty points off the lead, with DAMS and Russian Time also falling away.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.