2020 Monza Feature Race

The 2020 Monza Feature Race, formally known as the 2020 Monza Race 1 was the fifteenth race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Lombardy, Italy, on 5 September 2020. The race was to held in support of the Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia 2020, and would be the first of four F2 races held in Italy during the 2020 season.

Qualifying would see Callum Ilott narrowly defeat Yuki Tsunoda in a flat-out session to claim his fourth pole position of the season, defeating the Japanese racer by 0.030s. Indeed, in a session dominated by being in the slip stream just seven tenths would cover the top twenty in the field, before Mick Schumacher brought the session to premature close by crashing at Ascari.

The start of the race saw Ilott sweep into an early lead, while Schumacher made a barnstorming start, charging up from sixth to second having darted around the four between himself and Ilott. However, as the #20 Prema moved forward Tsunoda and Luca Ghiotto slipped back, both being dragged back into the swarm entering the Rettifilo.

Schumacher tried to challenge Ilott into the first chicane, although the Brit fended off the German racer to hold the lead through Curva Grande. Behind, it was an incredibly well mannered run through the infamously tight chicane, with no major issues for the 22 strong field.

Indeed, the race would soon settle down, with Schumacher stalking Ilott, while the rest of the field lined up in a long train. Indeed, the fight for the lead seemed to evaporate as the race wore on, with Ilott pulling two seconds clear of Schumacher before those on the soft Pirelli tyres began making their stops for fresh mediums.

Ilott made his stop on lap twelve, although after a quick change the Brit would stall the #4 UNI-Virtuosi, costing him valuable time as the pitcrew scrambled to fire the car back up. His fate was sealed as Schumacher came in a lap later and rejoined well ahead of Ilott, with the Brit himself dropping to tenth in the pack of cars that had stopped.

As that was going on Nikita Mazepin and Roy Nissany came together at the Rettifilo, with Mazepin bouncing across the gravel, before his car suddenly entered a limp-home mode. Furthermore, Nissany appeared to have picked up damage and began a slow tumble down the field, as those on the medium-soft strategy began making their stops on lap nineteen.

Their stops would elevate Schumacher into the lead for the first time, the German racer having established a small lead over Christian Lundgaard since their stops. Ilott, meanwhile, would find himself in ninth as the pitstop phase came to an end, although was quick to relieve Dan Ticktum of eighth when the #2 DAMS rejoined. A move on Marcus Armstrong carried him to seventh, before the Brit caught and passed title rival Robert Shwartzman to claim sixth.

Further moves saw Ilott dance around Louis Delétraz for fifth, before hunting after Tsunoda for fourth in the closing stages. He was, however, being caught by teammate Guanyu Zhou, who was having a late tear of his own in the sister #3 Virtuosi, and would ultimately pass Ilott on the penultimate lap as Ilott's tyres faded.

Out front, meanwhile, Schumacher cruised across the line to claim a measured victory, while Ghiotto claimed second with a late move on Lundgaard. Tsunoda was next up ahead of Zhou and Ilott, Ticktum climbed up to seventh after his softs came up to temperature, while Delétraz claimed reverse grid pole with eighth. Championship leader Shwartzman was next up in ninth, now tied with Ilott for the Championship lead, while Jehan Daruvala claimed the final point in tenth.

Background
The annual trip to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza had looked to be in doubt in early 2020, with Italy having been one of the first and hardest hit countries by the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, resulting in the Italian Grand Prix being cancelled along with its support races. Yet, as the European nations brought their Covid-19 cases under control, the Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia 2020 was restored to its original date, with the Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships also having their trip to the Autodromo restored. Furthermore, the Monza circuit would be unchanged from the previous season, with the familiar 5.793 km flat-out blast retained with no changes to the DRS zones either.

Feeder Fortunes
Ahead of the race weekend it was announced that Roy Nissany, fresh from arguably his best F2 weekend at Spa, would get another outing in FP1 for Williams in Formula One. Once again taking over the car of former F2 Champion George Russell, it would be Nissany's second FP1 outing after he had driven Russell's car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Spa Shakedown
Victory in the 2020 Spa Sprint Race combined with a non-score for the former leader had elevated Robert Shwartzman to the top of the Championship, with the Russian racer arriving in Monza with a small ten point lead. Former leader Callum Ilott had therefore slipped to second having only claimed two points across the previous three rounds, while Yuki Tsunoda had held onto third on 111 points. Mick Schumacher was next up, five behind Tsunoda, while Nikita Mazepin completed the top five a further five points off of Schumacher as they unloaded in Monza.

A one-two for Prema Racing in the Spa Sprint had greatly enhanced their recently won lead in the Teams' Championship, with their advantage having opened out to 24 points over UNI-Virtuosi. Indeed, the British squad had only kept pace with the Italian scuderia courtesy of Guanyu Zhou's podium in the Spa Sprint, although they had remained 62 ahead of Hitech Grand Prix. Elsewhere, Carlin had held fourth ahead of ART Grand Prix, while HWA Racelab had inched away from Trident at the foot of the table.

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
With the track temperature hovering a 34°C the field, as one, would pour out onto the circuit when the pitlane opened at the start of the session, all desperate to be in the slipstream of someone ahead. Indeed, such was the impact of having a tow in qualifying (c.0.3s) that UNI-Virtuosi, who had frequently made their first runs after everyone else had come back into the pits, would join the melee out of the pits, settling into the middle of the pack. Furthermore, there would be a lot of jostling around on the warm-up lap ahead of the race, before the drivers began to spread out in a bid to get some space for their laps.

Yuki Tsunoda would go on to set the initial pace, being the first driver to break into the 1:33.000s before the field completed a cool down lap and went again. This time it was Mick Schumacher and Christian Lundgaard who emerged at the head of the timesheets, also moving into the 1:33.000 range, relegating Tsunoda back to third. Other improvements saw Jehan Daruvala, Dan Ticktum and Nikita Mazepin jump into the top half of the field, while title pretenders Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman found themselves in the bottom half as they made their way back to the pits for fresh tyres.

Ticktum would lead the field back out of the pitlane for their second set of laps, although he would be unable to tempt someone else to get ahead of him, and so would lead the peloton around. A mistake on his lap compounded his issue and hence meant he failed to improve, while Schumacher, another early runner in the queue, also messed up his run. He was subsequently usurped at the head of the field by Tsunoda, Luca Ghiotto and Lundgaard, while Roy Nissany caused a stir by leaping into fourth for Trident.

However, all eyes were on Ilott at the back of the peloton, with the British racer getting a supreme tow off the back of Felipe Drugovich, enabling him to leap into top spot with a 1:31.929. With that, the field would complete another cool down lap before committing to another flying lap, although Mazepin gambled on making another flying lap straight away. A fastest third sector for Mazepin would catapult the #24 Hitech up to sixth, with the wisdom of his decision shown a few moments later.

Indeed, as Mazepin charged towards the line Schumacher would lose the back of his car running through Ascari, having been on course to better his earlier effort. The German racer duly spun straight into the outside wall on the exit of the left-right-left combination, with the ruined Prema left against the outside wall. That triggered a red flag with two minutes to go, meaning the officials opted to end the session on the spot to leave Ilott on pole ahead of Tsunoda.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Race
Conditions were warm and dry at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza ahead of Feature Race, with no threat of rain on Saturday afternoon as the field gathered on the grid. Likewise, there was stability on the grid with no changes to the order after qualifying, with the majority of the field, including pole sitter Callum Ilott, starting the race on the soft Pirelli tyres.

Report
When the lights went out there was no stopping Ilott, who sprinted away at the head of the field as fellow front row starter Yuki Tsunoda came under immediate pressure from Christian Lundgaard. However, they would all be overshadowed by the efforts of Mick Schumacher, who made a barnstorming start in the #20 Prema to rise from sixth to second. Indeed, the German racer would have to dart from one side of the grid to the other to bypass Roy Nissany, Luca Ghiotto, Lundgaard and Tsunoda, and would even managed to entertain thoughts a lunge around the outside of Ilott into the Rettifilo.

Ultimately, however, Schumacher would think better of it, and instead opted to slot in behind the #4 UNI-Virtuosi and hold second. Behind, it was a remarkably clean run through the tight right-left chicane, with no major incidents or even minor collisions. Indeed, the only major change would be a relegation to fifth for Tsunoda, while an issue for Felipe Drugovich dumped the Brazilian to the back of the field exiting the chicane.

There would be more fighting throughout the field on the opening lap, with Nikita Mazepin getting elbowed out at the second chicane and having to cut across, causing a minor traffic jam behind. However, after the field had made it through the Ascari chicane the order began to settle, with Ilott able to hold the lead half a second ahead of Schumacher as they completed the first tour, while Lundgaard held third. Behind, Tsunoda would manage to draft back past Ghiotto down the start/finish straight to start lap two and reclaim fourth, while Championship leader Robert Shwartzman had only gained one position to climb to fifteenth.

The early laps saw Lundgaard and Tsunoda engage in a ferocious duel for third, with the Japanese racer briefly getting ahead with the aid of DRS down the inside of the Rettifilo. However, the Dane was able to respond with DRS down the Serragilo and duly fired back past into Ascari, although Tsunoda kept the #7 Carlin alongside the #6 ART Grand Prix, and duly emerged ahead. That would compromise Tsunoda's run down the back straight, however, and hence allowed Lundgaard and Ghiotto to draft ahead on the run to Parabolica.

Yet, Tsunoda would again hang on around the outside of the #6 ART and the #25 Hitech, setting up a three way truel into the Rettifilo. The big loser in that fight would be Ghiotto on the outside as the Italian clipped the grass and fired straight down the escape road, while Lundgaard, on the inside of Tsunoda, scrambled ahead. The Italian duly rejoined ahead of them but had to back off the throttle, and hence instantly slipped behind both Lundgaard, Tsunoda and the #22 Trident of Nissany, as Lundgaard tried to escape.

However, Lundgaard would not escape, and a lap later Tsunoda threw an ambitious lunge to the outside of the Rettifilo, and hence managed to get back ahead. Lundgaard then got a run on the #7 Carlin into the second chicane, although his lunge around the outside of Tsunoda saw him lock-up and run wide. Lundgaard hence had to bleed out of the throttle on the run to Lesmo, with their fight finally coming to an end after that moment.

With that the fight at the upper end of the field settled, with Ilott leading Schumacher by a second, with the German racer waiting for the pitstop phase to begin in order to challenge for the lead. Lundgaard was the first to stop on lap eleven, while Ilott came in from the lead a lap later, Schumacher having opted to complete another tour. However, after an issue free stop from the Virtuosi crew Ilott would stall his car, throwing away his hopes of victory as his pitcrew scrambled to refire the engine.

That incident cost Ilott fifteen seconds, with Schumacher duly claiming the de jure lead when he came in and had a flawless stop a lap later. On track, meanwhile, Mazepin tried to complete an over-under on Nissany into the Rettifilo, although instead found himself getting elbowed out onto the gravel, having tried to squeeze the Israeli racer onto the inside kerb. They were instantly passed by Jehan Daruvala and Guanyu Zhou, with Zhou going on to claim third with a lunge down the outside of the #8 Carlin into the second chicane a few seconds later.

Due to the nature of the chosen compounds by Pirelli, the stint lengths for the medium and soft tyres were fairly even, meaning those who had started on mediums would begin making their stops just after half-distance. That would hence mean that those who had already made their stops would quickly rise back up the order, with Ilott in particular streaking up the field. Indeed, the Brit was one of the fastest drivers in the field, and would rob teammate Zhou of twelfth when the Chinese racer rejoined.

Former leader Dan Ticktum was the next to fall when he rejoined from his stop on lap eighteen, with Ilott driving straight past his compatriot through Curva Grande to claim ninth. That became eighth when Jüri Vips, the last man to make a stop pitted at the end of the following tour, with the Estonian's stop also elevation Schumacher into the lead of the race for the first time. A few laps later and Ilott was on the back of a train of cars fighting for fourth, headed by Tsunoda with eight laps to go.

Marcus Armstrong was the first to fall to Ilott, the #4 Virtuosi sweeping right around the outside of the #5 ART to claim seventh into the Rettifilo. A lap later and Ilott was on the tail of title rival Shwartzman, and a simple lunge down the inside of the #21 Prema with the aid of DRS carried him up to sixth. Behind, teammate Zhou would catch onto the back of the group, and duly passed Armstrong for eighth, while the two MP Motorsports almost came together at the second chicane, with Drugovich bouncing over the high kerbs on the inside of turn five after being shoved wide by teammate Nobuharu Matsushita.

Back with Ilott and his charge up the field was continuing, with Louis Delétraz the next driver to fall to the #4 Virtuosi, again courtesy of a lunge into the first chicane. That put Ilott in fourth, a second behind Tsunoda, as behind Zhou shadowed his teammate by robbing Shwartzman of seventh around the outside of the Rettifilo a lap later. The #3 Virtuosi would likewise force his way past Delétraz to claim sixth, before chasing down teammate Ilott as the Brit's charge began to stall.

Into the closing stages and Ilott's race was run, with Zhou able to cruise past his teammate for fifth as the #4 Virtuosi's medium tyres struggled with wear. Up ahead, Ghiotto had closed right onto Lundgaard's tail for second, and duly fired down the inside of the #6 ART down the inside of the second chicane, albeit having squeezed the Dane a lot on the entry. Elsewhere, Ticktum was making a late charge up the field to claim seventh, significantly dumping Shwartzman back to ninth with two laps to go.

Out front, meanwhile, Schumacher would run unopposed through to the chequered flag to secure his second F2 victory, and his first triumph in a Feature Race. Behind, Ghiotto secured second ahead of Lundgaard, while Tsunoda ended the day in a lonely fourth as Zhou's tyres ran out on the final tour. Regardless, the Chinese race would hold fifth ahead of Ilott and Ticktum, Delétraz claimed reverse-grid pole for the Sprint in eighth, while Shwartzman and Daruvala completed the scorers in ninth and tenth.

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 unable to be classified as he failed to complete 90% of the race distance.

Milestones

 * Fifth pole position for Callum Ilott.
 * Second career victory for Mick Schumacher.
 * Prema Racing claimed their sixteenth win in Formula 2.
 * Also their 25th victory at GP2/F2 level.
 * Fifth fastest lap recorded by Luca Ghiotto.

Standings
Robert Shwartzman had held onto the Championship lead after the first race in Monza, although only by virtue of having won three races to his closest challenger's two. Indeed, Callum Ilott's roller-coaster-esque Saturday run had seen him move level with Shwartzman at the head of the Championship, with both heading into the Sprint Race with 134 points. Behind, Mick Schumacher made it a Ferrari Driver Academy one-two-three, three off the lead, while Yuki Tsunoda was just eight further behind in fourth.

In the Teams' Championship it was Prema Racing who still headed the charge, and had extended their lead to 29 points after claiming victory on home soil in the Feature Race. UNI-Virtuosi had remained their closest challengers in second, while Hitech Grand Prix had slipped slightly further back in third, having fallen almost 100 points off the lead. Elsewhere, Carlin had held fourth and of ART Grand Prix, with no major changes to the overall order.