F2: Ticktum loses F2 sprint win, Ilott inherits victory
DAMS driver Dan Ticktum claimed his second victory in the FIA Formula 2 Championship after controlling the Monza sprint race. Callum Ilott retook the lead in the Standing thanks to his second-place finish.
After starting from the first position, Louis Deletraz lost a spot to DAMS driver Dan Ticktum into Turn 1. Yesterday’s winner Mick Schumacher got past Guanyu Zhou to improve to P6.
In the meantime, championship leader Robert Shwartzman lost a position after Jack Aitken passed him. The Russian found himself down in tenth place.
Schumacher continued his charge towards the sharp end of the field by overtaking Renault-backed Christian Lungaard on the second lap. On the same lap, Yuki Tsunoda slowed down on the back straight due to technical issues and was forced to peel into the pit lane.
Luca Ghiotto and Jack Aitken came together at Turn 2 which allowed Shwartzman to retake the position he lost earlier to the Briton. On lap 6, the Ferrari protégé gained another position when Ghiotto needed to dive into the pits to sort his front wing out.
The battle continued at the front. Zhou and Schumacher went wheel to wheel and the German missed the first turn and went through the run off zone. He flat-spotted his front left tyre and dropped back to P6. Just moments later, Zhou also slowed down exiting the second Lesmo corner with a technical problem.
On lap 12, Ilott used the DRS for good measure on the main straight to overtake Deletraz. Lungaard also got past the Swiss driver who clearly started to have problems with his tyres.
Due to a contact, Felipe Drugovich span at Turn 1 and stalled his car. Virtual Safety Car was deployed to give marshals time to clear the track at the Variante del Rettifilio.
After the restart, Schumacher also found the way to go past Deletraz to take P3. At the front, Dan Ticktum maintained the gap he built up at the start of the race and cruised to his second F2 victory in 2020.
After crossing the finish line first, race winner Ticktum experienced technical problems on his in-lap which forced him to stop his car in the gravel trap around Turn 3. After being taken back to the pit lane by the medical car to celebrate his victory, he has revealed that the victory was a big relief for him following his inconsistent start to the season.
“A pretty positive day for me today, with a second win in F2. It has been a very up and down season so far, but I think we have consistently been moving in the right direction and I think we are nearly there. You can always be better, but I feel like the car is a lot closer to the window now – or perhaps even in it.
“I am really happy with the result today: I was able to control the race once I had gotten a good start. I would like to win a Feature Race, I said that in Silverstone, but a win is a win. The big positive is the pace that we have in the car. We will see what Qualifying is like next week and hopefully I’ll be on top in the other race," he said.
Update: Race winner Dan Ticktum has been disqualified from today’s FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race at Monza after it was not possible to take a fuel sample of 0.8kg from his DAMS’ car after the chequered flag.
An F2 statement read: "The Technical Delegate’s report stated that the sample extracted was 0.05kg, which is a breach of the technical regulation. All competitors must ensure that a 0.8kg sample of fuel can be taken from the car at any time during the event.
"As a consequence, Car 2 has been disqualified from the results, which means that Ticktum loses the Sprint Race win. As such, Championship leader Callum Ilott inherits the victory, whilst Christian Lundgaard is promoted to P2. Mick Schumacher moves up to third, ahead of Louis Delétraz, Robert Shwartzman, Jehan Daruvala and Jack Aitken. Nikita Mazepin jumps to P8 and takes the final point available."
