F2 Austria 2020

Never underestimate a rookie

To think I was excited at the start of last season after having to wait through the whole of the winter break. Little did any of us know how torturously long the wait for the 2020 season would be. However, just as the sun always rises after a long dark night, after spending lockdown on Twitch watching sim races and progressively weird cooking streams (I’m looking at you Sacha Fenestraz and James Pull), life finally has meaning again. 

Practice: No Helmut Marko instigated cull required… just yet…

Sadly for Nikita Mazepin, he had an even longer wait for his season to start, as he could be seen being wheeled through the paddock by his mechanics long after access to the pitlane was closed, and was therefore forced to sit the session out. Not a good start for new team Hitech. 

The rest of the drivers did make it out for the practice session, and it was Red Bull junior Jehan Daruvala who set the early pace, to be quickly surpassed by F2 veteran Louis Delétraz and legend’s spawn Mick Schumacher. Basically it was all the expected names up there, with the exception of Ferrari Academy Driver Callum Ilott, who was 15th. 

Meanwhile, in what was not at all an attempt to fill time, commentator Alex J mused about whether being the son of a Formula One driver must put pressure on Delétraz. I mean, no disrespect to Jean-Denis, but I feel like that’s a pressure that someone like, oh I don’t know, maybe Mick Schumacher, feels more acutely?

Anyway, back on track, or actually very much off track, Marino Sato was in the gravel trap, in “a curious place” having lost it and gone flying in backwards. Red flag. 

Creating nice Red Bull book ends to the session, it was the other Red Bull young driver Yuki Tsunoda who ended practice at the top of the timing screens. What a relief to see them both do well in the Red Bull homeland, the consequences of a poor performance don’t even bear thinking about.

The best thing, however, to come from practice, was a reminder (and also this week’s homework) to use the phrase “struggle bus” more frequently. Thanks alternative commentator Alex B.

Qualifying: Joining me in the gravel trap…

Qualifying began with one almighty queue in the pitlane, and while most of them fought it out for provisional pole, Giuliano Alesi went wide, only eventually getting back on track after taking a detour through the gravel trap, via bashing into a wall. 

This drawing looks no more stupid than the real event

As Ilott, Renault junior Guanyu Zhou, and the other expected candidates all traded fastest times, the next random surprise of the F2 weekend was Felipe Drugovich and his leap into third place. This was followed by Sato taking yet another trip into the gravel trap and bringing out the red flag, with only five minutes to go. 

Another almighty pitlane queue formed, with everyone desperate to get one last lap in when the light went green. 

Zhou improved his time, maintaining his provisional pole position, and Drugovich also went faster, further surprising by moving up to second place, while Mazepin crashed, ending everyone else’s hopes of achieving the fastest lap. This was a particular problem for Williams reserve driver Jack Aitken, Renault junior Christian Lundgaard and Haas reserve driver Delétraz, aka essentially my top-3 favourite F2 drivers, *removes Mazepin from Christmas card list*.

Who knows how it might have ended without the Mazepin yellow flag, but how it actually ended was with Zhou on pole, Drugovich second and Ilott in third. While I feel a little guilty about totally underestimating Drugovich, it seems that no one expected that performance, including him, as he set himself the lofty target for the race of “keeping up with the top three”. 

Feature Race: The highs and lows of racing

The Feature Race began with a forlorn raging Luca Ghiotto being wheeled about somewhere that wasn’t the grid, à la his Hitech team mate in Friday’s practice. He looked angry even from a distance, wearing a helmet. Sato also continued his top form for the weekend by failing to get going on the formation lap, and was left to spend the rest of the race chatting on the pitwall. 

It wasn’t bad news for everyone though, as Ilott made an amazing start, jumping from third to first, past Drugovich and Zhou. Schumacher also made the jump on Drugovich, and then Zhou respectfully made his way back past team mate Ilott to regain the lead. Most made it safely through the first few corners, except Daruvala who got spun round by his team mate Tsunoda, who then got a time penalty for his actions, despite already being basically last. Let’s see if he still has the Red Bull livery on his car next week… At least someone seemed to benefit from the Daruvala/Tsunoda incident, as Alesi, having started 18th, had somehow made his way up to 10th. 

Up front, Zhou could not shake the rest of the field and everyone was keeping very close to each other. It was Zhou in first place, followed by Ilott, Schumacher and Drugovich, before Ferrari young driver Robert Shwartzman eventually also overtook Drugovich for fourth place, with Lundgaard not far behind. At the other end of the field, Sean Gelael ended his first race of the season by retiring. Important question: why doesn’t he have a bargain bucket on his head this year?

By lap 10, the first set of pitstops had begun and they were not pretty. Mazepin, Delétraz and Guilherme Samaia all had bad stops, whereas Aitken had to spend a long time in the pits because he got a stop/go penalty for being “out of position before SC1”, even though no one knows what that means. 

Zhou was the first of the frontrunners to pit, with Ilott coming in one lap later. The overcut worked a charm, with Ilott coming out ahead of Zhou, albeit on cold tyres and with Zhou bearing down on him. Schumacher pitted the following lap, jumping ahead of both of them, although by this time Zhou’s tyres had got fully up to temperature and he overtook Ilott and Schumacher before pulling away down the road, leaving them to battle over second place. And battle they did, until eventually Ilott overtook Schumacher for second place. 

But then, total devastation hit. Zhou lost power. Then resident F2 driver Artem Markelov broke down, which was totally unrelated and not nearly as devastating because he was only in 12th place, but it did bring out the Safety Car. 

One might have thought that a Safety Car would be a good thing for now second-placed Mick Schumacher, providing an opportunity to make a move on Ilott for the lead upon the race restart. But no. Instead he went barrelling off into the gravel trap, apparently for no other reason than he fucked it up. I want to say “just like his dad”, but, well not really, although I’m sure Michael made similar mistakes during his junior formula career. 

With all kinds of shuffling about happening in the mid-field, Mazepin getting a time penalty for a Safety Car infringement, and Shwartzman and fellow Ferrari young driver Marcus Armstrong slowing each other down now fighting for second, Ilott took full advantage and disappeared down the road, praying he wouldn’t suffer a similar fate to his team mate Zhou. 

One of the guys making the most moves in the closing laps was Alesi, who had now made his way all the way up 6th (from previously 18th). Also not at all like his dad. 

Ilott was victorious, and despite some very close last minute battles between the rest of them, Armstrong was second and Shwartzman third, making it a Ferrari Driver Academy top three, which isn’t really surprising given there’s about a hundred of them. 

The drivers were mostly too excited to remember proper social distancing protocols, while Armstrong didn’t let a little thing like a mask get in the way of enjoying his champagne. I supposed mask-filtered champagne still isn’t as wrong as the “shoey”. We have low standards in this sport.

At the post-race press conference, everyone said how they felt bad for Zhou, although I think they probably meant relieved, given his heavy-weight championship contender status. Armstrong said that it all went exactly how he expected, by which I hope he was referring to his race strategy and not that Zhou’s misfortunes were all part of his Dr Evil style plan. Also important to note is that Shwartzman is a very accurate question answerer, which I feel could become new criteria for choosing my favourite F2 driver. He’s on my reserve list.

Sprint Race: The Dark Horse vs. The Safety Car

It was the dark horse of qualifying, Felipe Drugovich, who started on pole for the Sprint Race. Having admittedly severely underestimated him previously, there was no chance he would surprise again. Yeah sure, he was shockingly good in qualifying, but look at what happened to him in the Feature Race, and look at his F3 history, he only scored points like once. He would never keep the lead against all these mega talents. 

His first F2 start from pole was… actually very good. Delétraz behind him kept in second place, Armstrong came from nowhere (7th) to jump up to third, while Alesi and Williams development driver Dan Ticktum had a bit of a battle until Alesi’s car burst into flames. Safety Car. 

As the Safety Car was about to go in, Gelael decided upon his second retirement of the weekend, and parked up on the side of the road, meaning we had a few laps more of Safety Car fun. Given it was Drugovich’s first ever F2 Safety Car restart, it was inevitable that he would struggle… It was a good start by Drugovich, who kept his lead from Delétraz, Armstrong and Ticktum. 

As Delétraz and Armstrong fought it out, Drugovich inched away from them, although not for long as the Safety Car was soon back out because Ghiotto got hit from behind by Daruvala (for which Daruvala got a 10-second penalty), while Zhou had to dodge out of the way of it all by going through the gravel trap. Not the weekend any of them had hoped for I’m sure, although I hope someone at least warned Daruvala about how terrifying Ghiotto looks when he’s angry. 

As the Safety Car came back in once again, Markelov could be seen trundling around with no front wing, having apparently given Daruvala a taste of his own medicine by running into the back of him (Markelov also got a 10-second penalty). Markelov luckily made it back to the pits, avoiding another Safety Car. Although not for long, as third-placed Armstrong suddenly lost power and weirdly parked on a hill before rolling backwards down again, all of which of course warranted a Safety Car. 

Drugovich’s millionth F2 Safety Car restart was a good one. He’s an old hand at this now. He should give some tips to Mick Schumacher, or Tsunoda who went off track and lost a load of places. 

Just as expected from the start, Drugovich took the win, followed by Delétraz and Ticktum. Co-commentator Mini Brundle described Drugovich’s win as “fabulous,” but obviously I always knew he would do it. In the post-race press conference, Drugovich said his target was to keep improving and learning, which is definitely not what he says on his website. 

Championship standings

After the first round, Callum Ilott is top of the championship standings with 27 points, Shwartzman is second with 23 points and Drugovich is a not-at-all surprising third, with 21 points. Championship favourite-ish, Zhou is all the way down in 10th place, having only scored 4 points for pole position, but it’s all very close and still so much more to go. Next week we travel onwards stay where we are in Austria! Again. 

F2 Austria 2020
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