Shwartzman wins as PREMA take control of the championship after Zhou spin

The FIA Formula 2 championship lead has changed hands again after Robert Shwartzman won the first sprint race of the weekend at Silverstone thanks to a terrific start, but it’s his teammate Oscar Piastri who takes the points lead.

The Russian got off the line like a bullet from a gun to launch his PREMA from fourth on the grid to the lead by the first braking zone of Village and despite three safety car restarts, he always looked in control to take his second win of the year.

The first of those safety cars was deployed as previous points leader Guanyu Zhou spun all on his own at The Loop and ended his race before it had really begun. Roy Nissany also failed to make it through the opening lap after he ran into the back of Christian Lundgaard at the same corner and caused unraceable damage to his DAMS car.

Juri Vips was never too far away from Shwartzman out front but he couldn’t get close enough to challenge but second gives him more decent championship points after winning twice in Baku last time out. He too started on row two alongside Shwartzman after another lightning start.

Lundgaard lost his reverse grid pole at the start but held on to third come the chequered flag to finally score a result his raw pace indicated he deserved while his teammate Théo Pourchaire couldn’t quite find a way past Felipe Drugovich for fourth despite hounding the Brazilian all race long.

Piastri looked as quick as anyone and his good start, combined with a superb move on Liam Lawson after the second safety car, earned him sixth along with the fastest lap which puts him ahead of his PREMA teammate at the top of the standings by just two points.

Lawson struggled on the hard tyres but he held off Dan Ticktum’s race-long charge to claim seventh with the Brit taking the final point. Richard Verschoor utilised a late pit stop during the final safety car – caused by Guilherme Samaia’s Charouz beached in the gravel at Luffield – to make his way to tenth behind Marcus Armstrong to form the front row for the second sprint race.