By RaceScene Publisher on Saturday, 17 July 2021
Category: The Checkered Flag

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.

Pos.NameTeamLaps/Gap
1Robert ShwartzmanPREMA21 Laps
2Juri VipsHitech GP+0.971
3Christian LundgaardART+2.534
4Felipe DrugovichUNI-Virtuosi+5.041
5Théo PourchaireART+5.594
6Oscar PiastriPREMA+8.403
7Liam LawsonHitech GP+11.640
8Dan TicktumCarlin+12.365
9Marcus ArmstrongDAMS+12.795
10Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport+13.640
11Lirim ZendeliMP Motorsport+14.222
12Jehan DaruvalaCarlin+16.694
13David BeckmannCharouz+17.215
14Ralph BoschungCampos+19.347
15Matteo NanniniCampos+20.113
16Bent ViscaalTrident+21.048
17Jack AitkenHWA Racelab+22,670
18Marino SatoTridentDNF (Damage)
19Guilherme SamaiaCharouzDNF (Beached)
20Alessio DeleddaHWA RacelabDNF (Contact)
21Roy NissanyDAMSDNF (Contact)
22Guanyu ZhouUNI-VirtuosiDNF (Spin/Stall)
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