Yuki Tsunoda won the feature FIA Formula 2 (F2) Championship from Guanyu Zhou and Nikita Mazepin but P1 and P3 drivers are being investigated.
The start of the feature F2 race in Bahrain had pole-sitter Yuki Tsunoda lose his lead in the Carlin, as Hitech GP’s Nikita Mazepin with Prema’s Robert Shwartzman taking first and second, dropping the Japanese driver to third from HWA Racelab’s Artem Markelov.
The Russian was a good gainer on Lap 1 as he led MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich and Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala, while UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s Callum Ilott & Guanyu Zhou were seventh and eighth from DAMS’ Dan Ticktum and Charouz’s Pedro Piquet in the Top 10.
F2 points leader Mick Schumacher in his Prema had the hard tyres for his first stint to make up the lost ground from 18th. The German got a whack on his back at Turn 1 but continued his aggressive charge back into the Top 10 after passing multiple of his rivals.
Title rival Ilott was on the soft tyres for his first stint as he lost some ground there. At the front, Mazepin continued to lead but Tsunoda got second from Shwartzman as Drugovich cleared Markelov, who was passed by Zhou as well, being on the alternate strategy.
The Chinese F2 racer already passed Ilott and Daruvala early on as the Indian was the first to change from soft to hard. Zhou eventually took over the race lead from Ticktum and Schumacher in the Top 3 – all three on the hard compound to start the race.
The net lead was with Mazepin still in seventh after he managed to pass Shwartzman and Tsunoda post the pit stop. The Japanese lost two places despite coming out ahead of them. Daruvala, meanwhile, cleared Ilott, even though the Brit came out ahead of him.
But Ilott finally managed to pass him to have track position as a stop from Schumacher dropped him down to 13th in the order. The Top 10 after all the pit stops had Mazepin ahead of Shwartzman and Tsunoda in the Top 3, with Drugovich catching them.
Ilott held fifth from Daruvala, Zhou, Piquet, Markelov and Ticktum in the Top 10, where the Chinese F2 racer had a five-second time penalty for speeding in pitlane. Schumacher was already up on the brink of a Top 10 after clearing couple of his rivals.
In fact, Schumacher gained a place to be 10th after Markelov lost to both the German and Ticktum. The Brit lost ninth then to Schumacher after a brave move from the Prema F2 driver, as Zhou passed Daruvala and Ilott to jump to fifth.
Just in front, Tsunoda passed Shwartzman for second after initially avoiding a crash with ART’s Christian Lundgaard, who was leaving the pits. The Russian had Drugovich on his tail soon and eventually lost the podium position to be fourth.
Shwartzman lost another to Zhou, who was the driver on charge but with a penalty. At the same time, Schumacher passed Piquet for eighth in the chase of Daruvala. At the front, though, it was getting crazy with four drivers fighting for the F2 win.
Mazepin tried hard to keep Tsunoda at bay and managed to with multiple lead changes but the Japanese racer eventually took it away to win the feature F2 race in Bahrain. The Russian had to work hard to stay on the podium against Drugovich, Shwartzman and Zhou.
There were some scary moments of defence from Mazepin in multiple corners but he couldn’t keep Zhou behind. The Chinese racer, in fact, managed to pass all of them to second and build a five seconds gap to keep the position as well from the fighting pack.
It was Mazepin in third despite complaints from Drugovich for his defence. The Brazilian had to content himself with fourth from Shwartzman as Ilott was sixth to keep the title alive. The race control put the move from Tsunoda under investigation along with Mazepin.
Replays showed Tsunoda passing Mazepin at Turn 1 with all four wheels off the white line, while the Russian and Drugovich were being investigated as well for the defence from the Hitech GP racer, where the Brazilian smashed the DRS board at Turn 4.
Behind all this, though, it was Schumacher in seventh after he passed Daruvala on the final lap. The Indian ended up eighth to secure the reverse grid pole, as Ticktum and Piquet rounded out the Top 10 position.
Armstrong was ended up 11th from Charouz’s Louis Deletraz as Markelov ended up 13th from F2 returnee Ralph Boschung and MP Motorsport’s Giuliano Alesi in the Top 15. The Frenchman had a might fight against the Trident drivers as well.
Position 16-22: Luca Ghiotto, Marino Sato, Theo Pourchaire, Sean Gelael, Roy Nissany, Lundgaard, Guilherme Samaia.
Here’s where one can watch the F2 feature race – in India and Brazil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg22K1-5JH
UPDATE: The FIA stewards handed two penalties of five seconds each – along with two points each on his superlicense – to Mazepin, which dropped him outside the podium. The first one was for pushing Tsunoda onto the wall on the main straight.
While the second one was for hindering Drugovich on the main straight again when the Brazilian was trying to pass him. He was, however, cleared for pushing him off at Turn 3-4. The Russian admitted to his mistake for the main straight hampering.
The statement of hindering Drugovich stated: “The Stewards examined video evidence. They summoned and heard the drivers and team representatives (documents 27 and 28). Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that Car 15 started a pass to the right of Car 24 on the pit straight. Car 24 moved to the right in a blocking maneuver at the same time and in the process moved to the track edge. Car 15, who had established some amount of overlap in the pass attempt, was forced to slow to avoid a collision and was, therefore, hindered.”
The statement of escaping penalty for T3-4 moment: “The Stewards examined video evidence. They summoned and heard the drivers and team representatives (documents 29 & 30). Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that Car 15 attempted to pass Car 24 on the right on the straight between Turn 3 and 4. Car 15 did not establish overlap during the maneuveur. Car 24 moved to the right track edge in a blocking maneuveur that the Stewards found very aggressive but not in breach of the regulations.”
The statement of pushing Tsunoda stated: “The Stewards examined video evidence. They summoned and heard the drivers and team representatives (documents 23 & 24). Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that Car 7 started a pass to the right of Car 24 on the pit straight and established a significant part of his car alongside Car 24 while Car 24 was moving to the right in a blocking maneuver.
“Car 24 continued moving to the right until his right side tyres crossed the edge of the track, thereby forcing Car 7 completely off the track in breach of Article 2 (b) of Appendix L Chapter IV of the FIA International Sporting Code. The Stewards note that had Car 7 not been forced off track by Car 24, Car 7 could clearly have successfully completed the pass on track and, therefore, no action is taken against Car 7 for completing a pass whilst being beyond the track limits.”
This dropped Mazepin to ninth in the order behind Ticktum, helping Drugovich to be third with Shwartzman fourth, Ilott fifth, Schumacher sixth and Daruvala seventh. This also means that the reverse grid pole-sitter will be Ticktum and not Daruvala.
