Heartbreak for Shwartzman, as Tsunoda wins first F2 sprint race – Schumacher second for Prema

Yuki Tsunoda was left celebrating a surprise first victory in Formula 2 after a late collision between the battling Prema drivers allowed him to take full advantage.

It looked for certain that it would be a Prema 1-2, but with Mick Schumacher all over the back of Robert Shwartzman and set to take the lead, he contacted his teammate whilst making the overtake around the outside of Brooklands with only two laps remaining.

“Both Premas were really fast in the beginning but I knew they were going to struggle at the end, so I just tried to manage the tyres at the beginning and push at the end and that worked good,” said Tsunoda, who became the eighth different winner in ten races. “It was maybe a bit of luck with both Prema guys touching each other in Turn 6 and I was easily past them but after that the pace was really good and thanks to the Carlin team.”

For an apologetic Schumacher, the collision was deemed a racing incident by the stewards, and he kept hold of the points accrued for his second place.

“We managed to have a good getaway from the line, obviously not the best one, but still good enough to keep position and then I had to control fights with my teammate which was good, we were pushing each other and getting away from the field behind us which was really positive, the car was amazing, the team did a mega job to get it ready and being this quick from instant to finish, basically,” said Schumacher.

“As for the incident I cannot say anything, I have to see the video, as you say it’s not nice to collide with a teammate because we deserved the 1-2 but I had a good car feeling and was trying my best to go forwards and improve and now we have to see how the video was, how the incident was.”

The latest round of results means that Schwartzman misses the opportunity to retake the lead of the championship and remains two points behind Christian Lundgaard and 21 points behind championship leader Calum Ilott with five championship rounds remaining.

Fraser Masefield

Sports news and features writer, web editor and author.