Schumacher wins landmark first Formula 2 race for PREMA at the Hungaroring

Mick Schumacher led from pole to flag in Sunday’s Formula 2 sprint race in Hungary to claim his first victory in the series for the PREMA team.

Victory for Schumacher, at the venue that his father triumphed four times in Formula One, could be the start of things to come in the German’s debut season in the series. It also marks his first podium.

“I’m just happy to finally be over the period of bad luck and it’s good to, obviously, score a decent amount of points,” said Schumacher in the press conference following his victory.

It was an accomplished drive from Schumacher, who started from his second reverse grid pole this season. He had to dig deep to hold off Carlin’s Nobuharu Matsushita for the entire race despite the Honda development driver often being in DRS range. DAMS’ Sérgio Sette Câmara finished third in what was an emotional weekend for the team.

“It was not easy,” added Schumacher “I was always trying to keep him [Matsushita] a bit behind, especially in the last sector. Going into Turn 1 is the easiest, and let’s say most probable, overtaking opportunity for Nobu, so I tried to have a good exit out of the last corner every time which worked pretty well.

“He then got quite a bit closer into Turn 1 when he had the DRS, but in general I was trying to take care of my tyres, especially when these two were fighting. I tried to push to get away and stay out of the DRS but then also tried to look after the tyres so that if Nobu came back, which was a matter of time, I still had some tyres left. They were pretty on the edge to be honest in the last laps.”

Fraser Masefield

Sports news and features writer, web editor and author.