Schumacher wins F2 title in Bahrain

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Mick Schumacher was crowned drivers’ champion of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship yesterday as Jehan Daruvala won the season-ending F2 Sprint Race, held in support of the Formula 1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix 2020 at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

Schumacher, who will be driving in F1 from next year with Haas, clinched his crown despite finishing 18th after struggling with his tyres for much of the first part of the race. His chief title rival Callum Ilott could not take advantage and was classified 10th overall, which left him out of the points for the race, which was held along BIC’s 3.543-kilometre Outer Track.

Schumacher’s drivers’ title adds to the teams’ crown won on Saturday by his team Prema Racing.

“If you bring a championship title on your CV into F1, that is always great,” said Schumacher, who is also affiliated with the Ferrari Driver Academy. “I already had one in F3 and now IhaveoneinF2aswell, one of the top championships to be in. “To be able to win this championship against great competition, Dan Ticktum was in F3 when we fought, and now this year with Callum Ilott who I know very well from the FDA.

“It has been a great challenge and I think the better the competition, the more you develop as a driver. I think that is everything that I will carry through to F1.”

Daruvala led teammate Yuki Tsunoda to the chequered flag to register an impressive Carlin one-two in the F2 season finale.

Daruvala started on the front row alongside pole-sitter Dan Ticktum of Dams, and was able to gain the lead on lap 25. Daruvala held on until the end of 34 laps and crossed the finish line in 37 minutes 26.570 seconds for his first-ever triumph in F2.

“It feels really good to win the last race of the season and finish on a high,” said Daruvala. “It was a great battle out there with Dan (Ticktum), which got close at times, but we respected each other and raced well. The car was really good and I couldn’t have asked for a better finish.”

Tsunoda followed in 3.561s after passing Ticktum on the final corner, and Ticktum had to settle for third 3.902s behind Daruvala.

The result gave Carlin both victories in F2’s final round of 2020.

Completing the top eight and the Sprint’s points scorers were Guanyu Zhou (+5.615s) of Uni-Virtuosi, Schumacher’s teammate Robert Shwartzman (+7.585s), Giuliano Alesi (+9.040s) of MP Motorsport, Luca Ghiotto (+11.093s) of Hitech Grand Prix and Felipe Drugovich (+13.878s) of MP Motorsport.

Ticktum started from pole on the F2 reverse grid rule after being promoted to eighth place in Saturday’s Feature Race classification. A double five-second penalty was handed to Nikita Mazepin, dropping him to ninth from third place originally.

Schumacher and Ilott were engaged in a heated battle for third early on in today’s Sprint, but Schumacher’s struggles forced him to pit and he dropped to the back of the field.