Dan Ticktum takes first FIA F2 victory in Silverstone thriller

Dan Ticktum has won the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race at the British Grand Prix, ahead of Christian Lundgaard and Louis Delétraz.

Felipe Drugovich began the race on pole position but it was Dan Ticktum who had the best start, launching off the front row of the grid into the lead of the race.

The front runners made it through cleanly, but a spinning Carlin in the background signalled that there was more drama to catch up on further down the field.

At the front, Lundgaard was up to second, with Delétraz in third as Drugovich was completely mugged by the chasing pack.

Guanyu Zhou went bravely past Mick Schumacher on the outside for P7, with the pair battling for grip around Copse.

These fierce battles down the field were neutralised when the Virtual Safety Car was activated, as the Red Bull-liveried Carlin of Yuki Tsunoda was still stranded on the track from his Turn 1 incident.

At the restart the leaders fell into formation but the real action was further down the pack, where the Marcus Armstrong, Sean Gelael, Pedro Piquet battle heated up - with both drivers past Armstrong before Piquet leapfrogged Gelael for the position.

Callum Ilott, running in P5, picked up a five-second penalty as he was deemed responsible for Tsunoda’s earlier incident.

At the front, the race order had settled in, with Ticktum leading Lundgaard and Delétraz.

There was a moment of excitement on Lap 9, as Guanyu Zhou executed a perfect double overtake on Drugovich and Mazepin to take him up to fifth. Mazepin tucked in behind the Renault Academy driver, with the pair leaving Drugovich in their wake as many before them had done.

Championship leader Robert Shwartzman caught up to Jack Aitken’s gearbox, with the pair fighting for P10 in a tense battle that lasted just over a lap before the 2019 FIA Formula 3 champion won the position.

Aitken soon became the target for Jehan Darivala, who mounted an attack on the next lap but didn’t have the same pace as Shwartzman to make it past Aitken.

At the halfway point of the race, Ticktum had called reception and checked out—holding a consistent lead 2 seconds ahead of Lundgaard.

Callum Ilott was soon past Lundgaard for second, but no sooner had he won the position, he spun off the track on Lap 16 and stalled his car, bringing out the Safety Car.

The running order was Ticktum, Lundgaard, Delétraz, Zhou, Mazepin—as drivers were instructed to drive through the pit lane.

Multiple teams saw this as the opportune moment to fit a set of the softer Medium tyres on their cars, set for a sprint to the finish.

Prema Racing were slow to react and brought their cars in a lap later, with Shwartzman the loser in a double-stacked pit stop that saw him emerge in P17. Guanyu Zhou also complained that his UNI-Virtuosi team did not react and take the opportunity to change his tyres, leaving him stranded at the front of the pack.

When the Safety Car ended on Lap 18, Ticktum, Delétraz, Zhou, and Mazepin led on the Hard compound tyres, followed by the chasing pack on Mediums and ready for action. Lundgaard was the lead car on Mediums, in fifth position with three laps remaining.

Lundgaard immediately stole fourth from Mazepin, and a mad scramble at the rear of the pack saw Armstrong, Piquet, Markelov, and Ghiotto all begin to form a queue behind Jack Aitken.

On Lap 20 Lundgaard seized the moment, lunging past Zhou onto the podium. Ghiotto retired from the race behind them, but his stranded car was dealt with quickly by the marshals without affecting the race.

On to the final lap, and Lundgaard set the mood early as the fastest lap notification announced his challenge on Delétraz. He swung around the slowing Swede and was now less than a second behind Ticktum, chasing him down on the softer tyre compound for the race lead.

Behind them, Zhou spun out of the race, falling from fourth down to ninth, but all attention was on the battle for the lead.

Ticktum’s lead ultimately proved unassailable, and he crossed the line with Lundgaard just milliseconds behind, with Delétraz completing the podium.

The young Briton was elated with his result.

“It feels just as good - even without the fans - and I am over the moon to be honest.”

“I haven’t crossed the line first in a while, so it feels good and it is a nice confidence boost. I don't know what to say really, it was a very tough race all the way through..”

“The first five laps in particular were pretty close, but then in the middle of the race I controlled it pretty well to be honest. The management of the tyres and the setup, with what we did with the aero balance was very good. At the end, if we had one less Safety Car lap, he (Christian Lundgaard) would have passed me. The last three laps were absolutely flat out, and I’m sure the blood pressure was pretty high.”

“I am really happy, so a big thank you to the team, because it hasn’t been the easiest of starts, but we seem to have always made the best of not-so-ideal qualifying sessions, so to come away from this weekend with 20 odd points, or something like that, I am happy.”

“This is the best track in the world, so I am happy that we’ll back next weekend.”

Kiwi Marcus Armstrong finished tenth, and holds P11 in the Drivers’ Championship.

Robert Shwartzman holds on to the lead of the Championship on 81 points, but the competition is wide open, with Callum Ilott in second on 73, and Christian Lundgaard in third on 69.

The FIA Formula 2 Championship returns 7-9 August for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone.