Callum Illott wins dramatic FIA Formula 2 opener ahead of kiwi Marcus Armstrong
Callum Illott has won the first race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 season, taking out the Feature Race at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of kiwi Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman.
Renault Academy driver Guanyu Zhou started on pole for Saturday’s feature race, with Felipe Drugovich alongside him on the front row, but it was the fast-starting Callum Illott who used his third-place grid position to launch himself into the lead of the race before Turn 1.
Zhou recovered and stuck with Illott, with a drag race ensuing as they ascended high into the Austrian hills. Zhou went to the outside in Turn 3 and the pair battled along the high crest of the Red Bull Ring, before Illott went too deep into Turn 4, handing the lead back to his UNI Virtuosi teammate.
Further back, the Lap 1 standout was Giuliano Alesi, who made up eight positions in the opening chaos. The next battle was Nikita Mazepin defending against Dan Ticktum for seventh, with the British driver getting by his Russian rival with little effort along the top of the hill.
The running order was Zhou, Illott, Mick Schumacher, Drugovich—but Felipe was soon beaten by Shwartzman, making it UNI Virtuosi 1-2, Prema Racing 3-4 at the front of the field.
Kiwi Marcus Armstrong made an early pit stop on Lap 9, one of the first in the field to make the mandatory tyre change.
Meanwhile, Drugovich came under sustained pressure from Lungaard, but was able to hold him off throughout the lap before peeling into the pits as the first of the lead pack.
The first sign of Armstrong’s challenge emerged on Lap 13, when he set the fastest lap of the race on the hard tyre, 39 seconds behind the leader. His pace was consistent, setting fastest lap after lap until he was bested only by his teammate on the same strategy.
Zhou came in to the pits on Lap 17, and the strategy game had well and truly begun for the front-runners. Callum Illott pitted from the lead on Lap 18 and came out ahead of his teammate, and Schumacher pitted on Lap 19, emerging with a resounding lead.
As Schumacher exited the pit lane, Zhou and Illott came into battle behind him, with Zhou taking the position through Turn 3 – giving Schumacher valuable breathing room at the front of the pack.
This lead was not long for the world, with Zhou in pursuit with hard tyres that were two laps warmer. This unequal dynamic brought the pack nose-to-tail, with Zhou and Illott both in DRS range of the German leader.
Zhou made an unsuccessful attempt on the outside of Turn 3, but positioned himself for a drag race along the top of the hill, cementing the position out of Turn 4.
Zhou immediately put space ahead of the chasing pair, but all eyes were on Illot’s chase on Schumacher, with the Briton unable to same real estate on track as his teammate. By the timing beam, Zhou was 1.2 seconds ahead.
Illott saw more success on the following lap, repeating Zhou’s drag attempt and passing Schumacher just before Turn 4. The trio were 3-4-5 on track, but essentially held the lead of the race with the competitors ahead yet to pit.
Tragedy struck when Zhou pulled to the side with an engine issue, forcing him to detour through the pits for some running repairs.
With other drivers cycling through the pits, Illott was now the lead driver on track, followed closely by Schumacher. Marcus Armstrong, having stormed through the field on the different strategy, was a few seconds behind in third, with Shwartzman hot on his tail.
A safety car on Lap 29 neutralised the field so that Artem Markelov’s stricken HWA car could be recovered after suffering mechanical issues.
The safety car pulled away on Lap 30, given the 2020 field a 10 lap shootout to conclude their first race of the year. Illott led the pack away well, and the lead drivers were holding station.
Schumacher rocketed off the road at Turn 7, falling down the field from second to eventually rejoin the tack in P13. Armstrong inherited second, with Shwartzman in third.
Illott held a 2.67 second buffer over Armstrong for the lead, and with five laps to go, Shwarztman had caught Armstrong and the fight was on.
After some tight defensive manoeuvres in Turns 3 and 4, the duelling pair was also caught by Christian Lungaard, making it a three-way battle for the second step on the (socially-distanced) podium.
The fight raged on, with Shwartzman drawing equal with his former FIA Formula 3 competitor along the top of the hill, before Armstrong pulled ahead once again into Turn 4. The constant squabbles brought the following drivers in to the fold, with Tictum now firmly tacked onto the end of the train.
Eventually, Callum Illott took the chequered flag with a dominant eight second lead, with Marcus Armstrong able to hold off the chasing pack to take second ahead of Robert Shwartzman.
Illott said “I got an amazing start and in the first lap me and Guanyu Zhou were fighting. It was a great scrap at the beginning and Mick [Schumacher] got involved as well and we were fighting until the pit stops, where everyone kind of undercut each other.”
“Coming out on the prime tyres, it felt like we had a lot of pace once we got them up to temperature. Obviously, Zhou had a lot of bad luck with whatever problem he had. What a disaster for him because he was really, really pushing the pace there and I think that we would have had a really good race at the end.
“I think that I was quite lucky with Mick making a mistake, which meant I was able to break away and set some really good times at the end. It is amazing to start the year like this and I want to say a big thanks to the team for putting on an amazing car. It was great to trust them after all this time to put that together, so big thanks to them and let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
Kiwi Marcus Armstrong said “we thought we had a pace advantage so I more or less pushed.
“Obviously, I didn't go all-out because it is a very long stint, but to be honest it went exactly as I predicted. I expected to struggle in the last five or 10 laps, but I think that if I did it again, I probably wouldn't do anything differently because it worked quite well. I don't think we could have really got much more out of it.”
“It was a good feeling to finally cross the finish line. The last stint definitely was not the easiest for a few reasons. Obviously, we boxed [pitted] quite early to try and get out of the traffic. Yesterday we qualified out of position and we did predict that we'd have a pace advantage on those around us. We took a bit of a risk and it paid off in terms of strategy.
“As Callum said, I feel really bad for [Guanyu] Zhou because he looked really quick from where I was sitting. No doubt that he's going to be quick [Sunday]. He'll be a factor for sure. A big thank you to ART. It's a good way to start because obviously we had very limited testing time this year in Bahrain, so every single lap that we do, the rookies, we're going to improve. It's a good way to start the season for sure.”
The Ilott-Armstrong-Shwartzman podium was also a lockout for drivers of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and all three have raced in New Zealand’s Castrol Toyota Racing Series.
The drivers will return on Sunday for the Sprint Race at 9.10pm AEST.
