Ticktum takes victory as championship fight tightens

Dan Ticktum produced a dominant display of driving to cruise to his second FIA Formula 2 win of the year in the sprint race at the Italian Grand Prix.

The Brit made a super start to get ahead of pole sitter Louis Delétraz and from there, he never looked back, driving away from the field and taking the chequered flag. He did however have a long run back to the pits as he pulled over just after the first chicane to ensure he had enough fuel to provide a sample to the FIA.

Much further behind him, the battle for second was heated as Delétraz defended for much of the race before Callum Ilott finally found a way past into second. The Brit was that quick himself and had to keep an eye on his mirrors to the end of the race as Christian Lundgaard came charging forward.

Ilott did hold Lundgaard off to finish second with the Dane third; Delétraz also had his own defending to do late on to hold on to fourth as Mick Schumacher tried to gain more points as he mounts a late championship charge.

Schumacher however wouldn’t be denied as he passed the Swiss driver on the penultimate lap to get that fourth place ahead of Delétraz who kept Schumacher’s PREMA teammate Robert Shwartzman behind. The result means Ilott now leads the championship as Schumacher overtakes Shwartzman for second.

The big lose in the title race was Yuki Tsunoda who was running in a solid fourth place himself when his Carlin slowed on the back straight and he had to pit multiple times throughout the race, finishing six laps down.

The same misfortune became of Guanyu Zhou, who also ran in the points when his UNI-Virtuosi also slowed to a crawl. The Chinese driver finished eight laps down as his teammate tasted champagne again.

Completing the points though, and giving Carlin a little something to smile about, was Jehan Daruvala who was on his own for much of the race as Jack Aitken survived a drop off in pace to keep eighth and the final point from Nikita Mazepin who came from last to finish ninth.