Lundgaard wins Mugello sprint race, Schumacher extends F2 points lead
ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard surged to his second victory of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 season in the Mugello sprint race to move himself into championship contention.
The Renault Formula 1 junior made a perfect start from third on the grid to launch himself into the lead by Turn 1, jumping the slow-starting Juri Vips and reverse grid polesitter Artem Markelov.
Lundgaard had already pulled out a two-second advantage by the end of the first lap and was over four seconds clear of the pack two laps later as he utterly dominated proceedings.
The Dane continued to extend his buffer over the field and managed a Virtual Safety Car period as the two Hitech Grand Prix drivers collided at Turn 1, ultimately crossing the line over 14 seconds ahead of Louis Deletraz, who claimed his second podium of the weekend.
With a maximum 17-point haul for the win and fastest lap, 18-year-old Lundgaard has firmly thrust himself into the 2020 F2 title picture, moving up to third in the standings and 16 points behind championship leader Mick Schumacher.
Despite his slow start, Vips recovered strongly to claim his maiden F2 podium in just his sixth race outing, finishing just half a second behind Deletraz at the flag.
Schumacher stretched his points lead out to eight points as the Prema driver took fourth place, ahead of Guanyu Zhou, who charged from 20th on the grid to claim a remarkable fifth place.
F2 frontrunner Callum Ilott scored vital points in sixth to remain well in the hunt with six races remaining, just eight points behind fellow Ferrari Academy Driver Schumacher.
Jehan Daruvala was seventh for Carlin, while Marino Sato took advantage of running on fresh Soft tyres after gambling to pit during the VSC to carve his way through the field to eighth, recording his first points finish in F2 in the process.
Former championship leader Robert Shwartzman failed to score any points despite a valiant drive from the back of the grid, with the Russian Prema driver now slipping to fourth in the standings.
