Tsunoda storms to Sakhir F2 feature race win, Schumacher on the cusp of title
Yuki Tsunoda has claimed his third Formula 2 victory after a race-long battle with Nikita Mazepin and Robert Shwartzman.
The Japanese driver lost the lead to Mazepin off the start with the pair running at the front of the field for the majority of the race, opting for the soft to hard strategy.
Tsunoda bided his time as he sat behind Mazepin and Shwartzman until the closing 12 laps.
Aggressive moves on Shwartzman into Turn 1 on Lap 36, then again on Mazepin on Lap 44 allowed the Carlin driver to stretch his legs at the front of the field and resist pressure from a charging Guanyu Zhou.
Tsunoda’s win wasn’t enough to keep him in championship contention but a third-place finish in the championship will see him acquire enough points to qualify for an F1 super licence with him likely to partner Pierre Gasly at the AlphaTauri F1 team in 2021.
Tsunoda is under investigation for his move on Mazepin into Turn 1, for overtaking off the circuit.
Zhou made the most of the hard to soft strategy, cutting his way through the pack in the closing laps.
The Chinese driver did pick up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane but he managed to pull enough of a gap over Mazepin, who defended very hard from Felipe Drugovich for the final spot on the podium as the pair finished third and fourth ahead of Shwartzman.
The stewards are investigating Mazepin’s defending, who on the final lap pushed Drugovich off the circuit, forcing the Brazilian to hit one of the brake marker boards on the run down to Turn 3.
In terms of the title battle, Mick Schumacher recovered well from 18th on the grid to seventh, taking the fastest lap as well to give him a 14-point lead over Callum Ilott going into Sunday’s sprint race.
Ilott struggled to make too much progress from ninth on the grid, ultimately coming home just two seconds clear of Schumacher in sixth place.
Today’s result means Prema has been as the teams' champion, the first time it has done so since 2016 when the series was known as GP2.
Jehan Daruvala finished eighth having lost a place to Schumacher on the final lap and thus will start the sprint race from pole position.
Dan Ticktum and Pedro Piquet completed the points-paying positions.
