Mick Schumacher took another pace in following his father Michael Schumacher’s footsteps by claiming the 2020 Formula 2 championship at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).
Despite a dismal 18th place finish due to a pit stop to overcome his tyre challenges, Schumacher’s point total was too high to be matched by any of the top finishers.
His chief title rival Callum Ilott fell short as well and finished 10th overall, which left him out of the points for the race.
Due to F2’s reverse-grid rules Dan Ticktum started from pole after being promoted to eighth place in Saturday’s Feature Race classification.
A double five-second penalty had been handed to Nikita Mazepin, dropping him to ninth from third place originally, pushing Ticktum up and to the front of the pack.
Red Bull’s junior Jehan Daruvala started on the front row alongside Ticktum, and was able to gain the lead on lap 25. Daruvala held on until the end of 34 laps and crossed the finish line in 37 minutes 26.570 seconds for his first-ever triumph in F2.
Tsunoda followed in 3.561 seconds after passing Ticktum on the final corner, and Ticktum had to settle for third, 3.902s behind Daruvala.
Completing the top eight were Guanyu Zhou, Schumacher’s teammate Robert Shwartzman, Giuliano Alesi, Luca Ghiotto and Felipe Drugovich.
Schumacher and Callum Ilott were engaged in a heated battle for third early on in the Sprint, but Schumacher’s struggles forced him to pit and he dropped to the back of the field.
Both Schumacher and Mazepin will now move on to the Haas F1 team in 2021.
Ferrari’s eyes are going to be on Schumacher next year to see if he can turn their dismal racing fates around, like his father did at the peak of his career.
naman@gulfweekly.com
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