Formula Two kicked off the second round of triple headers with Practice and Qualifying for the 2020 British Grand Prix Feature Race.
Robert Shwartzman came into this round as the Championship leader but with title rival – Callum Ilott looking to make home advantage count, Friday proved to be an eventful day of contrasting fortunes for these two title protagonists.
Here is a roundup of the best action from Practice and Qualifying.
Practice
Embed from Getty ImagesJehan Daruvala led the field out onto a hot track with Mick Schumacher setting the early pace, despite Giuliano Alesi spinning out at Abbey after beaching his car in the gravel just eight minutes into the session, triggering a four minute virtual safety car.
Times then quickly tumbled with Carlin’s Yuki Tsunoda positing a 1m 40.879 to go top from Callum Ilott, Felipe Drugovich, Daruvala and Nikita Mazepin at the halfway point.
Embed from Getty ImagesGuanyu Zhou then popped up to third before Daruvala went 0.154s slower than Tsunoda to slot into second, before Tsunoda eventually improved to a timesheet topping time of 1m 40.563 ahead of Daruvala, Drugovich, Ilott and Zhou.
Great Britain’s Ilott finished Practice in fourth whilst Dan Ticktum improved to sixth late on, whereas Campos’ Jack Aitken had a poor session as he finished in 19th position.
Qualifying
Embed from Getty ImagesDespite the threat of hail on weather radars, Tsunoda led the pack out for their opening qualifying runs and set the initial pace in second after Aitken bettered his time by just 0.005s with a 1m 40.211.
The Prema duo of Schumacher and Shwartzman struggled with traffic in their opening runs, as the latter impeded Sean Gelael whilst Schumacher got blocked at the final chicane by Trident’s Roy Nissany.
Schumacher and Shwartzman consequently stayed out when everyone pitted, which saw them both improve to seventh and 12th positions respectively ahead of their final runs.
Daruvala meanwhile found time on his second flier to go top with a 1m 40.140, plus ahead of Lundgaard who also found time on his second lap and went fastest by 0.015s from Aitken
Everyone however experienced mixed results in their final runs with some failing to improve, whereas Drugovich produced a stunning 1m 39.527 to snatch his maiden F2 pole ahead of Ilott, Schumacher, Lundgaard, Mazepin and Aitken who all improved to round out the top six.
Ticktum meanwhile qualified his DAMS car in 12th position for the Feature Race, whilst Shwartzman found himself qualified for the race in 18th position.
Results
Practice
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | 1m 40.563 |
| 2 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | + 0.470 |
| 3 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | + 0.500 |
| 4 | Callum Ilott | Uni-Virtuosi | + 0.619 |
| 5 | Guanyu Zhou | Uni-Virtuosi | + 0.785 |
| 6 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | + 0.794 |
| 7 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz | + 0.865 |
| 8 | Nikita Mazepin | Hitech GP | + 0.933 |
| 9 | Christian Lundgaard | ART GP | + 0.949 |
| 10 | Marcus Armstrong | ART GP | + 0.994 |
| 11 | Mick Schumacher | Prema | + 1.108 |
| 12 | Sean Gelael | DAMS | + 1.155 |
| 13 | Luca Ghiotto | Hitech GP | + 1.204 |
| 14 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | + 1.215 |
| 15 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz | + 1.409 |
| 16 | Nobuharu Matsushita | MP Motorsport | + 1.431 |
| 17 | Roy Nissany | Trident | + 1.658 |
| 18 | Artem Markelov | HWA Racelab | + 1.845 |
| 19 | Jack Aitken | Campos | + 2.124 |
| 20 | Marino Sato | Trident | + 2.763 |
| 21 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos | + 3.993 |
| 22 | Giuliano Alesi | HWA Racelab | + 18.466 |
Qualifying
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1m 39.527 |
| 2 | Callum Ilott | Uni-Virtuosi | + 0.139 |
| 3 | Mick Schumacher | Prema | + 0.234 |
| 4 | Christian Lundgaard | ART GP | + 0.319 |
| 5 | Nikita Mazepin | Hitech GP | + 0.436 |
| 6 | Jack Aitken | Campos | + 0.555 |
| 7 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | + 0.613 |
| 8 | Guanyu Zhou | Uni-Virtuosi | + 0.653 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | + 0.689 |
| 10 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz | + 0.797 |
| 11 | Nobuharu Matsushita | MP Motorsport | + 0.820 |
| 12 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | + 0.869 |
| 13 | Luca Ghiotto | Hitech GP | + 0.894 |
| 14 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz | + 0.916 |
| 15 | Marcus Armstrong | ART GP | + 0.921 |
| 16 | Sean Gelael | DAMS | + 0.949 |
| 17 | Marino Sato | Trident | + 1.431 |
| 18 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | + 1.520 |
| 19 | Roy Nissany | Trident | + 1.525 |
| 20 | Giuliano Alesi | HWA Racelab | + 1.747 |
| 21 | Artem Markelov | HWA Racelab | + 1.815 |
| 22 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos | + 2.677 |