Robert Shwartzman Cruises to Dominant Opening Azerbaijan Sprint Victory

PREMA’s Robert Shwartzman cruised to his first F2 victory of 2021 with a dominant drive in the opening Azerbaijan Sprint Race.

Shwartzman led from lights to flag after surviving a safety car restart on lap five following three separate opening lap incidents, which saw HWA Racelab’s Jack Aitken and Alessio Deledda retire along with title contenders – Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson.

Ticktum recovered from a sluggish start to finish second ahead of championship leader, Guanyu Zhou as Jehan Daruvala, Theo Pourchaire, Ralph Boschung, Marcus Armstrong and Juri Vips who round out the top eight.

David Beckmann and Bent Viscaal benefitted from a ten second time penalty for Felipe Drugovich to finish ninth and tenth, with Viscaal inheriting pole position for the second Sprint Race which coincidentally marks F2’s 100th race.

Zhou now holds a 23 point lead over Pourchaire who climbed above Piastri into second in the standings as Ticktum reclaimed fourth ahead of Shwartzman who improved to fifth with his victory.

UNI-Virtuosi now lead the team standings by just ten points from PREMA with Carlin in third as those three teams are split by just 20 points after seven races.

Shwartzman made an excellent start from pole to lead Daruvala and Zhou as Armstrong passed Boschung for fourth, whilst Aitken was the first to crash out after clipping the inside wall at Turn One and spinning.

Deledda retired down the escape road at Turn Two with a …….. issue, whilst Drugovich hit Piastri from behind which forced the Aussie to unintentionally squeeze Lawson into the wall before retiring himself with damage as the Safety Car was deployed.

Once the Safety Car pitted at the end of lap four, Shwartzman kept the pack together until he reached the start/finish straight before bolting away unchallenged to victory, as Vips and Viscaal passed Pourchaire and Christian Lundgaard for seventh and 11th in the only overtakes on the restart.

Ticktum who had found himself in sixth on the restart soon began to make his way forward as he passed Boschung and Armstrong into Turn One on laps seven and eight, whilst Pourchaire also forced his way back past Vips on the latter lap.

Zhou passed Daruvala on the outside line into Turn One on Lap Nine, with Ticktum passing his Carlin teammate two laps later before getting Zhou on Lap 12 for second where he comfortably held position to the flag after Shwartzman proved too difficult to chase down.

Tyre degradation soon afterwards began to play its part in the last four laps as Pourchaire cleared Boschung for sixth on Lap 18, before getting Armstrong two laps later with Boschung swiftly following through to finish sixth ahead of the Ferrari junior and Vips.

Beckmann benefitted from the early mayhem ahead of him as he held tenth from the Safety Car restart right through to the flag, whilst Viscaal’s move on Lundgaard proved decisive as he clinched his first top ten finish and reverse pole for the second Sprint Race despite failing to score points.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA	21	44m 35.734
2	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	21	+ 5.144
3	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	21	+ 8.872
4	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	21	+ 10.352
5	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	21	+ 11.039
6	Ralph Boschung	Campos	21	+ 13.124
7	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	21	+ 14.455
8	Juri Vips	Hitech GP	21	+ 14.524
9	David Beckmann	Charouz	21	+ 17.299
10	Bent Viscaal	Trident	21	+ 17.764
11	Christian Lundgaard	ART GP	21	+ 19.738
12	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	21	+ 21.064
13	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	21	+ 21.837
14	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	21	+ 25.849
15	Matteo Nannini	Campos	21	+ 35.970
16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	21	+ 42.471
17	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz	21	+ 49.289
18	Marino Sato	Trident	21	+ 1m 31.300
RET	Oscar Piastri	PREMA	0	Collision
RET	Liam Lawson	Hitech GP	0	Collision
RET	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	0
RET	Jack Aitken	HWA Racelab	0	Spin