Bruno’s Take: Schumacher is the man to beat

CEO Bruno Michel looks back at an eventful ninth round of the 2020 season and picks out his key topics from Mugello.

He talks up the recent form of Mick Schumacher and Christian Lundgaard, discusses Louis Deletraz bid for a first F2 win, and looks at the tight teams’ title fight.

A NEW LEADER

Mick Schumacher has been incredibly consistent since the second round of Silverstone. So, it is not surprising to see that he is now standing at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, eight points ahead of Callum Ilott. In Mugello, Mick did not step onto the podium, for the first time in seven races, but he overcame a mistake in qualifying that saw him start from P15 on Saturday, to finish P5 in the Feature Race. He claimed more valuable points on Sunday with fourth place. He is definitely going to be the man to beat in the final stint of the season.

ON TOP FORM

Two other drivers deserve some recognition for their results in Italy – which includes both Monza and Mugello. One of them is Christian Lundgaard who seems to have moved on from his disappointing form in Barcelona and Spa-Francorchamps. The Dane scored a total of 27 points in Monza, and then another 29 points a week later in Mugello. He grabbed a maiden pole position on Friday and was unlucky with the late Safety Car period on Saturday. He was determined to win in the Sprint Race and he did just that crossing the finish line 14.3s ahead of Louis Delétraz. This takes Lundgaard to third in the Standings, eight points behind Ilott.

As for Delétraz, what a weekend he has had, with two podium finishes which brings his total to four so far this season. His and Charouz Racing System’s hard work is really coming to fruition and what is missing now is for Delétraz to finally take a maiden F2 win.

TEAM’S WORK

Hitech Grand Prix were the highest scoring team in Mugello with forty-three points, all taken in the Feature Race. It’s the second time this season that a team take a one-two finish. You also have to remember that they are newcomers in F2. That’s a great achievement.

In the Standings, PREMA Racing are still on top, forty points ahead of UNI-Virtuosi. A total of eighty-five points cover the top three teams. Thirty-five points behind, ART Grand Prix lead Carlin, Charouz Racing and MP Motorsport in what could be considered as a second group covered by sixty points. All teams will need both drivers to score in all of the remaining rounds to gain positions before the season’s end.