Your guide to… Spa-Francorchamps

The 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship visits the Ardennes forest in Belgium for Round 7.

WHEN TO WATCH

All times local (GMT +2)

Friday Free Practice: 12:55 – 13:40 Qualifying: 17:00 – 17:30 Press conference: 18:15

Saturday Feature race: 16:45 (25 laps) Press conference: 18:05

Sunday Sprint race: 11:10 (18 laps) Press conference: 12:15

THE STORY SO FAR

The second half of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, and the third triple-header of the season, gets underway in Belgium this weekend. A breath-taking six rounds so far have seen nine different drivers clinch victory, with MP Motorsport duo Nobuharu Matsushita and Felipe Drugovich reigning in Spain last time out.

DAMS’ Dan Ticktum pipped Mick Schumacher to top spot during Barcelona Free Practice by just 0.009s, before championship leader Callum Ilott put his UNI-Virtuosi machine on pole position for the third time this year in Qualifying.

Matsushita started Saturday’s Feature Race from 18th on the grid, and quietly went about his business, practically unnoticed, while Ilott and championship rival Robert Shwartzman battled for the lead with Schumacher. Tyre strategy was pivotal, and Ilott looked almost certain to take victory before late Safety Car drama. Fortunately for Matsushita, he’d pitted just beforehand and returned to the track in third place, behind Yuki Tsunoda and Ilott. At the restart, the leading pair fell away as Matsushita, and then Shwartzman, fired through into first and second. Guanyu Zhou snatched third place on the final lap.

Drugovich wasn’t best pleased with his P7 result on Saturday, feeling he’d had better pace. The Brazilian had a point to prove on Sunday, and demonstrated it to perfection by dominating the Sprint Race. He managed his tyres brilliantly while opening a 9s gap over Luca Ghiotto to take victory. Ghiotto held on for his second podium of the campaign, with Schumacher finishing behind him in third.

THE CHALLENGERS

The gap at the top of the Drivers’ Championship has narrowed to 18 points, with Ilott (121 pts) retaining first place. Shwartzman (103) has moved up behind him into second. A point-less weekend for Christian Lundgaard (87) sees him drop to third, five points ahead of Tsunoda (82). Schumacher (79) is three points further back in fifth.

UNI-Virtuosi (197 pts) have also lost ground slightly at the head of the Teams’ Championship, with PREMA Racing (182) now 15 points behind in second place. ART Grand Prix (121) remain in third, with Hitech Grand Prix (118) just three points behind. MP Motorsport (109) leaping into fifth.

The historic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps will see the return of Pirelli’s medium and soft compound tyres. The longest track on the calendar, which a host of challenging corners, teams and drivers will have to maximise their setups in potentially tricky conditions if they’re to score well.

TYRE TALK – MARIO ISOLA (PIRELLI’S HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING)

“Spa is always a challenging circuit for the drivers and the demands for the tyres are also high. As usual at Spa, the compounds nominated in F2 are from the middle of the range and are likely to require some degree of management, but we usually see some exciting racing there in the championship and we’re looking forward to more of that this weekend. Of course, in Formula 2 especially, Anthoine Hubert will be at the forefront of everybody’s thoughts this weekend, with a number of tributes planned.”

STAT PACK

• The F2 race lap record at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is 1:59.965, set by Jordan King with MP Motorsport in 2017.
• Jüri Vips will make his Formula 2 debut at Spa with DAMS. The Red Bull-backed racer steps in for Sean Gelael while the Indonesian continues to recover from his Barcelona injury.
• The first 12 races of the season produced nine different winners, beating last season’s total number. The FIA Formula 2 record number for different winners in a season is 10.
• Last time out in Barcelona, MP Motorsport became the first team since ART Grand Prix in 2018 to win both races over a Formula 2 weekend. That also took place in Barcelona.
• Felipe Drugovich's Sprint Race victory in Spain means he joins Drivers’ Championship front runners Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman as the third double race winner this season.
• Drugovich has now led more laps than anyone else this season (63). Shwartzman is second with 56 laps led, with Ilott just one lap behind the Russian having led 55 laps so far this season.
• Giuliano Alesi set his first F2 race fastest lap in Barcelona. It was also the first fastest lap for the BWT HWA RACELAB team.
• Artem Markelov is the only driver on the current grid to have won an F2 race at Spa before. He took victory for RUSSIAN TIME in the 2017 Feature Race.