Mick Schumacher extended his FIA Formula 2 Championship lead as he surged to his second victory of the 2020 campaign at the Sochi Autodrom.
The German started third on the grid and found himself in second by jumping Jehan Daruvala on the opening lap.
He then shadowed net leader Yuki Tsunoda and moved into the lead after the pit stop phase to grab victory, opening an 18-point advantage in the standings with just five races remaining.
Schumacher crossed the line in first position by over five seconds with Tsunoda second and Callum Ilott beating Luca Ghiotto to the final podium spot in third by just thousandths of a second.
Daruvala was fifth in the second Carlin car ahead of Jack Aitken, Nikita Mazepin and Guanyu Zhou, who picks up reverse-grid pole for Sunday’s Sprint Race.
Marcus Armstrong was ninth for ART and Dan Ticktum picked up the final point in tenth.
Robert Shwartzman’s title hopes took a seemingly terminal blow as a poor start was followed by a slow pit stop after Prema double stacked its drivers. He came home 11th and is now 46 points behind Schumacher.
Christian Lundgaard retired from the event following contact with Juri Vips and Pedro Piquet at the start and is now a distant threat in the title battle.
The Sprint Race for Formula 2 starts on Sunday morning at 10:55 local time.
