Robert Shwartzman clinched victory in Sprint Race 1 in FIA Formula 2 at Silverstone, while title-rival Guanyu Zhou had a race to forget.
The Ferrari Academy driver made a blinder of a start from fourth on the grid to sneak in front of the pack into Abbey and would go on to take a commanding win from Juri Vips and Christian Lundgaard in second and third.
The first Safety Car was deployed at the beginning due to Zhou and Roy Nissany stopping on the race track at The Loop and Aintree. Zhou spun all by himself after clipping the inside kerb and stalled, while with Lundgaard caused front-end damage to Nissany’s DAMS.
The top ten by this point were Shwartzman, Vips, Lundgaard, Felipe Drugovich, Theo Pourchaire, Liam Lawson, Oscar Piastri, Dan Ticktum, Marcus Armstrong and Lirim Zendeli.
Less than a lap on the restart and Alessio Deledda stalled his HWA Racelab following a coming together with Marino Sato at Abbey. This was enough for the Safety Car to come out again with Shwartzman still out in front.
The only significant overtake before the next Safety Car period was Piastri passing Lawson around the outside into Village to put his PREMA up into sixth position.
Lap 12 saw Guilherme Samaia spin into the gravel on the exit of Luffield, triggering the third and final Safety Car of the race.
The top ten remain unchanged after the restart until Richard Verschoor, who had pitted for the softer compound under the last Safety Car period, was able to pull alongside his MP Motorsport team-mate Lirim Zendeli for tenth place.
Shwartzman led the field to the flag for his second win of the season in front of Vips, Lundgaard, Drugovich and Pourchaire in the top five.
Piastri was sixth and earned the extra two points for the fastest lap ahead of Lawson, Ticktum and Armstrong, with Verschoor coming home in tenth and on reverse-grid pole for Sprint Race 2 later this afternoon.
The second race of the FIA Formula 2 weekend at Silverstone begins at 14:45 track time before the Formula 1 Qualifying Sprint.
