Formula 2 returns as Silverstone plays host to round four of the F2 Championship

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After another one month absence, Formula 2 makes a return at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.

With only eight rounds in the F2 Championship this season, it is imperative to score consistent points as the series reaches its halfway point.

Last time out at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix around Baku’s street circuit, Hitech’s Liam Lawson was flying in qualifying as he took pole position by over a tenth ahead of his teammate Juri Vips.

It was Robert Shwartzman who took reverse grid pole for the first race of the weekend. The Russian took a dominant victory as he crossed the line over five seconds ahead of Dan Ticktum in second and close to nine seconds ahead of Championship leader Guanyu Zhou in third.

That set up a tasty second Sprint Race as Bent Viscaal and David Beckmann lined up on the front row. The duo failed to get a win as Juri Vips strolled to a comfortable win.

The Estonian capitalised on Lawson’s shocker during the Feature Race as he became the first driver to score two victories during an F2 weekend during the modern era.

The one podium that Zhou scored in Azerbaijan allowed the UNI-Virtuosi driver to retain his lead at the top of the Championship, but it has seen four drivers in Oscar Piastri, Robert Shwartzman, Juri Vips and Dan Ticktum close to within 18 points of the Chinese driver.

Looking ahead of the British Grand Prix, Formula 2 have raced around the iconic Silverstone track since the series started in 2017.

Charles Leclerc went on to have a pretty dominant time around the track in its debut year in F2 as he took pole position and won the Feature Race ahead of Norman Nato and Oliver Rowland.

For the Sprint Race, Nicholas Latifi capitalised on reverse grid pole as he fended off the Russian Time duo of Luca Ghiotto and Artem Markelov to secure the win.

In 2020, Silverstone hosted back-to-back races for the British Grand Prix and the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix as Formula 2 had four races in the space of eight days.

There were four different race winners as Nikita Mazepin took the victory in the Feature Race during the first weekend around Silverstone. Guanyu Zhou and Yuki Tsunoda both made their way up the field from eighth and ninth respectively to round out the podium places for that race.

During the second race of that weekend, Dan Ticktum used his reverse grid pole to perfection as he crossed the line narrowly ahead of Christian Lundgaard in second and Louis Deletraz in third.

The following weekend, F2 was back at Silverstone and it Callum Ilott with his second pole of the season. The Brit converted that into a Feature Race win as he finished over eight seconds ahead of Christian Lundgaard in second and 12 seconds ahead of Jack Aitken in third.

Yuki Tsunoda made sure he was there in the right place at the right time as a collision between the two Prema’s of Mick Schumacher and Robert Shwartzman saw the Japanese driver take the Sprint Race victory.

This F2 weekend will be nothing short of action as the world’s most talented young drivers take to the track once more to fight for race victories and the 2021 F2 Championship.

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