Ferrari junior Robert Shwartzman proved unstoppable in the wet in Spielberg, clawing his way from sixth on the grid to take his first ever victory in FIA Formula 2.
The PREMA racer’s win denied fellow rookie and Red Bull junior driver Yuki Tsunoda a first win of his own in F2. The polesitter led for the majority of the race, but an issue with team radio saw him pit too late and drop down to fifth.
Despite a late charge on fresher tyres, he wasn’t able to recover the lead and instead had to settle for second, although he at least assured himself of a maiden podium in the series.
Guanyu Zhou led the race when Tsunoda pitted late on, but had the opposite issue to the Carlin racer, having changed his tyres too early. Zhou’s rubber wasn’t strong enough to hold off Shwartzman and he ended up in third ahead of Mick Schumacher, who had done brilliantly to rise from ninth after a tough qualifying session.
Williams’ Academy driver Dan Ticktum will start on reverse pole for DAMS when the Sprint Race gets under way on Sunday at 1110 local time.
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