PIASTRI TAKES F2 CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

Australian Oscar Piastri has taken the championship lead in the FIA Formula 2 Championship after collecting two solid hauls of points at Silverstone.

Piastri finished sixth in the opening encounter and fourth position in the second race, allowing him to overtake former championship leader Guanyu Zhou who failed to score in either of the Saturday Sprint races.

Both races were heavily interrupted by safety cars and incidents but throughout Piastri stayed out of trouble and was one of very few drivers that moved forward in both races.

After qualifying on pole position for Sunday’s race on Friday, the grid for Race 1 in a top 10 inversion from the qualifying results.

This meant that the Prema Racing pole-sitter started from 10th position, but made up great ground on the opening lap, Piastri had made his way up to seventh before the first safety car was called.

Piastri’s teammate Robert Shwartzman likewise made a blinding start, jumping from fourth to take the lead into the first turn.

Championship leader Zhou sat just ahead of Piastri on the opening lap, however on cold tyres the Chinese driver spun all by himself, stalled and was forced to retire from the race.

After the restart Piastri hounded New Zealander Liam Lawson for sixth place but before he could get through another safety car was called.

After the latest caution Piastri made his way through, up the inside into Turn 3.

On lap 13, with eight laps remaining, the third safety car was deployed for Guilherme Samaia who was beached in the gravel. During this time several drivers further back elected to pit and put on the soft tyres including Richard Verschoor who sat 11th before the safety car.

Positions up front remained the same to the end with Shwartzman taking the win from Juri Vips, Christian Lundgaard, Felipe Drugovich and Theo Pourchaire.

Piastri came home in sixth ahead of Lawson and Dan Ticktum who rounded out the point scorers.

Marcus Armstong and Verschoor rounded out the top 10.

The top 10 from Race 1 were inverted for Race 2, Verschoor starting from pole ahead of Armstrong and Ticktum.

Piastri would start from fifth, while Zhou would start from the back of the grid.

Off the line, Verschoor made the best start and led comfortably into Turn 1.

Despite two safety car periods early in the race the Dutchman was never threatened and took a dominant debut victory in the F2 championship.

Kiwi Armstrong got his season back on track, scoring his first podium of the season ahead of home hero, Englishman Ticktum.

Lawson and Piastri put on a show for much of the second encounter, the F3 graduates raced cleanly and fairly and in the end, it was Piastri that came out on top.

On lap 18 of 21 Piastri’s patience paid off and he was able to get the run down the Wellington Straight and take fourth at Turn 6.

Lawson rounded out the top five ahead of his Hitech Grand Prix teammate and fellow Red Bull junior driver Vips.

Drugovich was seventh from David Beckmann, Lirim Zendeli and Pourchaire.

Zhou made his way up from 20th on the grid to finish 11th, however he did not pick up any points for this.

Piastri scored a bonus point for setting the fastest lap in both of the races.

The Victorian now leads the second-tier F1 series by 12 points from teammate Shwartzman who spun out of a top 10 finish on the penultimate lap, he would go on to finish in 15th.

The F2 Feature Race takes place at 7.45pm AEST and can be viewed live on Fox Sports 506.

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