Mick Schumacher Secures F2 Title as Daruvala Wins Dramatic Sakhir Sprint Race

The 2020 Formula 2 season portrayed some incredible racing from the rising stars, and a lot of them definitely deserved the championship title. However, only one can lift that big trophy, and it is none other than Mick Schumacher.

Yes, Mick has finally secured his first F2 title after battling hard with his rival, Callum Ilott, throughout the season. It was always going to be a tough ask for Ilott to steal the title from Mick, following an astonishing recovery drive from the German yesterday.

Now that the trophy is in his hands, Mick can enter the world of Formula 1 with sheer confidence, and maintain his run of form with the Haas F1 team.

Although the limelight is on Mick, there is another driver who deserved to be under the light following the sprint race, that is Jehan Daruvala. The Indian driver drove his heart out to win the Sakhir Grand Prix sprint race, while a blistering drive from his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, saw him cross the line in P2.

How the race panned out for Mick Schumacher

As the lights went out, all eyes were on Mick and Ilott. Mick Had a brilliant start to the sprint race, as he jumped past Daruvala before the first turn. However, a massive lock-up going into turn 4 dragged him into the back seat, as Daruvala retook his position.

Did the lock-up stop Mick from pushing hard? Well, the answer is no. It took Mick just two laps to catch Daruvala and make an impressive move on the outside to get that P2. However, the flat-spot started to hurt his pace, as he pushed a bit too hard to defend his position.

Mick visibly started having vigorous vibrations on his car. What’s astonishing is that the German kept running on those damaged tires and showed no signs of bringing his car into the pits.

Unfortunately, his attempts at pacing along with the other cars ended up making the situation worse, as Mick lost his P2 again to Daruvala; Only this time, there was no fighting back from Schumacher Jr.

Ultimately, it was Ticktum versus Daruvala for P1, and Mick vs Ilott for P3. Mick, in particular, started forming a train behind him, as he almost played the role of a safety car in an attempt to save his tires.

Eventually, Mick, citing way too many lock-ups, ended up killing his tires. Consequently, Prema Racing changed their mind and called the champion leader into the pits on lap 20. Unfortunately, as he came out, he witnessed a deserted track with no one to fight against.

His race was pretty much compromised with that stop, as the German had a rather lonely race from there on till the checkered flag.

Tire struggles deny Callum Ilott the chance of winning the title

One would have thought it was all over for Mick when he entered the pits. However, the massive train caused by Mick turned out to favor the championship leader in the end.

The rubber on Ilott’s tires started falling apart, as he started losing his position to each and every driver, with Tsunoda being the first one on that list. Following the overtake, Ilott lost his flow, as his teammate, Zhou, used it to his advantage and got past the Briton with ease.

As laps progressed, Ilott’s tires faded away and so did his hopes of lifting the trophy, as the Briton ended up in P8, and out of the points, even before lap 30.

To add to his misery, Ilott saw the checkered flag out of the top 10, as he watched Mick hold on to the Formula 2 world championship title.

Double podium for Carlin Racing

Daruvala won the sprint race, ending the year on a strong note after a slow start to the season. Meanwhile, his teammate, Tsunoda, maintained his form from the feature race. He drove an impressive race to secure P2.

The two Carlin drivers were followed by Dan Ticktum, who crossed the line in P3, despite running on dead tires. Ticktum had the P2 all to himself until the very last turn.

However, a flying Tsunoda got past him at a crucial moment, as Ticktum crossed the line with nothing left on his tires.

Overall, the curtains have fallen on what has been an eventful 2020 season of Formula 2. The fight between Ilott and Mick found steam through the latter part of the season and turned out to be quite a nail-biter in the end.

Mick just evaded the pain of losing his title to the Ferrari academy driver. With the 2021 season soon waiting to make an entrance, will it turn out to be another success for Formula 2? Well, only time will tell.