EIn a crash with his Prema stable rival Robert Schwartzmann, Mick Schumacher cost victory at the tenth round of the Formula 2 season at Silverstone. After an overtaking maneuver worth discussing in the final phase of the sprint race on Sunday, the son of Formula 1 record world champion Michael Schumacher saved second place. The Japanese Yuki Tsunoda from the Carlin team, who at the finish was 3.12 seconds ahead of the German, benefited from the accident of the Prema drivers.
“I am really terribly sorry, I take the blame on myself,” commented Schumacher on radio after crossing the finish line. “We both pushed each other,” said the 21-year-old on the podium. But he could not say anything about the accident, I have to watch the video first.
Schumacher went into the sprint race in second place after his seventh place from the previous day in the reverse grid. He attacked his stable rival Schwartzmann early on, but lost valuable time on the fifth lap when he briefly lost control of his car and slid over the curb. More than two seconds behind, Schumacher tried to close the gap again.
In the final phase he caught up with Schwartzmann. Then came lap 19 of 21: Schumacher overtook the Russian who had been leading up to that point, but touched his car as he turned. Schwartzmann drove into the rear of Schumacher’s car, the German lost valuable time and was ousted by Tsunoda. “What is he doing there ?!”, Schwartzmann was indignant over the radio, demolished the nose of his car and slipped out of the points as 13th. “We deserved first and second place,” said Schumacher after the tricky duel.
The race stewards investigated the Prema drivers’ accident, but did not detect any rule violations. Third was Jack Aitken from Campos Racing. In the overall standings, Schumacher (61 points) climbed to seventh place after his third podium of the season. Schwarzman (85) remains third after the clear round and missed the chance to move up to front runner Callum Ilott (Uni-Virtuosi / 106) from Great Britain. In the coming week, the Formula 2 entourage will stop in Barcelona.
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