Italy

2nd September 2020

F2 Monza preview: momentum back with Shwartzman and Prema

This weekend Formula 2 takes to Italy’s legendary Monza for round eighth of the 2020 championship.

Robert Shwartzman heads to the Temple of Speed back in control of the title fight, courtesy of his sprint race win at Spa last week. After a nightmare triple header at Silverstone and Barcelona which yielded only two points finishes, his third win of the season will have been a great relief as the championship heads into its home stretch.

Shwartzman will also be very happy to carry that momentum into Monza, as he took a commanding win here last year in the F3 feature race to eliminate all but one of his rivals from the title hunt. Returning with the same Prema team that took him to the top step last year, Shwartzman has plenty of reasons for confidence this weekend.

Mick Schumacher, Prema (Scuderia Ferrari Press Office)

And it’s not just because of Shwartzman that Prema are one of the favourites this weekend. Off the back of a superb double podium at Spa, Mick Schumacher has the enviable honour of the most podium finishes of anyone so far this season.

The German may still be chasing his first win of the season, but he looks to be on a roll at least with consistent points and top three finishes. In fact, Schumacher has outscored everybody but Yuki Tsunoda over the last six races, and could now be considered an outside bet for the championship if he can build on these results over the final five rounds.

It’s worth noting that Schumacher’s season is starting to resemble his run to the 2018 European F3 title. After a patchy start to the campaign with only two podiums in the opening 12 races, he switched things on at the halfway point and went on to dominate the rest of the year.

While it won’t be easy to do the same in F2, keep an eye on him nonetheless as a potential dark horse in this second half of the season.

Callum Ilott, UNI-Virtuosi (Scuderia Ferrari Press Office)

Callum Ilott will be hoping to disrupt Prema’s momentum at Monza. Since winning the second Silverstone feature race from pole, Ilott’s results have dipped to a best finish of fifth in Spain, while a costly retirement at Spa last weekend handed the title lead back to Shwartzman.

Ilott has a good history with Monza. He’s been on the podium and won there in European F3 and GP3, and last year it was where he took his first F2 pole while driving for the Charouz-run Sauber Junior Team.

Another pole this weekend would be a great first step towards taking back the title lead from Shwartzman. And as the driver with the most pole positions so far this season, Ilott’s got more than enough form to do so.

2nd September 2020

F3 Monza preview: no room for error in penultimate round

Formula 3 is back in action this weekend at Monza for the penultimate round of the 2020 championship.

What stands out most of all as the F3 field heads to Italy’s Temple of Speed is how tight several of the key championship battles are this late in the season.

Obviously the first of those battles to look at is the one between Prema’s Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri for the F3 title itself. After Piastri retook the title lead with a sprint race win in Barcelona, Sargeant returned the favour at Spa with his second win of the season, and the American now has the lead over his teammate again.

Logan Sargeant, Prema (Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

It is mathematically possible for Sargeant to win the championship this weekend. However, with only seven points currently separating them, he’d need everything to align perfectly and to outscore Piastri by 42 points across the two races.

It’s not impossible, but given Piastri has only failed to score in one race this season (and aside from that, hasn’t finished lower than eighth), it’s much more likely that Monza will set up a title showdown next week in Mugello instead.

Of the two, Sargeant has had the better track record at Monza so far in his career. He won there in his 2018 Formula Renault NEC campaign, and last year in F3 he finished in the top ten in both races for the uncompetitive Carlin team.

But although Piastri has yet to reach the podium at Monza, Prema will surely give him a car as capable of winning as Robert Shwartzman’s was in last year’s feature race, meaning he’ll be more than ready to take the fight to Sargeant on Saturday.

Oscar Piastri, Prema (Dan Istitene / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Just behind the top two is the tightest battle in the field, between David Beckmann and Liam Lawson for third in the standings. Beckmann currently holds the place but only by half a point, with Lawson on a much better run of form with podiums in every round since Silverstone.

Lawson ran well in Monza last year as well, taking second in the sprint race. However, Beckmann has experience of winning at the Temple of Speed as recently as 2018, having taken the GP3 feature race for Trident.

For Lawson, taking third place in the championship is all about recovering from the disastrous run of retirements that derailed his title campaign early in the year, and also convincing Red Bull to move him up the F1 feeder series ladder next year.

For Beckmann, he’ll be thinking of helping Trident to beat ART in their battle for second in the teams’ standings.

David Beckmann, Trident (Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Further back again, just 5.5 points cover Jake Hughes, Richard Verschoor and Alex Peroni in the lower positions of the championship top ten.

The three drivers have had wildly different seasons so far. Peroni has the most podiums of the trio with three, but Hughes’ feature race win in Barcelona means he’s currently the one on top, while Verschoor has only had the one podium but scored more consistently across the year.

Monza is sure to be a significant race for Peroni, as it was in last year’s feature race that a frightening crash at the Parabolica left the Australian with a fractured vertebrae.

Since then he’s come back much stronger to lead Campos this year, and it would be a great result for him to move on from last year with another good result this weekend.

Alex Peroni, Campos (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

8th June 20198th June 2019

Chadwick takes second W Series win at Misano

This weekend the W Series travelled to the Misano World Circuit in Italy for the third round of the all-female world championship.

The sun was shining on Saturday morning when Liechtenstein driver Fabienne Wohlwend took pole position with a laptime of 1:33.283. Championship leader Jamie Chadwick and Dutch driver Beitske Visser slotted in behind in second and third respectively, with Alice Powell in fourth and local girl Vicky Piria in fifth. Caitlin Wood suffered a suspension failure in qualifying which meant she was demoted last place on the grid.

The stunning weather continued as the nineteen drivers lined up on the grid for the race to begin.

Wohlwend had a good start from pole despite a little over steer, however, Jamie Chadwick had a blistering start and quickly snatched the lead from Wohlwend, Visser slipping past into P2 and demoting Wohlwend into third position. On the run down into turn one, Alice Powell hit Fabienne Wohlwend which led to a front suspension failure. As a result, Powell ran into the gravel which forced out the yellow flag and the safety car.

Chadwick had a great restart when racing got underway again, quickly gaining a second advantage over Visser in P2. Koyama and Piria had a close battle in fourth and fifth, with Wohlwend quickly closing the gap behind Visser in second. Wohlwent then went wide before the start finish straight, losing a little time, but managed to close back up to the rear wing of Visser.

Chadwick went wide which meant Visser closed right up to the British driver.
After her slight wobble, pole-sitter Fabienne Wohlwend set the fastest lap of the race, the first three drivers pulling away from the rest of the field.

Miki Koyama took to the outside to pass Vicky Piria for fourth position as Chadwick continued to set clean and consistent lap times at the front of the pack with thirteen minutes remaining, Visser and Wohlwend still fighting strongly for the win in second and third.

Sabre Cook majorly impressed having started in 15th and made her way through the field up to 9th, right in amongst the mid-field battle.

Visser was right on Chadwicks tail with eight minutes remaining, the Dutch driver thriving in the third sector, but not quite close enough to overtake the championship leader.

With five minutes remaining, Esmee Hawkey went wide and as a result, Naomi Schiff moved up to eleventh place.

Visser made a small mistake after she locked up the front left tyre with less than 2 minutes remaining. Schiff then had a spin after catching the kerb at turn 4 and 5 before rejoining in P16 and Cook and Moore had a close fight for eighth place.

Jamie Chadwick took the win in Misano and extended her championship lead after a flawless performance. Beitske Visser finished in second place and Fabienne Wohlwend in third – her first podium in the series. Miki Koyama finished in fourth followed by Piria in fifth, Garcia in sixth, then Pepper, Moore, Cook and Keszthelyi rounding out the top ten.

Hawkey finished just outside the points in eleventh, Bovy in 12th, then Rdest, Wood and Hawkins in 15th – who was given a five second time penalty for a jump start. Shea Holbrook finished in 16th, Megan Gilkes in 17th and Naomi Schiff in last place.

The championship is certainly hotting up as we pass the halfway point. The next round will be on the 6th July at the Norisring street circuit in Germany.