Home Formula 2 Vips tops Mugello F2 practice as Aitken crashes out

Vips tops Mugello F2 practice as Aitken crashes out

by Craig Woollard

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency/Red Bull Content Pool

DAMS stand-in Juri Vips topped a Formula 2 session for the first time in free practice at Mugello.

This is the first time since 1984 that F2 has raced around the Tuscany circuit, and the fast nature meant that many of the quick laps were set earlier on as tyre wear played a factor.

Vips set his quickest lap towards the middle of the session, having been quickest earlier on as well.

His top spot looked set to be cemented when Jack Aitken crashed at the final corner having locked up with 11 minutes to go.

That brought out the virtual safety car, but green flag running resumed with five minutes to spare. However, very few drivers improved in the final minutes.

Championship leader Callum Ilott had a difficult session, having a big moment at the fast downhill Casanova corner, and the Virtuosi driver ending the session only 14th.

His two main title contenders – Prema Racing’s Mick Schumacher and Robert Shwartzman – fared little better, ending up 12th and 13th.

Behind Vips, Hitech GP’s Luca Ghiotto was second fastest in his second home event in as many weekends. MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich was third, with Carlin’s Yuki Tsunoda the highest-placed title contender in fourth.

DAMS’ Dan Ticktum rounded out the top five, while Trident’s Marino Sato made a rare appearance in the top 10 with sixth.

Aitken ended up seventh, ahead of Hitech’s Nikita Mazepin, ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard and the second Trident driver Roy Nissany.

 

Free practice results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Juri Vips DAMS 1m31.474s 18
2 Luca Ghiotto Hitech GP 1m31.563s +0.089s 19
3 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1m31.705s +0.231s 18
4 Yuki Tsunoda Carlin 1m31.757s +0.283s 21
5 Dan Ticktum DAMS 1m31.882s +0.408s 21
6 Marino Sato Trident 1m31.968s +0.494s 19
7 Jack Aitken Campos 1m32.061s +0.587s 12
8 Nikita Mazepin Hitech GP 1m32.097s +0.623s 20
9 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1m32.101s +0.627s 20
10 Roy Nissany Trident 1m32.217s +0.743s 19
11 Louis Deletraz Charouz 1m32.296s +0.822s 21
12 Mick Schumacher Prema 1m32.331s +0.857s 18
13 Robert Shwartzman Prema 1m32.408s +0.934s 18
14 Callum Ilott Virtuosi 1m32.419s +0.945s 19
15 Marcus Armstrong ART Grand Prix 1m32.451s +0.977s 20
16 Pedro Piquet Charouz 1m32.608s +1.134s 21
17 Guanyu Zhou Virtuosi 1m32.682s +1.208s 18
18 Artem Markelov HWA Racelab 1m33.010s +1.536s 19
19 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1m33.016s +1.542s 21
20 Giuliano Alesi HWA Racelab 1m33.143s +1.669s 21
21 Nobuharu Matsushita MP Motorsport 1m33.695s +2.221s 15
22 Guilherme Samaia Campos 1m34.021s +2.547s 18