Silverstone F2: Zhou scores feature race win ahead of Ticktum
Guanyu Zhou took victory in the FIA Formula 2 feature race at Silverstone, passing polesitter Oscar Piastri off the line before taking the win.
Zhou, who started second and led the drivers' standings for UNI-Virtuosi heading into the weekend, crossed the finish line almost four seconds ahead of Carlin’s Dan Ticktum, who finished second at his home race.
Piastri finished third for Prema Racing, with Richard Verschoor of MP Motorsport in fourth and Prema Racing’s Robert Shwartzman, who won the first sprint race of the weekend, in fifth.
Felipe Drugovich of UNI-Virtuosi finished in sixth, with Juri Vips (Hitech Grand Prix) in seventh.
Zhou got the better launch off the line, taking first from Piastri, while Ticktum passed Verschoor into third.
By lap six, Zhou had built up a 1.5 second lead, comfortably leading the pack after ten minutes.
Ticktum was first to pit on lap six, making an early tyre change to the softer compound ahead of Robert Shwartzman, Liam Lawson, Marcus Armstrong and David Beckmann.
Christian Lundgaard also pitted but lost his left-rear wheel as he pulled away before having to return to the garage, an incident for which he received a ten-second stop-and-go penalty.
Piastri and Ticktum tussled at Brooklands for 13th on lap eight, having both pitted, with the Carlin driver emerging ahead.
Verschoor was the first of the top eight to pit, taking a slow stop before emerging in 10th.
By lap 13, Ticktum and Piastri were battling it out in P7 and P8 as they both looked to clear the cars out in front who were all yet to pit.
Ticktum cleared Matteo Nannini on lap 15, but Piastri fell back slightly from the Brit and became stuck behind the Campos driver.
Vips, who had been leading the race, fell to 11th after pitting on lap 19.
Jehan Daruvala maintained his lead into the last six laps, having not pitted, with Zhou close behind him with one stop, before the former eventually pitted on lap 24.
Nissany ran wide and spun on lap 26, dropping down the standings to P16, having been battling for fifth.
Piastri faced pressure from Verschoor for third for the last two laps, with the pair tussling into lap 29, but the Prema driver held his position to take the third step on the podium behind winner Zhou and second-placed Ticktum.
Silverstone F2 - Feature race results:
| Cla | # | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |  Guanyu Zhou |  UNI-Virtuosi | |
| 2 | 5 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | 3.800 |
| 3 | 2 |  Oscar Piastri |  Prema Powerteam | 19.300 |
| 4 | 11 |  Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 20.100 |
| 5 | 1 |  Robert Shwartzman | Prema Powerteam | 24.700 |
| 6 | 4 |  Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | 25.400 |
| 7 | 8 |  Jüri Vips | HitechGP | 25.800 |
| 8 | 10 |  Theo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 26.600 |
| 9 | 12 |  Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | 27.400 |
| 10 | 6 |  Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | 27.600 |
| 11 | 7 |  Liam Lawson | HitechGP | 39.900 |
| 12 | 17 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | 40.500 |
| 13 | 24 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | 44.300 |
| 14 | 21 |  Ralph Boschung |  Campos Racing | 47.600 |
| 15 | 14 | David Beckmann |  Charouz Racing System | 47.800 |
| 16 | 16 |  Roy Nissany | DAMS | 49.400 |
| 17 | 22 | Jack Aitken | HWA Racelab | 51.900 |
| 18 | 20 | Matteo Nannini | Campos Racing | 52.300 |
| 19 | 25 |  Marino Sato | Trident | 53.700 |
| 20 | 15 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz Racing System | 1'02.600 |
| 21 | 9 |  Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1'30.200 |
| 22 | 23 | Alessio Deledda | HWA Racelab | |
| View full results | ||||
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