Six wins for two: how Mazepin and Shvartsman got the most successful Russian season in Formula 2

The Sakhir Grand Prix was not only the penultimate stage in the Formula 1 calendar, but also summed up the results of the Formula 2 season.

In this junior series, two Russian pilots showed themselves excellently.

Robert Shvartsman finished the championship in fourth place, Nikita Mazepin, before moving to the royal races, took the fifth place in the overall standings.

For Schwartzman, the last season in Formula 2 was especially successful.

Although he did not make it into the top three in points, the 21-year-old Russian won the most victories in his Prema Racing car.

He finished first four times, something even his team-mate and series champion Mick Schumacher did not achieve, for whom the doors to Formula 1 were opened last week.

It is worth noting that for Schwartzman it was his debut season in Formula 2.

Few have won so many races in their first championship in the second-strongest formula series.

In the first half of 2020, Schwarzman was even one of the contenders for the title and was quoted above the son of Michael Schumacher.

The Russian won the main races at the Styrian and Hungarian Grand Prix, took the podium at the Austrian Grand Prix, but then successful races began to alternate with unsuccessful ones.

Schwartzman fell three times in the sprint and lost points, and only in Belgium this series was interrupted with a finish in first place.

In the middle of the season, the reasons for resentment became even more.

At Monza, Schwartzman did not show a good time in qualifying due to Schumacher's accident on his fast lap - two finishes in glasses then seemed impossible at all.

Before the start in Mugello, Jack Aitken drove into the Russian, and this contact, in which the Briton himself was not to blame, led to a breakdown and to retirement.

The home Grand Prix of Russia also did not bring points.

Only thanks to the victory in the sprint in Bahrain, Schwartzman improved his position, but the next race, already on the new configuration of the deserted track, was again unsuccessful.

One mistake with blocking the tires left the Russian without another podium and allowed the Japanese Yuki Tsunode to rejoice at the third place in the overall standings.

Mazepin's Formula 2 season was quite different.

At first, there was nothing in it that gave out a pilot that Haas could draw attention to and offer a multi-year contract.

The Russian scored just one point in the first four races with Hitech.

But in Hungary Nikita was able to finish second after Schwarzman, and in the next race weekend he celebrated his first victory in Formula 2.

He took the lead early at Silverstone and became the best on one of the world's major highways.

Then Mazepin continued to perform just as well, but his driving style became noticeably more aggressive, which the judges did not like very much.

He finished third in the main race in Barcelona and won in Belgium, but was fined both times - first for driving on the track after cutting off a turn, and then for pushing Tsunoda off the track.

In the end, he only received points for second place in the Spa.

They managed to rehabilitate in Mugello, where Mazepin started 14th and still won his second victory this season.

But the Russian's “problems with the law” are not over.

After two finishes in second place (in Sochi and Bahrain), he again attracted the attention of the judges.

During the recent Sakhir Grand Prix, they considered four episodes with Mazepin's participation at once and were punished with five-second fines for two of them.

As a result, instead of the third position and another podium, he fell back to ninth place.

If not for the constant penalties this season, the Haas rookie would surely have been able to bypass Schwarzman and impose a fight on Tsunode, who will probably now take over Daniil Kvyat's place in AlphaTauri.

The fifth place in the overall Formula-2 standings brought Mazepin a super-license of the International Automobile Federation, that is, permission to participate in Formula-1 races.

Before the season ended, he signed with Haas and will pursue a career in the main racing series.

He will be the fourth Russian pilot to receive such a portion.

And in a year Schwartzman will be able to become the fifth - at least two of his competitors have already gone to the promotion and will not prevent them from fully showing themselves in the next Formula 2 draw.