Latifi dominates F2 sprint race at Silverstone

Canada's Nicholas Latifi put in a racing masterclass to easily claim his first FIA Formula 2 win with a strong drive in cold conditions in Sunday morning's sprint race at Silverstone, building a big lead before controlling the restart from a late safety car to win ahead of Russian Time's Luca Ghiotto and Artem Markelov.

Latifi made light work of the chilly conditions to make a great start from pole when the lights went out, easily holding Ghiotto and Oliver Rowland behind him as he led the way into Turn 1, with the latter soon under attack by Jordan King: the pair touched at Turn 3 with King sent wide but Rowland continuing before easing Markelov partially onto the grass to avoid an attack, earning a five-second penalty for his efforts.

Latifi set a string of fast laps to break the chain back to Ghiotto, but behind the top four Sergio Canamasas and Charles Leclerc were having a huge battle for lap after lap before the Monaco driver finally and firmly pushed past the Spaniard on lap 12 and headed off to mix it with the others, with Rowland pushing Ghiotto all around the track and Markelov biding his time between the pair as Latifi sailed into the distance.

The Canadian looked comfortable in the lead, but a late wrinkle in his plans arose on lap 18 when Ralph Boschung tried to overtake Alexander Albon but put a wheel on the grass before heavily impacting the wall at Stowe, prompting a safety car period with three laps remaining. Fast work by the marshals saw the last lap run live: Latifi easily controlled the restart to win from Ghiotto, while behind them Rowland tried to hold up his rivals – earning another 20-second penalty from the stewards – but instead gave a line through for Markelov to pass him for third on track, with Rowland fourth on track but 17th in the classification due to two time penalties.

The Leclerc/Canamasas war restarted into the final complex, with the Spaniard stealing a march on the Monegasque for P4, with Norman Nato holding on for sixth when teammate Sean Gelael, who had followed him all race long, spun out of the race at Vale to promote Nyck De Vries (an impressive race after starting last on the grid) and Nobuharu Matsushita into the final points positions.

The feature race win saw Leclerc extend his lead in the championship to 67 points over the promoted Markelov, 188 points to 121.