Monza F2: Schumacher takes maiden feature race win at Monza

Schumacher had taken more podiums than any other driver prior to the weekend but was still awaiting a race victory in his second season racing in F2 with Prema.

After leading the early stages of qualifying, he beached his car in the gravel on the exit of Ascari and ended up seventh on the grid.

However, Schumacher was able to make his characteristic fast getaway off the line and moved into second place on the opening lap behind championship-leader Ilott.

He remained within two seconds of the race leader in the early stages of the race before UNI-Virtuosi's Ilott pitted at the end of the 11th of 30 laps but stalled when exiting his pit box and fell to 21st position, handing Schumacher the net lead of the race.

Renault junior Christian Lundgaard then became Schumacher's main challenger, but was couldn't get within three seconds and was soon forced to switch his attention to Hitech GP's Luca Ghiotto in third.

The F2 veteran reeled in Lundgaard and passed the ART Grand Prix driver for second at the first chicane with just three laps remaining.

Ghiotto was unable to make significant inroads into Schumacher's advantage, eventually finishing 3.185 seconds behind the race victor, whose first F2 victory since the Hungarian sprint race in 2019 vaults him to third in the drivers' championship.

Lundgaard settled for third place ahead of Red Bull and Honda protege Yuki Tsunoda, who made a poor start from the first row of the grid.

Ilott's team-mate Guanyu Zhou charged from 17th on the grid to complete the top five on the alternative strategy, passing Ilott late on as the Briton recovered from his pitlane drama to finish sixth, just edging Williams F1 development driver Dan Ticktum by one-tenth of a second at the line.

Haas F1 reserve driver Louis Deletraz finished in eighth place to claim reverse-grid pole for Sunday's sprint race.

Schumacher's Prema team-mate Robert Shwartzman had a muted run to ninth place from 16th on the grid, but still retains the points lead ahead of Ilott, with Carlin's Jehan Daruvala claiming the final point in 10th place.

Red Bull junior Juri Vips was 11th for the third successive race for DAMS.

Nikita Mazepin, who lost his Spa feature race win following a post-race penalty, retired with mechanical woes whilst fighting for a top-five finish.

F2 Feature Race Monza - 30 laps