Points for Lawson and Armstrong in F2 opener

Liam Lawson and Marcus Armstrong enjoyed a strong turnaround in speed for the first Formula 2 race at Silverstone, finishing seventh and ninth.

Both had qualified outside the top ten yesterday, leaving them yearning for more.

However, come to the race, both capitalised on an exciting first lap, which eliminated some big championship runners and vaulted the two Kiwis inside the top ten.

Points leader Guanyu Zhou spun at turn three and prompted an early safety car.

Moments later, Christian Lundgaard survived a clash with Roy Nissany, which ended the race for the latter.

When the race restarted on lap three, Lawson was sixth and Armstrong was three cars back.

The race was almost immediately put back under safety car conditions when Alessio Deledda spun and failed to get going again.

Then on the restart, Lawson lost a spot to Oscar Piastri.

The Red Bull Junior now had Dan Ticktum behind him, who was coming under fire from Armstrong.

Ticktum was also battling front wing damage, which let Lawson slightly off the hook.

Despite his best efforts, Armstrong couldn’t get ahead of Ticktum before the chequered flag.

The race was won by Robert Shwartzman who passed three cars on lap one to claim the lead, and never looked back.

The next sprint race will be a reverse top ten of race one’s results.

It means Armstrong will start on the front row alongside Richard Verschoor, with Lawson in fourth.

That race begins at 1.45 am NZT.