Nikita Mazღepin made the most of two late Safety Car periods a𒀰t Mugello to claim his second Formula 2 race victory of the season.

Mazepin started from 14th on the grid and looked like he𓆉 🌺was on course for a small handful of points at most until the Safety Car period on Lap 26 due to Giuliano Alesi's stricken car.

On the alternate strategy, Mazepin maximised a chaotic first Safety Car restart which saw former champions𓆏hip leader Callum Ilott pick up damage and both Jack Aitken and Guanyu Zhou retire from the race f💝ollowing contact with Mick Schumacher.

Once Aitken and Zhou’s cars were cleared, Mazepin made light work of race 🐎leader Christian Lundgaard and Hitech team-mate Luca Ghiotto into Turn 1 for the lead of the꧃ race, with the Russian running out a comfortable winner by 4.4s by the end of the race.

Ghiotto secured second, hol♌ding off a fast-charging 🍨Louis Deletraz for third place, who like Mazepin benefitted from the alternate strategy and subsequent Safety Car periods.

Felipe Drugovich was a strong fourth in the lead MP Motorsport ahe🐠ad of Mick Schumacher, who now leads the F2 championship following Ilott’s failure to finish inside the top ten.

Lundgaard led much of the race but hi🍎s stop on Lap 8 meant he struggled for tyres in the closing laps, ultimately dropping to sixth ahead Jüriꦇ Vips and Artem Markelov.

Yuki Tsunoda ꦺhad finished eighth and thus was on course to start Sunday’s sprint race from pole, but was handed a five-second penalty for colliding with Dan Ticktum on the fir๊st Safety Car restart.

Marcus Armstrong secured ninth having made a second stop under tꦚhe Safety Car, while Jehan Daruvala rou𒁃nded out the top ten.

With Schumacher taking the lead of the 🍒championship following his fifth place, Ilott could only manage 12th and♏ Robert Shwartzman retired early on due to a mechanical issue.