Azerbaijan: Weekend Review

Free Practice:

This Practice Session in Baku ended with Enzo Fittipaldi on top for Van Amersfoort Racing. The Brazilian Driver finished the session with a time of 1:58.244 in what was rather tricky first outing of the weekend.

After installation laps for all the drivers, Isack Hadjar was the one to set the early benchmark with a 2:04.063. The time was quickly outdone as the track continued to evolve.

Fittipaldi then moved to the top of the timesheet with a 2:02.689 for Van Amersfoort Racing before Victor Martins of ART Grand Prix issued a 2:01.688. He then improved that time on his next effort, lowering the fastest time to a 2:00.384.

Once the opening 10 minutes rolled past, Fittipaldi was the first driver below the two-minute mark with a 1:59.550 and returned to P1. The title was briefly lost to Kush Maini, but he was back on the front row after his next attempt, setting a 1:58.244.

With 21 minutes remaining, the Red Flags were out after Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí was left stationary at Turn 6 after a spin, right when the rain began to fall around the Baku City Circuit.

The session was back to green with 15 minutes to go, although there was no sense of hastiness to get back out on track.

Drivers began to venture back out of the pits with 10 minutes left, but they were rather tentative as they made their way around the circuit with grip so difficult to find.

However, Red Flags were out soon after that, as Oliver Goethe found the barrier nose first at Turn 15 after a lock-up in his MP Motorsports car.

Due to the car being cleared and barriers needing to be repaired, there was not enough time for any more competitive laps.

This factor left Enzo Fittipaldi quickest from Kush Maini, Kimi Antonelli, Zane Maloney and Dennis Hauger making up the top five in Practice.

Qualifying:

Richard Verschoor supplied a fantastic performance to take Pole Position after a dramatic Qualifying Session in Baku. The Dutch Trident Driver was top of the timesheets all afternoon, and a final flying lap of 1:54.857 saw him surmount PREMA Racing’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli to the top spot by the small margin of 0.017s.

Verschoor set the early benchmark in Qualifying with a lap time of 1:56.023, and led Victor Martin’s of ART Grand Prix by 0.213s, with Antonelli in third.

There was a second push lap available for the drivers on the Supersoft tyres, finding more grip as track conditions improved. Verschoor then managed to go even faster with a 1:55.655.

Martins was his closest competitor once again, merely 0.079s behind, while Antonelli rounded up the top three spots for a second time, over four-tenths off Pole.

The grid returned to the pit lane once again, venturing back out on track with less than 10 minutes remaining, but unfortunately as they set off the Red Flags were shown.

A rather peculiar and damning incident for Campos Racing as Championship leader Isack Hadjar goes straight on and into the barriers at Turn 1, only for teammate Pepe Martí to follow suit moments later- both cars locking up under braking.

Both Red Bull Juniors were okay, and their cars were cleared and the session was green flagged with little over four minutes to go.

This gave the other drivers one more chance for a final flying lap, and Verschoor was the one to come out on top once again with a 1:54.857, outdoing Antonelli’s earlier time by only 0.017s.

Martins completed the session in third, with Zane Maloney in fourth for Rodin Motorsport. The Invicta Racing pair, Kush Maini and Gabriel Bortoleto, followed by Joshua Duerksen in seventh for AIX Racing.

Gabriele Minì took eighth for PREMA in his maiden F2 Qualifying Session, Jack Crawford P9 for DAMS Lucas Oil and more positive news for Trident as Christian Mansell achieves tenth, reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.

Sprint Race:

This excellent Sprint Race in Baku ended with Joshua Duerkson taking his maiden win in FIA Formula 2, the AIX Racing driver going from fourth on the grid to the top step.

The Paraguayan expertly managed his way through an action-packed race to finally achieve victory in F2, over three seconds ahead of DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford, while PREMA Racing’s debutant Gabriele Minì held off Victor Martins of ART Grand Prix for the final spot on the podium.

Lights Out

Pole-sitter Christian Mansell got off to a strong start, maintaining his lead into Turn 1 while Gabriele Minì took second from third. A poor getaway from front-row starter Jack Crawford saw him drop down to fourth, Joshua Duerkson taking advantage and going through into third position.

Behind them, championship leader Isack Hadjar was up to P16 by the end of Lap 1 while championship challenger Gabriel Bortoleto lost places and found himself in P8.

Mansell was working hard to get out of DRS range to Minì, but a lock up on the entry of Turn 15 on Lap 6 closed any gap he had built from the PREMA driver. The Italian capitalised on the emerging opportunity and took the lead from Mansell, with Duerkson quickly following behind, the Paraguayan securing second.

After closing in for a good few laps, Duerkson used his strong straight-line speed to take the lead from Minì at Turn 1 on Lap 13.

Moments later, Gabriel Bortoleto got the best of Maloney to take P7, while Hadjar had moved up to P14.

Just a lap later, Duerkson had already created over a three and a half second gap to Minì, while Mansell lost out to Crawford and Martins at Turn 1 before the safety car was deployed after Ritomo Miyata crashed into the barriers at Turn 3. The Rodin driver had attempted a move on Dennis Hauger, but carried too much speed and consequently ended up in the wall.

Duerkson handled the restart well, but Minì ran wide while struggling for grip, allowing Crawford to snatch P2. Bortoleto survived a close call after contact with Mansell that sent him into the barrier, although he continued and finished the race in P5. Hadjar finished P12, out of the points and failing to extend his championship lead.

Joshua Duerkson made history as the first Paraguayan driver to win a race in FIA Formula 2, and becoming the fifteenth different winner of the 2024 season. Crawford finished second, while Minì managed to hold Martins off for the final spot on the podium.

Feature Race:

This dramatic Feature Race saw Trident’s Richard Verschoor top the rest of the pack as he converted a pole position into a win in Baku to take his fourth FIA Formula 2 victory.

He was able to hold off ART Grand Prix rival Victor Martins in the closing laps after losing out to the Frenchman before the pit stop phase. PREMA’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli took the final podium spot, while Gabriel Bortoleto took the lead of the Drivers’ Championship with a P4 finish, after Isack Hadjar failed to score points in both races.

Lights Out

Richard Verschoor managed to retain his lead into Turn 1, but there was contact further back that caused an immediate Red Flag.
Kush Maini failed to launch from fifth upon lights out, causing Oliver Goethe to tag the back of the Invicta, while Pepe Martí had a heftier shunt with the rear left. The Campos rolled to the pit wall before fortunately coming to a rest on its wheels.

Thankfully, all three drivers emerged from the harrowing incident unscathed. Martí headed to the medical centre for a checkup and was deemed alright.

There was a rather large cleanup job to be completed, and due to some fuel on the tarmac that would affect the breaking zone into Turn 1, a rolling start was to be performed rather than a standing start to prevent any further incidents. With the race delayed by 34 minutes, it became a timed affair, meaning reduced points were on offer.

Upon the restart, Verschoor once again had a positive launch and remained ahead of Antonelli and Martins and was 0.7s clear heading back onto the main straight for the second lap of racing. Meanwhile, Martins was close enough to Antonelli to make a clean overtake, moving into second.

A lap later, the ART driver was onto the back of the race leader and by the time they reached the start straight he made the overtake with the aid of DRS and took the lead of the race from Verschoor.

Trident teammate Christian Mansell made a pass on AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerkson, the winner of the Sprint Race on Saturday, who then became the first driver in for the mandatory pit stop.

He was joined by Jak Crawford and Luke Browning with 19 minutes left to run.

Current race leader Martins responded on the following lap, along with Verschoor and Antonelli while Maloney and Bortoleto decided to stay out. However, a slow stop for Martins dropped him down to third as the PREMA and Trident cars got the jump on him, and Verschoor was back in the lead. The original starting order was restored.

Maloney and Bortoleto pitted for soft compound tyres on the next lap and exited in that same order, although Maloney managed to rejoin the track ahead of Antonelli.

Howbeit, on the run to Turn 3, there was contact between the two after a lock-up from championship-chasing Maloney that left the Rodin Motorsport driver in the runoff area, the unfortunate consequence of attempting to defend on cold rubber.

The Trident of Richard Verschoor seemed to have an alignment issue in the final few laps, and with 12 minutes remaining the gap between him and Martins stood at 2.3 seconds.

With five minutes to go the gap was merely 1.1s, Martins on the cusp of DRS range, but he wasn’t closing at the speed he needed to.
The promising battle was soon over though, after Gabriele Minì ended in the wall at Turn 15, eliciting the Virtual Safety Car with two minutes to go.

The Feature Race was neutralised, and Verschoor finally claimed his first victory of the 2024 season, and this win would be one he could keep after expertly managing his wonky car to the chequered flag.
Martins and Antonelli- who was also carrying damage from the incident with Maloney, followed behind to round out the podium.

A pivotal moment in the Drivers’ Championship as Hadjar fails to score points in both the Sprint and the Feature Race for the second consecutive round, while Bortoleto brings his Invicta home for a quiet P4 finish, along with the fastest lap point. This means Gabriel Bortoleto is the new Championship leader by four and a half points.

Joshua Duerkson was P5 for AIX Racing, Paul Aron in P6 for Hitech Pulse-Eight, and Browning, Crawford, Hauger and Mansell filling out the points-paying positions.

Up Next:

There’s a two month break before Formula 2 heads to Lusail for the first time in Championship history. This will the the penultimate round of the 2024 season, who will come out on top?