Formula 2 was back at the weekend for Round 4, lets take a look at how the weekend went/
Day 1, Practice-
Oliver Bearman wasted no time getting up to speed on his first visit to Baku, topping the opening session of Formula 2 weekend and ending Free Practice fastest of all.
The PREMA driver went quickest late on gaining a nice slipstream down the main straight to set a 1:54.063. Fellow rookies, Isack Hadjar and Kush Maini followed in second and third places respectively.
The early laps in the session were tricky with the freshly resurfaced circuit offering little grip. Ralph Boschung was the first driver underneath the two minute barrier, but times continued to fall with every lap on the board as the surface continued to clean up.
With just over one minute left of practice, Arthur Leclerc spun in his DAMS out of the first corner, bringing out the Red Flags and ending the session early.
Qualifying-
Oliver Bearman turned his fortunes around in the final seconds of a tense Qualifying session in Baku to claim his first Formula 2 pole position. Utilising the slipstream from the train of cars ahead, the PREMA Racing rookie stole first from Rodin Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi by just 0.012s at the chequered flag.
Less the a tenth of a second separated the front-runners, as Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti benefitted late on to seal their spots in third and fourth.
After a delayed start to running, an early Red Flag halted the session inside the opening seven minutes before any representative laps could be put on the board. Brad Benavides overshot the entry to Turn 1 and planted the PHM Racing by Charouz car into the barriers.
With the tow around the Baku City Circuit proving so powerful, drivers squabbled for track position entering the final stages. Punching in a 1:53.271, Vesti went 0.085s clear of Pourchaire on his penultimate lap, just as PREMA Racing teammate Bearman brushed the barriers at the exit of Turn 2, bending his steering in the process.
Day 2, Sprint Race-
Oliver Bearman demonstrated that to finish first in Baku – first you have to finish, as the British rookie claimed his first Formula 2 victory in a dramatic Sprint Race.
Off the back of his maiden pole position, he lined up 9th on the grid and carved his way through the field to snatch the win from teammate Frederik Vesti.
A late restart with only three laps to go brought drama, as race leader Dennis Hauger and second-placed Victor Martins crashed out. The PREMA pair were there to pick up the pieces as the race concluded behind the third and final Safety Car. HiTech Pulse-Eight’s Jak Crawford also kept himself out of trouble to take his second podium in third.
Reserve pole sitter Verschoor didn’t hold the lead for long. Contact with the wall at Turn 1 left the Van Amersfoort Racing driver with damage and forced to retire.
After making his way up into the points, Ralph Boschung’s race came to an end on Lap 3, clipping the inside wall at Turn 11. His retirement triggered an early Safety Car appearance.
Locking up his front left tyre, on the approach to Turn 15, Roy Nissany found the wall on the exit, which brought out the Safety Car once again.
The full top 10 are: P1: Bearman, P2: Vesti, P3: Crawford, P4: Maini, P5: Fittipaldi, P6: Correa, P7: Novalak, P8: Stanek, P9: Cordeel and P10: Benavides.
Day 3, Feature Race-
Oliver Bearman made it a clean sweep in Baku, adding the Feature Race victory to his Sprint win from Saturday. The PREMA Racing driver put together a controlled race at the front, managing the gap to rivals behind him after losing the lead briefly early on,
Enzo Fittipaldi secured his first rostrum visit of 2023 for Rodin Carlin with second place, pulling off a move around the outside of Theo Pourchaire in the closing stages.
Martins’ charge continued as Frederik Vesti became the first driver to peel into the pits and swap the supersofts for mediums on Lap 7. He was followed in by Jehan Daruvala, Arthur Leclerc and Ralph Boschung, kicking off the first of the mandatory pitstops.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed briefly after Brad Benavides found the barriers at Turn 4. His PHM Racing by Charouz car was quickly recovered and racing resumed on Lap 11.
There was a few close calls for Bearman during the middle phase of the race, almost scraping the wall at Turn 15 on multiple laps as he began to drop Pourchaire to the tune of 2.3s by Lap 20.
The full top 10 are: P1: Bearman, P2: Fittipaldi, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Vesti, P5: Maini, P6: Hauger, P7: Hadjar, P8: Verschoor, P9: Crawford and P10: Leclerc.
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