ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti has become the latest rookie to take the first win of his FIA Formula 2 career after a dramatic Sprint Race at the Baku City Circuit which saw three safety cars in the final seven laps.
PREMA Racing’s Jehan Daruvala led for most of the race after taking the lead from pole-sitter Jake Hughes at Turn 2 of the first lap, but couldn’t keep Vesti behind on the second Safety Car restart after locking up into the first corner. The Indian driver had stretched out a comfortable four second lead on the rest of the field before the first Safety Car on lap fourteen.
Carlin’s Liam Lawson completed the podium in third position after a stellar drive which saw him climb up from ninth place on the grid. His team-mate, Logan Sargeant, occupied the position for most of the race but lost it to Richard Verschoor on the first restart with the Dutch driver finding himself as the latest braker into Turn 1.
The first Safety Car was triggered by an over-zealous Dennis Hauger who absolutely sent it down Théo Pourchaire’s inside at Turn 3. The Norwegian driver, who took his first F2 victory in the last round’s Sprint Race, ended up locking his front-right tyre and couldn’t get the car slowed down enough upon entry which saw him end his race in the barriers.
As soon as the first Safety Car was brought in, it was then deployed again after Charouz Racing System’s Enzo Fittipaldi suffered suspension damage at Turn 2. Sunday’s Feature Race pole-sitter Jüri Vips‘ race was subsequently ruined after he was caught up in Fittipaldi’s trip to the escape road.
The Safety Car was then brought in again two laps later where Daruvala made his costly mistake which knocked him down into second place.
The man who was currently occupying third place, Richard Verschoor, found himself side-by-side with Lawson for a number of corners throughout the first and middle sector. This came to an abrupt end when Verschoor went a bit too wide at Turn 7 and ended up in the barriers, calling for another wave of the Safety Car.
The stewards at the Baku City Circuit did a superbly quick job of removing the hazard on the track and we were treated to a one lap shootout for the final lap of the twenty-one lap race.
As the grid made it’s way through the 90-degree corner of Turn 1, Ralph Boschung and Calan Williams had an incident which looked like a bad shunt for the Australian driver who was then collected by Cem Bölükbasi as he landed in the middle of the track. Luckily, there was no one hurt in the four car pile-up which also included Virtuosi Racing’s Marino Sato.
Ecstatic for his first win in the second-tier, Vesti spoke after the race, “I’m just incredible happy. Obviously starting from second position I had a really good start but I came way too fast into the first corner and was pretty close to crashing so I lost two positions but kept my head cool and came back.”
“I just won my first Formula 2 race here in Baku and honestly, I just want to thank ART. This win is for my sponsors – they are one of the reasons I’m here and this one is for Michael, my sponsor.”
| POS | NUM | NAME | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Fredrik Vesti | DNK | ART Grand Prix | 48:36.014 |
| 2 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | IND | PREMA Racing | +0.380 |
| 3 | 5 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Carlin | +1.102 |
| 4 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | NZL | Hitech Grand Prix | +1.517 |
| 5 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich | BRA | MP Motorsport | +1.764 |
| 6 | 6 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Carlin | +2.178 |
| 7 | 10 | Théo Pourchaire | FRA | ART Grand Prix | +2.668 |
| 8 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | JPN | DAMS | +3.246 |
| 9 | 24 | Jake Hughes | GBR | Van Amersfoort Racing | +5.496 |
| 10 | 16 | Roy Nissany | ISR | DAMS | +7.381 |
| 11 | 3 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Virtuosi Racing | +7.573 |
| 12 | 8 | Jüri Vips | EST | Hitech Grand Prix | +8.027 |
| 13 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Van Amersfoort Racing | +8.997 |
| 14 | 12 | Clément Novalak | FRA | MP Motorsport | +9.290 |
| 15 | 15 | Ralph Boschung | CHE | Campos Racing | +1 Lap |
| 16 | 21 | Calan Williams | AUS | Trident | +1 Lap |
| 17 | 4 | Marino Sato | JPN | Virtuosi Racing | +1 Lap |
| 18 | 23 | Cem Bölükbasi | TUR | Charouz Racing System | +1 Lap |
| 19 | 14 | Olli Caldwell | GBR | Campos Racing | +1 Lap |
| 20 | 10 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | Trident | +3 Laps |
| 21 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Charouz Racing System | DNF |
| 22 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | PREMA Racing | DNF |
