Baku F2: Dürksen does it for Paraguay, Bortoleto leads title race

Tuesday, 17 September 2024 at 08:00

Baku City Circuit hosted the 12th race weekend of the 2024 Formula 2 Championship on the weekend of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, producing a new winner and a new title leader with four points-scoring races to go this season.

Heading into Baku, Isack Hadjar, who failed to score a single point in the previous round at Monza, was aiming to extend his Formula 2 championship lead over rookie and fast-rising Gabriel Bortoleto. Hadjar hopes to become France's back-to-back F2 champion, following in the footsteps of Théo Pourchaire.

With only two rounds remaining after Baku—Qatar and Yas Marina—the Brazilian Bortoleto was just 10.5 points behind his second-year rival Hadjar. At Monza, Bortoleto won the feature race from the back of the grid, and both he and his Invicta team were riding high on confidence coming into Baku, where he had never raced before.

"It's probably one of the circuits where I've done the most laps in the sim, but it looks very good in the sim. It's very nice, very easy to make a mistake because it's a tight circuit with a lot of 90-degree corners, but it's looking good. The castle section is very nice as well," Bortoleto was quoted on the official Formula 2 website.

Hadjar, a Red Bull Junior, and Bortoleto, part of McLaren's Papaya Platoon, are among the hopefuls to potentially partner Nico Hülkenberg at Sauber next season.

Qualifying: Verschoor set the pace throughout the session

Pole-sitter Mansell led the first few laps of the Sprint Race

The sole 45-minute free practice session saw Enzo Fittipaldi at the top of the timing sheet.

Later on Friday, the drivers took part in qualifying at the 6 km Baku City Circuit, described by Alex Brundle as "part Monaco and part Monza."

Dutch driver Richard Verschoor, once a Red Bull Junior, set the pace throughout the session. Andrea Antonelli, highly rated and expected to replace Lewis Hamilton in 2025, came tantalizingly close to securing pole position but missed out by just 0.017 seconds.

In a bizarre display of teamwork, both Campos cars—championship leader Hadjar and fellow Red Bull Junior Josep "Pepe" Martí—locked up and crashed into the barriers at Turn 1 within moments of each other. Fortunately, no injuries occurred, though their egos may have taken a hit.

Hadjar would start both the Sprint and Feature races from 15th on the grid, which later became 20th after receiving a penalty for causing a red flag. Advantage Bortoleto, at least for the Baku weekend.

French driver Victor Martins, one of the pre-season favorites, qualified third and shared the second row with Zane Maloney. Indian driver Kush Maini and his Invicta teammate and championship contender Bortoleto took the third row.

Row 4 was occupied by Joshua Dürksen from Paraguay and Sicilian debutant Gabriele Minì, who replaced Oli Bearman at PREMA. American Jak Crawford and Australian debutant Christian Mansell rounded out the top ten, with Mansell's tenth-place qualifying giving him pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race.

Sprint Race: Dürksen makes history

A clean start on the tricky, fast Baku Street Circuit saw all 22 drivers navigate the first corner without incident. Mansell, starting from reverse-grid pole on his F2 debut, commanded the early stages of the race.

Fellow debutant Gabriele Minì was second at the end of Lap 1, followed by Dürksen, Crawford, and Maloney rounding out the top five.

Championship challenger Bortoleto lost places at the start and found himself in eighth, while championship leader Hadjar ended Lap 1 in 16th.

DRS was enabled on Lap 2, but Minì couldn't capitalize to overtake Mansell. By Lap 7, Minì took the lead from Mansell, and Dürksen quickly followed, securing second.

On Lap 13, Dürksen made his move and took the lead. Meanwhile, Bortoleto remained in eighth, and Hadjar had moved up to 14th.

A safety car was deployed after Ritomo Miyata crashed into the barriers on Lap 15. Dürksen handled the restart well, and Crawford passed Minì for second. Bortoleto survived a close call after contact with Mansell’s car.

On the final lap, Dürksen made history as the first driver from Paraguay to win an F2 race, becoming the 15th different winner of the 2024 season. Crawford finished second, while Minì held off Martins for third.

Bortoleto finished fifth, closing the gap to Hadjar, who scored no points after finishing 12th.

Feature Race: Verschoor became 16th different F2 winner this season

Verschoor, starting his 98th F2 race, began from pole. Maini stalled as the lights went out and was rear-ended by Martí and Goethe. The race was red-flagged, though all three drivers walked away uninjured.

After a 30-minute delay, a rolling start resumed the race. Verschoor led, followed by Antonelli, Martins, Maloney, and Bortoleto.

Martins soon passed Antonelli for second and started to close in on Verschoor, who eventually pitted along with the top three. Martins lost his lead in the pit stops, with Verschoor emerging first.

In the final minutes of the race, a crash by Minì brought out the Safety Car, sealing Verschoor's win. He became the 16th different winner of the season. Martins finished second, with Antonelli third.

Bortoleto finished fourth, reclaiming the championship lead from Hadjar, who ended in 14th.

Formula 2 Championship Standings

Bortoleto now leads the standings with 169.5 points, while Hadjar trails with 165 points. Maloney is third with 135 points, followed by Paul Aron (133) and Jak Crawford (116).