2023 F2 Season Roundup: Round Four – Azerbaijan

Roundup of the fourth round of 2023 F2 season in Baku, Azerbaijan, as one rookie stunned the field with a dominant weekend.

DAMS’s Ayumu Iwasa entered this round as the championship leader but one rookie unexpectedly stepped up with a dominant weekend from start to finish.

The title lead meanwhile once again changed hands following a pair of frantic races amidst all eyes being on the rookie’s stunning dominance.

Now, here is a full roundup of all the chaotic F2 action in Baku.

 

Practice

PREMA’s Frederik Vesti was first out on track as everyone ran medium tyresbut it was Hitech GP’s Jak Crawford who set the initial benchmark time of 2m 21.020 in a quiet start of the session

His teammate – Isack Hadjar however soon led a queue of drivers who quickly lowered the benchmark time, as he posted 2m 01.759 in the ninth minute.

Vesti, Ralph Boschung and Richard Verschoor were next to lower the benchmark before Hadjar responded with 1m 59.022 to go quickest in the 12th minute, before Boschung went fastest with 1m 57.225 three minutes later.

Hadjar then Vesti responded but come the halfway mark, Hadjar had twice lowered the benchmark time further to 1m 54.882 ahead of Verschoor and Pourchaire.

Oliver Bearman meanwhile enjoyed a quiet session until he finally hit his stride in the 38th minute with 1m 54.457 to go fastest, although Hadjar four minutes later went 0.162 seconds  quicker but Bearman immediately responded to top the session with 1m 54.063.

The session however concluded with a red flag in the final minute after DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc spun on the exit of Turn 1.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	1m 54.063
2	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	+ 0.232
3	Kush Maini	Campos	+ 0.313
4	Frederik Vesti	PREMA	+ 0.433
5	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 0.433
6	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 0.679
7	Richard Verschoor	VAR	+ 0.717
8	Enzo Fittipaldi	Carlin	+ 0.777
9	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	+ 0.834
10	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	+ 0.842
11	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 0.851
12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	+ 0.862
13	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 0.981
14	Jak Crawford	Hitech GP	+ 1.030
15	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	+ 1.089
16	Zane Maloney	Carlin	+ 1.109
17	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 1.165
18	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing	+ 1.176
19	Clement Novalak	Trident	+ 1.355
20	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi	+ 1.721
21	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing	+ 1.759
22	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	+ 1.804

 

Qualifying

Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi and Zane Maloney were first out on track as everyone switched to super-soft tyres for Qualifying, yet some drivers opted to drive through the pit lane as part of their two outlaps to warm up their tyres.

PHM Racing’s rookie, Brad Benavides meanwhile caused a red flag in the seventh minute after he crashed into the barriers at Turn 1, having suffered with cold brakes which prevented him from making the corner properly.

Just mere seconds earlier, Victor Martins and Jack Doohan had backed out of their laps at the same corner with the same issue.

The session resumed 17 minutes later with Boschung setting the first proper benchmark time of 1m 55.530, but Bearman went 1.750s quicker just moments later whilst Hadjar saw his first run curtailed by damage from contact with the barriers.

At the halfway mark of the session, Bearman headed Kush Maini and Vesti but he was quickly displaced by MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger who went quickest with 1m 53.531 ahead of Verschoor.

Trident’s Roman Stanek meanwhile triggered the final runs by venturing out first after the brief lull, whilst Fittipaldi attempted to back the field up together to give himself clean air but Crawford ignored the Brazilian’s antics and sprinted away to build himself a gap.

Once everyone finally was able to find space, Vesti went top in the 26th minute with 1m 53.271 ahead of Pourchaire by just 0.085s, whilst Bearman clipped the Turn 3 barrier a minute later.

Bearman however survived a bent steering column to snatch his maiden F2 pole position with 1m 52.652 after nailing his slipstream towards the line, denying Fittipaldi, Pourchaire and Vesti with the quartet split by 0.071s.

Hauger qualified fifth ahead of Jehan Daruvala, Crawford, Martins, Maloney and Verschoor, who claimed reverse-pole for the Sprint.

Pourchaire meanwhile was hit with a three-place grid penalty which meant that he had started 11th on the Sprint Grid, after he was adjudged to had impeded Maini at Turn 2.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	1m 52.652
2	Enzo Fittipaldi	Carlin	+ 0.012
3	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 0.053
4	Frederik Vesti	PREMA	+ 0.071
5	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	+ 0.226
6	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	+ 0.414
7	Jak Crawford	Hitech GP	+ 0.487
8	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.561
9	Zane Maloney	Carlin	+ 0.645
10	Richard Verschoor	VAR	+ 0.807
11	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 0.985
12	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 0.987
13	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	+ 1.098
14	Kush Maini	Campos	+ 1.268
15	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	+ 1.313
16	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 1.498
17	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	+ 1.565
18	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	+ 1.639
19	Clement Novalak	Trident	+ 1.757
20	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing	+ 2.031
21	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi	+ 2.896
22	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing	No Time Set

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Verschoor and Maloney got a slow getaway from the front row unlike Martins who tried to drive through the pair, only to bang wheels with Maloney who took the lead into the first corner but was slow on his exit as Verschoor half-spun and punctured his right-rear tyre.

Verschoor consequently retired with damage from his spin whilst Maloney fell down the order as Hauger surged from sixth to first by the end of the first sector.

The Safety Car however was deployed on Lap 3 after Boschung clipped the inside barrier on entry to Turn 10, which caused him to slide into the barriers and out of the race from seventh place.

Once the Safety Car withdrew at the end of Lap 5, Hauger led the field back racing as Maini leapfrogged Fittipaldi for eighth on an otherwise quiet restart.

Fittipaldi a lap later was briefly passed by Stanek for ninth but the Czech Republican braked too deep into Turn 1 and lost three positions as he re-joined the action.

Bearman meanwhile hunted down Pourchaire and Crawford and passed the pair on successive laps to put himself fifth by the end of Lap 9, before Vesti and him demoted Daruvala from third to fifth on Lap 10 as Hauger fought off Martins up front.

Nissany meanwhile braked too late at Turn 15 on Lap 14 and smashed into the barriers, which brought the Safety Car back out until the end of Lap 18.

Upon the second Safety Car restart on Lap 19, Hauger and Martins both outbraked themselves into Turn 1 and found the barrier, which promoted Vesti into the lead whilst Daruvala ran wide trying to overtake Bearman for second but ended up slamming into Martins’ stricken car.

Pourchaire and Leclerc meanwhile both locked up upon entry with no room to go and also ended up in the barriers, whilst Doohan spun out as he entered the corner which ultimately meant that the race finished behind the Safety Car.

Stewards however didn’t activate the Safety Car until after Vesti and Bearman had completed Turn 4, where Vesti ran deep on the exit to concede the lead and ultimately victory to Bearman.

Crawford survived the second restart chaos to finish third ahead of Maini, Fittipaldi, Manuel Correa, Novalak and Hadjar, who rounded out the top eight ahead of Stanek, Cordeel and Benavides.

Post-race, stewards hit Hadjar with a five-second time penalty after he was adjudged to have overtaken Doohan on the second restart before the control line, dropping the Frenchman from eighth to 11th in the classification.

Iwasa meanwhile continue to lead the championship despite retiring with a DRS issue as Vesti leapfrogged Pourchaire into second, whilst Bearman climbed to 13th in the standings but 44 points off Iwasa.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	21	51m 27.274
2	Frederik Vesti	PREMA	21	+ 0.870
3	Jak Crawford	Hitech GP	21	+ 3.090
4	Kush Maini	Campos	21	+ 6.485
5	Enzo Fittipaldi	Carlin	21	+ 7,879
6	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	21	+ 10.405
7	Clement Novalak	Trident	21	+ 11.090
8	Roman Stanek	Trident	21	+ 15.065
9	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi	21	+ 16.232
10	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing	21	+ 18.140
11	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	21	+ 18.602
RET	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	18	Crash
RET	Victor Martins	ART GP	18	Crash
RET	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	18	Crash
RET	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	18	Crash
RET	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	18	Crash
RET	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	18	Spin
RET	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing	13	Crash
RET	Zane Maloney	Carlin	11	Suspension
RET	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	10	DRS
RET	Ralph Boschung	DAMS	2	Crash
RET	Richard Verschoor	VAR	0	Collision

 

Feature Race

At lights out with only Hadjar and Iwasa opting for medium tyres rather than supersoft tyres, Bearman made a clean start to lead Fittipaldi, Pourchaire and Vesti as Martins leapt from eighth to fifth in the opening two corners.

Pourchaire though was quickly on a charge as he reeled off Fittipaldi and Bearman at Turn 1 on Laps 2 and 3 to lead, but Bearman hit back at the same corner on Lap 4 to regain the lead which he held until he and Pourchaire stopped at the end of Lap 8.

Vesti meanwhile was the first to pit on Lap 6 for medium tyres but found himself jumped by Maini and Hauger, but he repassed the pair on Laps 13 and 14 respectively to put himself in a net fifth position.

Up front, Hadjar led Iwasa in a largely quiet race aside from a brief Virtual Safety Car after Benavides came to a halt on Lap 10.

Daruvala meanwhile almost suffered a massive Turn 1 shunt with the barriers as he outbraked himself racing Verschoor, yet luckily was able to swing his MP Motorsport car around to rejoin the track but narrowly avoided colliding with Maloney upon reentry.

Stewards consequently handed Daruvala a 10s time penalty which dropped him from 11th on the road to 15th in the classification.

Hadjar and Iwasa eventually pitted on Laps 25 and 26 which freed Bearman to cruise to victory ahead of Fittipaldi, after the Brazilian passed Pourchaire into Turn 4 on Lap 24 as the Frenchman settled for third ahead of Martins, Vesti, Maini and Hauger.

The result ensured that at just 17 years-old, Bearman is the first driver in the F2 era to top every session on a race weekend.

Hadjar finished eighth with the bonus point for fastest lap as Verschoor and Crawford rounded out the top ten.

Post-race, Martins was disqualified from fourth place after his floor fins were 3.4mm below the reference plane which contravened Article 4.3.13 of the Technical Regulations.

Leclerc consequently inherited the final point in tenth with everyone who finished fifth downwards promoted one position in the classification.

In the driver standings, Pourchaire benefitted from Iwasa finishing outside of the top ten as he retook the title lead, with Vesti also moving above Iwasa into second position but three points behind Pourchaire.

Bearman meanwhile leapt up from 13th to fourth and sits 24 points off the title lead as F2 now takes a three week break before heading to Imola, Italy across weekend of 19-21 May which starts a triple-header with Monaco and Spain to follow.

PREMA meanwhile led the teams’ standings with 101 points but ART GP and DAMS sit seven and ten points behind the Italian outfit respectively.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	29	57m 23.163
2	Enzo Fittipaldi	Carlin	29	+ 2.315
3	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	29	+ 2.607
4	Frederik Vesti	PREMA	29	+ 15.223
5	Kush Maini	Campos	29	+ 15.792
6	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	29	+ 17.301
7	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	29	+ 19.756
8	Richard Verschoor	VAR	29	+ 26.869
9	Jak Crawford	Hitech GP	29	+ 27.541
10	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	29	+ 29.695
11	Zane Maloney	Carlin	29	+ 30.390
12	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	29	+ 32.806
13	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	29	+ 39.092
14	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	29	+ 39.243
15	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	29	+ 40.007
16	Clement Novalak	Trident	29	+ 40.017
17	Roman Stanek	Trident	29	+ 42.023
18	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing	29	+ 53.202
19	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi	29	+ 57.858
20	Ralph Boschung	Campos	29	+ 1m 01.267
DSQ	Victor Martins	ART GP	29	Floor
RET	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing	9	Mechanical