Formula 2 have announced tweaks to their race weekend format for the 2026 Azerbaijan round.
Although F2 successfully replaced the lost Bahrain and Saudi Arabia rounds from April with inaugural trips to Miami and Canada in May, their trips to Qatar and Abu Dhabi on weekends of 27-29 November and 4-6 December remain uncertain due to the Middle East conflict.
F2 organisers consequently have opted to cover any risk of cancellation by adding an additional feature race to the upcoming trip to Baku, Azerbaijan across 24-26 September, utilising the same supersized weekend format that the F3 season finale adopted in Madrid, Spain.
That means that practice will remain unchanged but Qualifying will change to two consecutive 20-minute sessions split by a ten-minute break on Thursday 24 September, with Q1 setting the grid for the first feature race and reverse-sprint which are scheduled for Friday 25 September.
Q2 will then set the grid for the second feature race which is scheduled for the morning of Saturday 26 September.
The points system remain unchanged but means that whoever tops Q1 and Q2 will both receive two points (or four points if both qualifying segments are topped by the same driver).
F2 CEO, Bruno Michel explained that the decision to adopt the recent F3 season finale weekend format for Baku is driven by the fact that F2 is the only support series supporting F1 in the Azerbaijan Capital that weekend, although he remains confident that Qatar and Abu Dhabi will go ahead.
“As Formula 2 is the only Support Event at the Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix, together with the promoters, we have opted for a supersized F2 race weekend, with one Free Practice, two Qualifying sessions, one Sprint Race and two Feature Races.
“This is the only weekend where the Timetable allows the additional sessions, which will increase the level of entertainment even further for the attending crowd and all our fans. The Baku City Circuit always provides us with amazing racing, so we’re very pleased to make the 12th Round of our season pretty unique.
“We will then revert to our usual race weekend format for the final two rounds of the 2026 season, which will be held at Doha and Yas Marina.”
Red Bull junior, Nikola Tsolov currently leads the standings on 177 points ahead of Ferrari junior, Rafael Camara by seven points, whilst Alpine juniors – Gabriele Mini and Alex Dunne sit 24 and 38 points behind respectively, with a maximum of 67 points available across the Baku round.