After a brief break, Formula 2 was back on the streets of Baku for the first time since 2019, and the driver merry-go-round continued as Matteo Nannini returned to the paddock with Campos. Matteo replaced Gianluca Petecof, who had to drop out due to a lack of sponsors.
The drivers and stewards certainly woke up and chose chaos this weekend – as all three races were jam-packed with overtakes, incidents and some rather stinging penalties. Here are the top of the class contenders and struggle bus riders from round 3 of the 2021 season:
Top of the class:
Jüri Vips – Qualifying: 2nd | Sprint 1: 8th | Sprint 2: 1st | Feature: 1st
His first two rounds have been mired by a mixture of terrible luck and silly penalties, but the Estonian driver was utterly dominant in Baku, becoming the first driver in 2021 to win two races on the same weekend.
Vips’ weekend started off well, topping Free Practice by over seven-tenths, but he just fell short of the pole time, which was set by Hitech teammate, Liam Lawson. Sprint Race 1 was a case of reaching the chequered flag – and that is what Jüri did, finishing 8th in the quieter of the three races.
Lining up P3 for SR2, Vips was up to second on lap 4 with a sweet move around the outside of Trident’s Bent Viscaal at turn 1, some staunch defending ensured the Hitech driver kept hold of that position.
Vips took the lead of the race on lap 11 with a carbon-copy move, this time on Charouz’s David Beckmann, after surviving a Safety Car and VSC restart following separate collisions that saw Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport), Christian Lundgaard (ART) and Marcus Armstrong (DAMS) all retire from the race.
Jüri won Formula 2’s 100th race by over three seconds, taking his first victory in the series. When he returned on Sunday following his dash off the podium, Vips dominated the Feature Race after taking the lead from teammate Lawson into turn 1.
The Hitech driver managed the gaps behind and took advantage of penalties for Lawson and Prema’s Oscar Piastri to double up his victory tally. The results mean that Vips jumps up to 4th in the standings, just 15 points off leader Guanyu Zhou, which establishes him as a Championship contender.
Robert Schwartzman – Qualifying: 10th | Sprint 1: 1st | Sprint 2: 5th | Feature: 3rd
Like Vips, Schwartzman’s first two weekends have been disappointing, but the Prema driver found redemption at Baku which will hopefully boost his title challenge.
The Russian qualified a fairly average 10th, giving him pole position for the reverse-grid Sprint Race 1. Leading a race from lights to flag is an achievement in any series, but to do it in Baku and surviving multiple Safety Car restarts and the 1.4-mile pit straight with no DRS assistance was a much-needed kick-starter for Schwartzman’s season.
Starting 10th in SR2 meant that Schwartzman was in the thick of the action, avoiding a multitude of incidents at turn 1 and putting strong overtakes on UNI-Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich to take a respectable P5 finish.
In the Feature Race, Robert had a blistering pace at the start of the race to advance to the podium positions, taking advantage of a first-lap collision between Dan Ticktum (Carlin), Théo Pourchaire (ART) and Marcus Armstrong (DAMS) at turn 3. Ultimately, Robert wasn’t able to take advantage of teammate Piastri’s time penalty for an unsafe release and crossed the line P3.
Three top 5 finishes are precisely what Schwartzman needed, the highest-scoring returning driver from 2020 now finds himself third in the standings, 12 points off Zhou after an incredibly strong performance in Baku.
Ralph Boschung – Qualifying: 7th | Sprint 1: 6th | Sprint 2: DNF | Feature: 5th
Another top of the class entry for the Campos driver, who is quickly becoming the surprise package of the season. Whilst he may be the most experienced driver on the grid, his career has been plagued by instability with only completing one season of the five he has entered.
This weekend has a slight blemish of a lap 1 retirement in SR2 that would have been avoided had he been a bit more cautious on turning into turn 1, however another strong qualifying and results in the other two races far outweigh his early bath on Saturday evening.
Ralph qualified a respectable P7, finishing 6th in the SR1. His best Feature Race result was secured on Sunday with a measured and mature drive to P5. Five solid points scores across Monaco and Baku have catapulted Ralph into 10th in the Driver’s Standings. I don’t expect him to win the title but these under the radar performances are certainly doing no harm.
The struggle bus:
Roy Nissany – Qualifying: DNQ | Sprint 1: 16th | Sprint 2: 16th | Feature: 16th
There was only one candidate destined to be driving the struggle bus out of Baku this weekend, that award belongs to DAMS’ Roy Nissany. After a strong weekend in Monaco that yielded a maiden podium in F2, the Williams junior driver had a weekend to forget in Azerbaijan.
The Israeli driver found the wall at turn 13, pinballing across the track and bring out the red flag at the end of Free Practice. The damage was substantial and prevented Roy from taking part in qualifying, ensuring that he would start last for at least SR1 and Feature Race.
Whilst other drivers like Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri were able to recover from the back of the grid starts in SR2, Nissany made very little progress across any of the races, notably punting Richard Verschoor into the barriers at turn 3 in SR2, receiving a 10-second penalty for the incident. Overall, a weekend Roy will look to forget in a hurry.
Marcus Armstrong – Qualifying: 6th | Sprint 1: 7th | Sprint 2: DNF | Feature: DNF
Whilst Nissany had a dreadful weekend, the other side of the DAMS garage didn’t fare much better either. Marcus Armstrong took a step forward in qualifying, but he only came away with a solitary 7th place after crashing out of two races.
SR1 went relatively well for the Kiwi, starting P5 and finishing 7th was a solid start, but his weekend soon deteriorated from there, crashing into the barriers at turn 4 in SR2 whilst battling Viscaal for 4th place. Marcus would then find himself in the turn 3 barriers on lap 1 after colliding with Ticktum and Pourchaire. Ultimately the outside line on that occasion was always going to end in tears.
It’s been a disappointing sophomore year in F2 for Armstrong, unfortunately it didn’t get any better in Baku.
Christian Lundgaard – Qualifying: 12th | Sprint 1: 11th | Sprint 2: DNF | Feature: 9th
So far Christian has been outshone by a young rookie, Théo Pourchaire. At a weekend where his teammate had some struggles, it was the perfect time to capitalise and re-instate himself as leader of the ART team. Unfortunately, Lundgaard fell well short of that in Baku.
A disappointing qualifying left Christian down in 12th, whilst Pourchaire was 4th and over six tenths faster than the Alpine Junior. Lundgaard also received a three-place grid penalty for blocking Guanyu Zhou in qualifying, meaning he would start down in 15th for SR1.
He didn’t make much progress in the opening race, finishing in the dreaded 11th place, his SR2 was over on lap 8 after being span into the turn 1 barrier by MP Motorsport’s Lirim Zendelli, retiring from the race.
He regrouped on Sunday to take a handful of points with a P9, but Lundgaard finds himself now 60 points off the Championship lead and 37 behind his teammate. With only five rounds left, time is running out for Christian to make a challenge this year as his fellow Alpine juniors (Zhou and Piastri) shine out front. All I have to say is “Well Done Baku” for throwing up another spicy weekend for F2. Championship leader Zhou didn’t have a stellar weekend in Baku so the chasing pack have crept back into contention. Can Vips and Schwartzman continue their momentum? Will any of the struggle bus riders bounce back in round 4? You’ll have another six-week wait to find out as the next round is at the iconic Silverstone Circuit on July 16th-18th.
