Richard Verschoor has won his first feature race of 2024 at the F2 Azerbaijan GP weekend. With just 30 points separating the top three contenders in the F2 Championship, it’s anyone’s game in F2. In case you missed it, here’s what happened in the Azerbaijan Feature Race!
Start Chaos: Red Flag Drama
At the start, disaster struck when Kush Maini stalled on the grid. A heavy crash followed as Ollie Goethe and Pepe Martí collided with Maini, bringing out the red flag. Thankfully, all three drivers walked away unscathed. After a lengthy delay, the race was set to resume with a 34-minute clock, opting for a rolling start after two safety car laps.
Race Restart
The restart saw the top five remain unchanged, with Verschoor, Antonelli, Martins, and the rest of the field holding steady. Further down the grid however, battles heated up as Dennis Hauger, Luke Browning, and Enzo Fittipaldi fought for P11. Hauger came out on top, securing P11 while Browning suffered damage from contact with the Norwegian driver. Whilst championship leader Isack Hadjar climbed to P16 in his bid to hold onto his championship lead.
By Lap 2, Victor Martins made his move, overtaking Antonelli on the straight and setting his sights on race leader Verschoor. On Lap 3, as DRS enabled, Martins took his opportunity, overtaking Verschoor to claim the lead of the race. The Frenchman was looking for only his second race win of 2024.
Pit Stops and Penalties
As the race progressed, Martins built a one-second gap over Verschoor in the same lap that saw him overtake the Trident driver. Dennis Hauger was handed a 5-second penalty for contact with Luke Browning during the restart.
With 17 minutes left on the clock, the top drivers, including Martins, Verschoor, and Antonelli, dove into the pits. Zane Maloney and Gabriel Bortoleto, aiming for an overcut strategy, stayed out a lap longer.
Maloney came out of the pits in P5 but that was short lived as he collided with Antonelli after locking up into turn 2. Antonelli attempted to avoid the incident but hit Maloney, sending him into the wall and dropping the boy from Barbados to last place. Despite the collision, Antonelli continued with no further investigation by the stewards.
With ten minutes left, the top five were reshuffled: Hadjar, Verschoor, Martins, Antonelli, and Bortoleto. Hadjar was yet to pit, banking on a potential Safety Car to aid his strategy. However, he eventually pitted with nine minutes remaining, rejoining the race in P14. This left him at risk of losing his championship lead to Bortoleto.
Last Laps
The battle for the race victory narrowed down to Verschoor and Martins. Verschoor’s car, slightly out of alignment, was running half a second slower than Martins, but the Dutch driver managed to keep the Alpine junior behind him as the clock wound down. Meanwhile, Isack Hadjar’s championship charge faltered as he locked up into Turn 1, dropping him to P15.
With three minutes left, disaster struck for PREMA Racing’s, Gabriele Minì, who hit the wall after a lock-up. This put an early end to the amazing debut weekend of the Italian.
A Virtual Safety Car was quickly followed by a full Safety Car, bringing the race to an end.
Richard Verschoor held on to take his first victory of the season in the F2 Feature at the 2024 Azerbaijan GP, with Victor Martins finishing P2 and Kimi Antonelli completing the podium in P3. Gabriel Bortoleto’s P4 finish earned him enough points to snatch the championship lead with just two races remaining.
The F2 championship is now more unpredictable than ever, with only a few points separating the top contenders. Bortoleto heads into the final rounds as the driver to beat, with a 4.5 point lead.
F2 will be back for the final 2 races of the Formula 1 season, at Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
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