If there’s one thing Formula 2 proved the past two weeks, it’s that we’ll never run out of excitement. So much has happened, not just during the Baku Grand Prix weekend, but also before it! In case you aren’t caught up, here’s everything that went down.
MUSICAL CHAIRS
Trident Motorsport replaced their driver line-up just before the race week. The team bid goodbye to Max Esterson and Sami Meguetounif, wishing them luck in their future endeavours. Laurens van Hoepen and Martinius Stenshorne have stepped up to the plate, having finished their F3 duties in ART Grand Prix and Hitech TGR respectively. They will be driving for the rest of the season and in 2026.
Let’s now move to Campos Racing. Formula 3 Vice Champion Nikola Tsolov will be moving up to F2 under Campos Racing for 2026. He makes the move after delivering a stellar performance and securing five wins in F3, the most in the series’ history.
CHAOTIC QUALI
DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford got his second pole of the season in Baku. He set the fastest time, 1m 54.791s, in his second run. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli missed P1 only by 0.019s; two red flags in the last 10 minutes of the session prevented him from improving his time.
In third was PREMA’s Gabriele Mini and Alexander Dunne following him on fourth. Luke Browning and Pepe Marti occupied fifth and sixth positions. Trident’s very new Sternshone impressed with clinching 7th in his very first F2 qualifying. Montoya, Beganovic, and Villagomez rounded out the top 10. This means Villagomez would take pole in the Sprint Race.
Victor Martins was supposed to start 4th, but a Turn 3 crash made him cause a red flag. Hence, he lost his fastest time and dropped to P13. Roman Stanek was in the same boat after causing a red flag with a collision with John Bennett. He dropped to P12 from ninth.
Amaury Cordeel lost his time as well after hitting the barrier at Turn 13 and causing a red flag. Due to this, he had no representative time and started at 21st.
SENSATIONAL SPRINT RACE
Dino Beganovic got his first win this season at Baku City Circuit after dominating the Sprint Race from start to finish. He started second, but easily stole the lead from Villagomez ahead of Turn 1.
The HiTech TGR driver held on to his lead with a tight fist. He prevailed over two restarts and even built a six-second lead over teammate Luke Browning at the chequered flag. This meant a HiTech 1-2.
Rodin driver Alexander Dunne joined them on the podium, starting from seventh. Jak Crawford finished just behind the podium in 4th, and Fornaroli followed in fifth after passing Mini on the last lap.
Richard Verschoor also passed Mini on the last lap, bringing him to sixth, with the Italian driver having to settle for seventh. ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins rounded off the top 8.
Now on to the penalties…
Laurens van Hoepen was handed a 10-second time penalty after causing a collision with Ritomo Miyata and Arvid Lindblad. He remained P17.
Kush Maini also had been handed a time penalty. He made contact with Amaury Cordeel at Turn 2. He had a 5-second penalty, but because he wasn’t classified in the Sprint, the penalty was converted into a three-place grid drop in the Feature Race.
NAIL-BITING FEATURE RACE
Jak Crawford converted pole position into a win, but not without a fight.
He lost the lead at the start but regained it after a Safety Car restart, not that Mini made it easy for him. The DAMS driver looked set from then on, but at Lap 17, AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen came charging for the top spot. The Paraguayan driver started at 15th and clawed his way up the grid.
While Duerksen did his best, Crawford managed to fend him off and win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by just two-tenths.
Championship leader Fornaroli finished third on track, but he dropped to fifth after a 10-second time penalty for hitting Alexander Dunne on Lap 12. As a result, Dino Beganovic was promoted to P3.
PREMA driver Gabriele Mini finished fourth, while Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad gained eight places and finished sixth.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Rafael Villagómez, Richard Verschoor, Sebastián Montoya, and Ritomo Miyata, respectively.
STANDINGS
Leonardo Fornaroli holds on to his lead in the Drivers’ Championship with 188 points. But Jak Crawford creeps closely behind with 169 points. Luke Browning drops to third with 169 points, with Richard Verschoor in fourth with 149 points. Alexander Dunne stays in fifth on 130.
As for the teams, Fornaroli’s team Invicta Racing is also in the lead with 269 points, but HiTech TGR can still take the top spot, as they’re just 12 points behind. In third is Campos Racing with 227 points. DAMS Lucas Oil follows with 195 points. MP Motorsport takes the last spot in the top five with 172 points.
CAN FORNAROLI CLINCH IT IN QATAR?
There’s a possibility the Invicta driver may win the championship in a month, when the F2 paddock reconvences in Lusail. This will depend on him having a good weekend and his rivals, especially Crawford, having a not-so-good one.
What he needs is to build at least a 40-point difference with all his rivals to take the championship trophy in his rookie year.
But if that doesn’t happen, the title fight will go to the end of the line – Abu Dhabi.
Do you think the fight will end in Qatar or go right to end? Let us know!
Written by Jo.
Edited by Alexandra.
Featured image credit: Aston Martin
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