Richard Verschoor finally won his first Formula 2 race of the season in Baku. Meanwhile, the championship battle took another twist, with Gabriel Bortoleto taking the championship lead for the first time from Isack Hadjar, who endured a nightmare weekend. Feeder Series analyses the key takeaways from round 12. 

By Martin Lloyd

Verschoor finally victorious

Richard Verschoor has been made to wait for a win this season. In Monaco, he was on course for a feature race victory from pole, but a mechanical issue agonisingly forced him to retire from the lead. In Hungary, the Trident driver won the sprint race on the road, but was disqualified for an illegal plank – the third time in his F2 career that he had lost a win on a technical irregularity. In Baku, there would be no such issues.

Verschoor started from pole, holding off Andrea Kimi Antonelli to keep the lead before the red flag was waved. He was passed by Victor Martins with 21 minutes remaining in the shortened race, but the ART driver fell to third after a slow pit stop, returning Verschoor to the lead.

Martins looked to be able to challenge Verschoor in the closing laps but was denied the chance by a late-race safety car after Antonelli’s Prema teammate Gabriele Minì crashed at Turn 15. The race did not return to green flag running, meaning that Verschoor was able to cruise to the chequered flag.

If anyone was due a fortunate safety car, it was Verschoor, but he had worked for his win. After his issue in Monaco and numerous disqualifications, he drove brilliantly to overcome the hard-charging Antonelli and Martins. Time and time again in 2024, Verschoor has shown that he has the pace to win races; the win was deserved for his performance in Baku and across the season to date. 

The victory was also poignant for Trident; Luca Salvadori, son of team owner Maurizio Salvadori, passed away in a motorcycle crash in Germany on Saturday. Team manager Giacomi Ricci dedicated Verschoor’s victory to the Salvadori family.

Bortoleto stays clean to overhaul Hadjar

Gabriel Bortoleto did not have a classic weekend. There were no last-to-first heroics unlike Monza, and no dominant display, as seen in Spielberg. Instead, the Invicta driver put together a solid and stable weekend, finishing fifth in the sprint and fourth in the feature. Bortoleto scored 15 points across the weekend, including a point for fastest lap in the feature. Especially when compared with his championship rivals, Baku represents a pivotal weekend for Bortoleto.

Hadjar and Zane Maloney both failed to score in either race, with the latter failing to capitalise on Hadjar’s woes. Maloney was in a strong position in the feature, but locked up on cold tyres whilst defending from Antonelli after his pit stop. This relegated him from a podium position to 15th and last, meaning that he is now 34.5 points behind Bortoleto. Hadjar’s failure to score gives Bortoleto a 4.5 point advantage at the top with two rounds remaining.

A horror weekend for Campos

Campos needed a good weekend in Baku. Having scored just five points in Monza, courtesy of Pepe Martí’s fourth place in the sprint, they had already lost the teams’ championship lead to Invicta. However, when both Hadjar and Martí crashed out early in qualifying with near-simultaneous brake failures, the weekend became an uphill battle. The pair started from 20th and 21st respectively in both races, but neither ever threatened the points-paying positions. 

The Spanish team’s disastrous event was worsened further on Sunday morning, when an unsighted Martí struck Kush Maini’s stalled Invicta, terrifyingly flipping the Campos on the grid. The huge accident will present a hefty repair job for the Spanish team, rounding off a weekend that could mean that the team lose both championships to Invicta. The gap in the teams’ standings is now at 35.5 points, which could prove insurmountable – Campos have only scored 30 points in the last seven races. For a team that aches for a title – having not won an F2 or GP2 title since 2008 – the Azerbaijan weekend could prove a hammer blow. 

Solid displays from three debutants

Three drivers headed to Baku for their first F2 race weekend. Luke Browning drove for ART after finishing third in F3. He replaced Zak O’Sullivan, who did not have the requisite funding to complete the season. At Prema, Ollie Bearman’s F1 call-up at Haas meant that the Italian team fielded Gabriele Minì, who finished second in F3. Finally, Trident replaced Roman Staněk with Christian Mansell, fresh from a fifth-placed F3 finish.

All three drivers acquitted themselves well and scored points on their debut weekends. Mansell finished in eighth in the sprint and 10th in the feature. He faded from an initial lead in the sprint, but battled in both races to score points. Browning finished seventh in the feature race, while Miní was the only debutant to score a podium, finishing third in the sprint. While he was naturally disappointed to crash out of the feature race, the Italian enjoyed a successful weekend ahead of an anticipated full F2 campaign in 2025. 

Dürksen continues AIX revival with maiden win

When Joshua Dürksen was announced as a driver for the then-PHM Racing team over the winter, strong results were not widely expected. The team had struggled in 2023, failing to score a single point with Roy Nissany, Brad Benavides and Josh Mason. Dürksen had emerged from a second disappointing FR Europe season, finishing a lowly 19th in the standings with Arden. He beat both teammates, but a graduation to F2 was a huge surprise. The only other driver to skip F3 and move straight to F2 for the 2024 season was Antonelli, who had won the championship.

Nonetheless, Dürksen has surpassed all expectations. After having scored a feature race podium in Imola and a sprint podium in Monza, the Paraguayan is now 12th in the standings after winning the Baku sprint, the team’s second after Taylor Barnard’s Monaco win. AIX is also now no longer last in the teams’ championship, with Van Amersfoort replacing them.

Straight-line speed has been a particular strength of the AIX team in recent rounds, and Dürksen used this to good effect, passing Minì at Turn 1 to take his first F2 victory. Dürksen has undoubtedly proved to be the surprise driver of the 2024 F2 season, scoring points in each of the last five races.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency