F2: Vesti risks it all to seize maiden victory after chaotic final lap shootout

Speaking ahead of the Sprint Race, Frederik Vesti believed it would be decided on the final lap around Baku, but even he probably couldn’t have predicted what was about to unfold. Throwing caution to the wind late on, the ART Grand Prix driver charged his way to the front and to his first victory in Formula 2.

Having led for the majority of the race, Jehan Daruvala was forced to settle for second after three safety cars in the second half of the race wiped away his advantage. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson demonstrated Baku’s overtaking capabilities, carving his way through from P9 to the final step of the podium.

Marcus Armstrong brought his Hitech Grand Prix car home in fourth, whilst Felipe Drugovich kept his nose clean to bring home a solid haul of points in fifth. Carlin’s Logan Sargeant dropped down to seventh in the final laps after looking on course for a second F2 podium. Théo Pourchaire and Ayumu Iwasa were two of the biggest movers as a they rounded out the points scorers.

AS IT HAPPENED

After the pain of stalling off the line in Monte Carlo, pole-sitter Jake Hughes was hoping for much better luck a second time around. However, it was those behind him who got the strongest getaways – Vesti snatched the lead into Turn 1, but a slide on the exit bogged him down and allowed third place Daruvala to cruise past the pair.

Jüri Vips and Liam Lawson might be lining up alongside each other on the Feature Race front row tomorrow, but the New Zealander had no qualms about diving up the inside of the Hitech for P8 in the opening lap.

Out front, Daruvala looked untroubled in a race of his own. He’d pulled over 1.4s clear of Hughes, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver was forced to go on the defensive when Vesti began exploring potential overtakes.

However, well aware of the risk versus reward around the Baku City Circuit, the Dane stayed cautious, allowing Sargeant to close in on their battle. Eventually on Lap 6, frustrated by the sight of the Brit’s rear wing, Vesti took a risk and carved around the outside of Hughes for second.

Unfortunately for Hughes, the battle allowed him to become pray for the DRS train of cars down to P12 behind. The orange and black VAR car steadily began to slip down the order and out of the points, as Sargeant, Richard Verschoor, Armstrong, Drugovich and Pourchaire followed through in quick succession.

Pourchaire wasn’t content with overtaking one car at a time, dispatching both Hughes and Dennis Hauger in one move up the inside of Turn 2. The ART man soon found himself in the middle of a Red Bull junior sandwich between Vips and Hauger. In an attempt to snatch P9 away from the Frenchman, Hauger tried to push past Pourchaire into Turn 3. However, a huge lockup sent the Norwegian straight into the barrier to bring out the safety car – which spelt disaster for his PREMA Racing teammate Daruvala out front.

Backing up the field until the very last moment, Daruvala got racing back underway on Lap 17 and managed to keep Vesti at bay. A lockup for Sargeant allowed Verschoor to make a move on the Carlin driver and move up into the podium positions, whilst Lawson and Drugovich tussled over P6.

This burst of action wasn’t to last as the safety car was deployed again that same lap. Vips’ run of back luck continued, as the Hitech driver was cut off by Enzo Fittipaldi and was unable to turn left, sending the duo into the run-off area at Turn 2.

Leaving it late on the restart a second time, Daruvala locked up, leaving the door wide open for Vesti to storm past the PREMA and up into the lead. This mistake then forced the Indian driver to race in his mirrors with Verschoor eager to take advantage of the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Lawson finally made his way past Drugovich and set his sights on Verschoor ahead for P3. Unfortunately for the Trident driver, he went too deep into Turn 7 and planted himself in the barriers to bring out the safety car once more.

With Vesti in the lead, it was all or nothing for the Mercedes junior in a one lap dash to the checkered flag. The rookie kept his nerves under control and nailed the restart, allowing him to pull well away from Daruvala, who was being put under pressure by Lawson.

Ralph Boschung and Calan Williams were involved in a multi-car collision as they fought on the edge of points at the restart. The battle ended with Williams crashing into the barrier, and with Cem Bölükbasi and Marino Sato left with nowhere to go they made contact with the Trident.

Meanwhile out in front Vesti cruised home to his maiden Formula 2 victory in his rookie season, boosting him up to 10th in the Drivers’ Championship.

KEY QUOTE – Frederik Vesti, ART Grand Prix

Race Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Behind
1	Frederik Vesti	ART Grand Prix	48’36.014	0.000
2	Jehan Daruvala	Prema Powerteam	48’36.394	0.380
3	Liam Lawson	Carlin	48’37.116	1.102
4	Marcus Armstrong	HitechGP	48’37.531	1.517
5	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	48’37.778	1.764
6	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	48’38.192	2.178
7	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	48’38.682	2.668
8	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	48’39.260	3.246
9	Jake Hughes	Van Amersfoort Racing	48’41.510	5.496
10	Roy Nissany	DAMS	48’43.395	7.381
11	Jack Doohan	UNI-Virtuosi	48’43.587	7.573
12	Jüri Vips	HitechGP	48’44.041	8.027
13	Amaury Cordeel	Van Amersfoort Racing	48’45.011	8.997
14	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	48’45.304	9.290
15	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	46’36.325	1 Lap
16	Calan Williams	Trident	46’36.598	1 Lap
17	Marino Sato	UNI-Virtuosi	46’37.164	1 Lap
18	Cem Bolukbasi	Charouz Racing System	46’37.229	1 Lap
19	Olli Caldwell	Campos Racing	48’46.667	1 Lap
20	Richard Verschoor	Trident	40’44.593	3 Laps
	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	5 laps
	Dennis Hauger	Prema Powerteam	8 laps