Formula 2’s sprint race in Baku ended in carnage after Dennis Hauger and Victor Martins crashed out of the lead.
Since F2’s first visit to Azerbaijan, the races have been choked full of chaos, and the 2023 edition of the sprint was no exception.
At the start, Zane Maloney and Richard Verschoor made contact putting Hauger and Martins into first and second, with Verschoor retiring because of damage whilst Maloney toured back to the pits.
The race then settled into a rhythm following the end of the safety car period. Hauger led Martins and Jehan Darvuala until he was passed by both Prema’s of Oliver Bearman and Frederik Vesti.
It was a bad race for championship contenders Ralph Boschung and Ayumu Iwasa, who both had to retire early after picking up damage. Iwasa was brought in to retire after his DRS flap stuck open.
Nissany’s crash sets off a domino effect
With a handful of laps left, Roy Nissany went too hot into Turn 15 and crashed out of the race bringing the safety car back out as the marshals cleaned up the debris.
At the restart, Hauger led with two laps to go, but he threw away a golden opportunity put distance between himself and Martins as he slammed the wall into Turn 1, ending his race.
Behind Hauger, carnage ensued as Martins missed his breaking point, slamming into the wall, leaving Daruvala no option but to hit him.
Theo Pourchaire and Arthur Leclerc had a separate incident going straight on at Turn 1 whilst Jack Doohan spun out of the race, cutting the field down to 11.
Amidst the chaos, Bearman attacked Vesti into Turn 6 and took the lead just as the safety car was deployed, sealing his maiden F2 win 24 hours after taking pole for the Feature.
American Jak Crawford finished third from Kush Maini, Enzo Fittipaldi, Juan Manuel Correa, Clement Novalak and Isack Hadjar, who rounded off the points.
