Formula 2 arrives at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend for Round 12 of the season, and Motorsport Week has everything you need to know ahead of the action in Baku.
Going into the closing stages of the year, the title is still tightly contested with Leonardo Fornaroli and Invicta currently leading both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships.
Hot on Fornaroli’s heels is Luke Browning, who sits in second, the Hitech TGR driver just 21 points behind the Italian.
The Brit isn’t the only one challenging Fornaroli’s title favourite status, however, as currently, the top five are separated by just 50 points.
Invicta hold the Team’s Championship, but there are just 32 points between it and Hitech, with Campos Racing residing in a keen third.
To put it short: with three rounds remaining, the leaders are not safe from the fight behind.
The tight winding streets, with close walls, bring a unique challenge to the F2 drivers, requiring a level of precision which punishes mistakes.
Each sector poses a different challenge to teams, leading to a trade-off in setups.
While the track features a long straight leaning towards a lower downforce set-up, it also contains heavy braking zones and winding corners, which are aggressive on the fuel consumption, with downforce required to be higher.
The ones to watch in F2 at Baku
Last year, Joshua Duerksen took the Sprint Race win with Richard Verschoor coming home to take the top spot on Sunday.
Verschoor will be looking to make it a repeat performance this year, currently sitting third in the standings after finding a string of good results as the season has progressed.
Last time out in Monza, Browning took both his maiden pole position and maiden victory, jumping himself firmly into title contention.
His F2 season has been a hallmark of consistency, having taken an impressive eight podiums so far.
Fornaroli took the other win of the weekend, making it a home victory for the Italian and extending his championship lead.
After taking the F3 title in the final round of the season last year, Fornaroli wants to achieve the back-to-back titles that so few have managed, repeating the feat of last year’s Invicta-based champion and current Sauber Formula 1 driver, Gabriel Bortoleto.
Alex Dunne has slipped down the order, finding himself in fifth place. He’s not a driver to be counted out of title contention, the Rodin driver having been able to find himself fighting at the front consistently.
Meanwhile, the rumours surrounding Arvid Lindblad’s possible promotion into F1 via the Red Bull family continue, amit a difficult weekend in Monza.
After taking out Roman Stanek and receiving a penalty for causing the incident, Lindblad sits seventh in the standings, and will be hoping to put a better foot forward in Baku.
There are some new drivers on the grid for Baku. Martinius Stenshorne and Laurens Van Hoepen are making the step up from F3 to drive with TRIDENT.
The pair will be looking to make the most of the final rounds, as rumours continue to swirl as to Colton Herta’s potential destination in the series next year.
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