Baku – Vesti wins a chaotic sprint race, great comeback from Pourchaire

It was to be expected. In Baku, the intervention of a safety car is generally enough for the race to become chaotic and for the Safety Car to be redeployed endlessly afterwards. This Saturday morning, during the sprint race in Baku, she went out three times, and if the big incident, fortunately not serious, involving Bolukbasi, Williams and Sato had not intervened on the last lap, then Bernd Mayländer, the SC driver, would have come out again. 

And at the end of all this, this race of survivors (7 retirements), it was Frederik Vesti and ART Grand Prix who came out on top. The Dane, in difficulty at the start of the season, materialized his return to form and showed that he was acclimatizing to the Formula 2 by achieving his first victory in the category. Starting 2nd, he was passed at the start by Jehan Daruvala who took control from the second turn (Prema). After getting rid of Hughes on lap 3, Vesti then spent most of his race in 2nd place, three seconds behind a managing Daruvala. 

Our Top 8 points-scorers from the Sprint Race 👊#AzerbaijanGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/UVp9wZgNzt

- Formula 2 (@ Formula2) June 11, 2022

ALSO READ > Baku – Jüri Vips takes pole, Pourchaire only 12th

Except that that was before the infernal Safety-Car ball. Although he was unable to overcome the Indian on the first restart, he managed to do so during the second (Turn 18) and managed the third and final perfectly, as a leader, to remind us that Mercedes hadn't made a mistake in banking on him in recent years. Altruistic and thoughtful, Liam Lawson (Carlin) brought up the rear on the podium. The race was marked by seven retirements in total, including that of Dennis Hauger (Prema), who went into the wall while trying to overtake. Theo Pourchaire in the 15th round. Enzo Fittipaldi (Charouz) hit a breakaway on the 18th lap, while Richard Verschoor (Charouz), on an attack, finished in the techpro at the very end of the race. 

Starting in 12th position following a poor qualification on Friday, Théo Pourchaire (ART Grand Prix) showcased his greatest quality: the science of racing. The Habs, who nevertheless found themselves in 14th position after a difficult first turn where they went wide, finally managed to finish in the points, in 7th place, and took the opportunity to limit the damage compared to their title contender Felipe Drugovich, 5th. Patiently, Théo overtook the two DAMS drivers to climb into 11th position in the first third of the race, before completing a magnificent, intelligent double overtake on Dennis Hauger and Jake Hughes (lap 10). He then managed the end of the race perfectly, to reach the points. The same performance will have to be repeated in the main race this Sunday at 9 a.m.