Nicholas Latifi carries out the right accounting operation in Baku

Nicholas latifi (DAMS) achieved an excellent operation in the FIA ​​championship F2 this Sunday by winning the sprint event, punctuated by several incidents on the track.

It was Sean Gelael (Prema Racing) who was the first to liven up the race by taking a great start from the second row and coming to settle the poleman Nikita mazepin (ART Grand Prix) at the first corner.

However, an incident involving Tatiana Calderon (Arden), Louis Delétraz (Carlin) and Ralph Boschung (Trident) occurred at the second corner, Calderon missing his braking and taking Delétraz and Boschung into the breakaway. The safety car is deployed to evacuate the three cars.

At the end of the 2nd lap, the peloton was released and Gelael controlled the restart, preceding Juan Manuel Correa (Sauber Junior Team by Charouz) and Nicholas Latifi. The latter did not wait long to overtake Correa who then found himself under pressure from Campos Racing drivers Jack Aitken and Dorian Boccolacci.

Latifi as boss

Latifi improves the lap record and catches up on leader Gelael and takes the lead at the start of the 6th lap. Gelael then plunges in the ranking, being overtaken by Correa, Aitken, Luca Ghiotto (Uni-Virtuosi) and Nyck de Vries (ART Grand Prix).

In the lead, Latifi widens the gap to almost 4″. But the safety car was deployed on the 9th lap after the exit of Giuliano Alesi (Trident), who made a mistake while trying to overtake Guanyu-Zhou (Uni-Virtuosi).

SAFETY CAR (LAP 9/21)

Alesi batters the wall and is out of the race An over-ambitious move on Zhou doesn't go to plan and he locks up and understeers into the wall#AzerbaijanGP  #F2 pic.twitter.com/B2RPtVwjML

- Formula 2 (@ FIA_F2) April 28, 2019

At the restart, if Latifi managed to stay in front of Correa, a little too aggressive during the first braking, the safety car was back on track after the incident involving Nikita Mazepin, Jordan King (MP Motorsport) and Luca Ghiotto at the second corner. Anthoine Hubert (Arden) also shot straight into the loophole before leaving again.

SAFETY CAR LAP 13/21

Three cars collide! Ghiotto, King and Mazepin are wedged in the wall at Turn 2, and the Safety Car makes yet another appearance #AzerbaijanGP  #F2 pic.twitter.com/foFMyEJkhi

- Formula 2 (@ FIA_F2) April 28, 2019

Behind the Safety Car, Latifi led Correa and de Vries on his wheels, who got the better of Aitken at the second corner just as the winner from the day before attempted an attack from the outside on Correa.

After a very long intervention by the marshals to evacuate the damaged cars, and a little over a minute from the end of the maximum racing time, the safety car returned and Nicholas Latifi led the restart ahead of Correa, de Vries, Aitken, Gelael and Mick Schumacher (Prema Racing).

At the start of the last lap, Aitken took the advantage of de Vries for third place. Latifi won in the end ahead of Correa and Aitken, his second success of the year, and further consolidated his position as leader of the championship. The top 5 is completed by de Vries and Mick Schumacher. Dorian Boccolacci finished 7th, Anthoine Hubert 11th.

Discover the full report of the Baku F2 event, in issue 2214 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.