Baku – Main Race: Verschoor wins after chaos, Hadjar loses championship lead

• A huge accident occurred at the start of the Main Race in Baku: Kush Maini, who stalled on the starting grid, was hit head-on from behind by Oliver Goethe and then Pepe Marti. The Spaniard even rolled over before landing on his wheels. The red flag was immediately waved but fortunately, all three drivers escaped unharmed. A sigh of relief because the three single-seaters were destroyed. After about 40 minutes of interruption, the Main Race was finally able to resume with a rolling start.

HUGE ACCIDENT AT THE START IN F2 😱

Kush Maini gets stuck on the grid, Pepe Marti and Oliver Goethe hit him at full speed…

The cars are DESTROYED but the drivers are fine 😵#AzerbaijanGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/Mgx4QEC5mI

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) September 15, 2024

• After this long interruption, the stewards had no choice but to replace the 29 laps initially planned for this Main Race with timed racing: the drivers finally set off for 30 minutes of racing. At the end of this eventful event, it was poleman Richard Verschoor who won, thus securing his first victory of the season ahead of Victor Martins and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
• Since the race did not reach 75% of the initially planned distance, the points scale was adjusted accordingly: thus, the Trident rider, winner, receives "only" 19 points, Victor Martins 14 points and Andrea Kimi Antonelli 12 points.
• The Frenchman will have some regrets despite his second place: the ART Grand Prix driver was leading the race before his pit stop, but he was blocked in his position to avoid an "unsafe release" and came out behind Richard Verschoor and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Victor Martins was however able to take advantage of a collision between the Italian and Zane Maloney to return to 2nd place.

Oh no, Martins held up in the pits…

The Frenchman's stop drags on and Verschoor and Antonelli come back... everything has to be redone! #AzerbaijanGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/KWEO55vkJi

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) September 15, 2024

• At the end of this crazy race, Formula 2 now has a new leader: Gabriel Bortoleto. The Brazilian finished in 4th place and scored 11 additional points (10 for 4th place and 1 for the fastest lap), enough to take the lead of the championship ahead of Isack Hadjar.
• The Frenchman, who started from 20th place, initially escaped the worst by narrowly avoiding a crash at the start. He then tried an offbeat strategy by extending his stint as much as possible and hoping for a Safety Car, without success. Finally, the protégé of the clan Red Bull finished 14th, with yet another mistake at the first corner in a duel with Ritomo Miyata. In the championship, the Frenchman is now 2nd with 4,5 points behind Gabriel Bortoleto, before the last two meetings in Qatar (November 29 – December 1) and Abu Dhabi.
• If the Main Race started in chaos with the accident at the start, it also ended in a particular atmosphere: the Safety Car had to be deployed following an accident by Gabriele Mini, and it disappeared... on the last lap, leaving the drivers to restart for just a few hundred meters.

Formula 2 – Baku
Main Race – Ranking

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