Azerbaijan F2 Grand Prix – Sprint Race: Olie Bearman emerges victorious amidst the carnage

Clever indeed would be the one who could have predicted the outcome of this sprint. Right from the start, the poleman Richard Verschoor makes a mistake and loses positions while Victor Martins, third on the grid, touches the rear wheel of Zane Maloney while trying to overtake him. The Barbadian gets a puncture and ultimately it is the Norwegian Denis Hauger, sixth on the grid, who finds himself happily leading the race at the end of the first lap.

The carnage at the restart

Hauger leads the race with mastery for 14 laps, ahead of Martins’ ART and the Prema cars of Vesti and Bearman, until the Safety Car comes out after Roy Nissany crashes into the wall. With cold tires, the restart looks difficult and tricky. There are three laps left when the race resumes, but leader Denis Hauger misses his turn and hits the techpro barriers. Second-place Victor Martins was following the Norwegian too closely and takes the same trajectory. The cars collide, Daruvala’s MP car goes under Martins’ ART, reminding us of a certain scene at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix in Formula 1.

Total chaos on our final restart 😱

Thankfully, all our drivers walked away from this one!#AzerbaijanGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/ki9AA5qxqV

— Formula 2 (@Formula2) April 29, 2023

A little further down the pack, Pourchaire and Leclerc try to avoid the carnage but also crash straight into the wall, while Doohan locks his wheels and retires as well. They are now only 11 remaining for the restart, led by Bearman’s Prema, the new leader, and Vesti. The former managed to overtake his teammate by a few hundredths of a second before the Safety Car came out. The race does not resume and Ollie Bearman wins behind the safety car after a completely crazy race.

Sprint race ranking for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in F2: