PREVIEW: Return to Baku for an exciting Round 12

Baku poses one of the sternest tests in the FIA Formula 2 season, with ultra-high speeds combined with tight and twisty sections on a one-of-a-kind street circuit.

With the season drawing into its final stages, who will become the next winner around the Baku streets and how will the Championship fight change this weekend?

WHAT TO EXPECT

Friday Practice gets underway at 10:00 local time ahead of the grid-setting Qualifying session at 14:00 later in the day.

Saturday’s Sprint Race is scheduled for 14:15 local time and is followed up by the main event on Sunday. The Feature Race is set to get underway at 11:00 local time.

STAT PACK

• Leonardo Fornaroli has the longest active scoring streak on the grid, going back to the Feature Race around the Red Bull Ring in June.
• Last year Richard Verschoor joined Oliver Bearman and Alex Albon as the only F2 race winner from pole around Baku.
• Verschoor and Joshua Duerksen are the only two drivers on the 2025 grid to have won a race in Baku previously.
• Oliver Bearman’s 2023 weekend in Baku remains the only time a driver has finished top of every single session across an F2 weekend.

FROM THE GRID – Joshua Duerksen, AIX Racing

“It’s a very interesting track, I quite like it and have good memories there from last year. You have long, high-speed straights but it’s very tight, low grip street circuit which makes it quite a challenge. You need to adjust to it across the weekend.

“If you brake too late even once, you’re down an escape road or in the wall. The easiest place to overtake is Turn 1 for sure. We arrive at 330kph with a tow and DRS, and it’s into a big, big braking zone.”

TECHNICAL PREVIEW

Pierre-Alain Michot, FIA Formula 2 Technical Director

“With such long straights into tight corners, braking demand is high, as is the fuel consumption. The long run from Turn 16 to Turn 1 is taken at full throttle for almost half a minute. Tyre wear is relatively low however, with the traction zones around the six-kilometre lap placing stress on the tyres the most.

“Some teams could opt to run a low downforce configuration wing, however based on last year’s event, the majority opted for a conventional setup. We will see if that continues into this year’s race weekend.”

PIRELLI PREVIEW

For this round, the available compounds are the Soft and Supersoft, as indeed was the case here last year. For the Feature Race, the majority of drivers opted to start on the softer of the two, with just three drivers on Softs when the lights went out. The Supersoft should offer better performance over a 7 to 9 lap stint, so that if there was to be a Safety Car after the sixth lap, which is quite likely on a street circuit, then this would trigger a general rush down pit lane. However, if the race runs smoothly without interruption, the undercut could prove to be very effective. The Soft could suffer a little bit from overheating, but only at a level that would be manageable for the drivers. If conditions are cooler than usual, that could lead to some graining on the front axle, as was the case last year in the Sprint. This would also work in favour of drivers who do the best job of managing the tyres.