Your Guide to... Baku

Round 3 of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship gets under way this weekend at Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

WHEN TO WATCH All times local (GMT +4)

Friday Free Practice: 10:25 – 11:10 Qualifying: 14:30 – 15:00 Press Conference: 15:30 – 16:00 Saturday Sprint Race 1: 11:25 (21 laps) Press conference: 12:35 – 13:05 Sprint Race 2: 17:40 (21 laps) Press conference: 18:50 – 19:20 Sunday Feature Race: 12:45 (29 laps) Press conference: 14:10 – 14:50

THE STORY SO FAR

The FIA Formula 2 Championship returns to action this weekend for Round 3 of the 2021 campaign at the Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan, just two weeks after a historic outing on the streets of Monte Carlo.

A thrilling second round at the Circuit de Monaco saw rookie Théo Pourchaire inducted into the Formula 2 Hall of Fame as the youngest winner in the history of the Championship, after taking Pole with a spectacular Qualifying performance and sealing victory in Saturday’s Feature Race. Meanwhile, Guanyu Zhou strengthened his Championship lead with a lights-to-flag victory in Sprint Race 1, and Dan Ticktum claimed his first win of the season in Sprint Race 2.

Zhou bolstered his early lead of the Drivers’ Championship with a dominant drive in Sprint Race 1 to secure victory ahead of teammate Felipe Drugovich and secure a UNI-Virtuosi one-two. The pair came home ahead of DAMS’ Roy Nissany who claimed his first Formula 2 podium. While Hitech Grand Prix’s Liam Lawson was the first to cross the line in Sprint Race 2, the rookie was later disqualified for technical non-conformity promoting Ticktum to P1, PREMA Racing’s Oscar Piastri to P2 and Lawson’s teammate Jüri Vips to P3.

History was made in Saturday’s Feature Race when ART Grand Prix’s Pourchaire claimed his maiden Formula 2 victory at just 17 years 9 months 2 days old, making him the youngest ever driver to win a race in Formula 2. An inspired drive by the Sauber Junior saw him come home ahead of fellow rookie Piastri and second year Drugovich, who both appeared on the rostrum twice in Monte Carlo.

THE CHALLENGERS

After two rounds Zhou (68 points) has consolidated his lead in the Drivers’ Championship with a 16-point gap to Piastri (52), who moved up two places after scoring points in all three races in Monte Carlo. The PREMA man leads ART Grand Prix’s Pourchaire (47), who shot up the standings after his Pole and Feature Race win. Williams Development Driver Ticktum (38) currently sits in fourth ahead of Red Bull Junior Lawson (36) in fifth.

UNI-Virtuosi lead the way in the Teams’ Championship with 97 points after a win for Zhou and two podiums for Drugovich in Monaco. Second-placed PREMA (82) fifteen points back after scoring points in all three races. Just nine points separate Carlin (67) in third, ART (63) in fourth, and Hitech (58) in fifth.

Matteo Nannini returns to Formula 2 this weekend, stepping in for Gianluca Petecof at Campos Racing. The Italian racer competed in the opening round of the season in Bahrain with HWA RACELAB.

After a studious weekend of street circuit racing in Monaco, this weekend offers the drivers a chance to set their learnings into action this week at Baku. The supersoft compound will make its second appearance in two rounds, while the medium compound will make its first appearance at a race weekend this season.

FROM THE GRID – GUANYU ZHOU

“Baku is one of the rounds that I was really looking forward to this year because in 2019 it was my most painful weekend of the year. So, I really want to show my full potential, do well and make a comeback after 2019.

“When I drove in Baku two years ago the degradation was quite high, especially with the option tyres. As it's a long circuit and has a lot of low-speed corners, it means that there is more wear on the rear tyres. Obviously when we last drove there, we had 13-inch tyres and now we have 18-inch tyres, so the set-up is a little bit different. We had more front degradation in last year’s races, so it will be a question mark over how we set up our car, but I think we'll figure it out.

“Sector 1 at Baku is mostly a long straight followed by a hard breaking zone, and then in Sector 2 you have the Castle Section, which is a hard left and then a hard right and it's really tight. When you do a track walk you can barely fit a few people walking alongside each other through that section, so when you’re driving there's zero margin for lockups.

“There are loads of opportunities for overtaking in Baku. It's the most dramatic racing of the year. Especially with the new reverse grid format, it's going to be crazy! The run down to the main straight is one of the opportunities for overtaking, and that's also where we have the Safety Car restarts, so it could be messy there because our breaks are not at the prefect temperature.

“The same applies for Turns 2 and Turns 3 because it's two 90-degree corners before a straight, which could make things difficult. Sector 2 is more about following the car ahead, and it is quite easy to follow because there aren’t any high-speed corners which impact the downforce, and you get a nice slipstream.”

TYRE TALK – MARIO ISOLA (PIRELLI’S HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING)

“Just like last time, which was two years ago, we come to Baku with the P Zero Yellow medium and P Zero Purple supersoft tyres, but in 18-inch size for the first time here. This should result in a reasonably big performance gap between the two compounds, which opens up a number of different strategic possibilities.

"It’s actually the first time that the medium compound is run in Formula 2 this season, whereas the teams already have experience of the supersoft from Monaco. The medium has been redesigned this year for improved graining resistance and the performance gap compared to the supersoft has increased slightly. All that should make for a fascinating trio of races on what’s already known as a very unpredictable track.

STAT PACK

• The F2 Race lap record at the Baku City Circuit is 1:52.129 set by Charles Leclerc with PREMA Racing in 2017.
• Baku City Circuit is the second longest track on the 2021 calendar, at 6.003 km long.
• Théo Pourchaire became the 30th and youngest driver to win a race in the modern era of Formula 2 at just 17 years 9 months 2 days old.
• Sprint Race 2, which takes place on Saturday afternoon, marks the 100th race in the modern era of Formula 2.
• Oscar Piastri is the rookie with the most podiums to his name, after picking up one at the Bahrain International Circuit on his debut weekend and two at the Circuit de Monaco.
• Zhou, Pourchaire and Piastri, the top three drivers in the Drivers’ Championship, have all finished five of the six races so far in the points.
• Eight of 11 teams scored points at the Circuit de Monaco, and six different teams feature on the podium across the weekend.
• 11 drivers have finished on the rostrum in just two rounds, and five drivers have won races so far this season.
• Triumph for ART Grand Prix in Monaco saw them move to 41 podiums in Formula 2, just one behind PREMA Racing, who currently hold the record with 42.
• Just one driver has previously stood on the podium at the Baku City Circuit, Jack Aitken. The HWA RACELAB driver won the Feature Race with Campos Racing in 2019.
• Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung scored 22 points in Monaco, more points than in 2018, 2019 and 2020 combined (20).