2023 Baku Rewind: Bearman creates Formula 2 history

The date for Baku has changed for this season but the Azerbaijan circuit has always put on a thrilling weekend of racing. Last year was no different as one driver put in a starring performance that will live long in the memory.

PREMA Racing’s Oliver Bearman was at his very best as he topped every single session across the weekend. By claiming P1 in Free Practice, Qualifying and in the Sprint and Feature Races, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy talent announced his arrival in the Championship in style.

Here is how the Briton achieved F2 history.

FRIDAY

With the circuit having undergone a resurfacing job prior to the ’23 weekend, grip was at a premium and there were a few errors from drivers as they sought to get up to speed.

Bearman took his time building up to it, but he moved to the top of the times in the final 10 minutes of the session, lapping quicker than teammate Frederik Vesti heading into the latter stages.

With one final lap and a decent tow from Jehan Daruvala, Bearman set the Practice benchmark 1:54.063 to tee up an intriguing Qualifying session.

READ MORE: Gabriele Minì to replace Oliver Bearman at PREMA Racing in Baku

An early Red Flag in Qualifying brought about a short delay, but once running was back underway, Bearman was on the pace right away to go provisionally quickest.

With the third sector dominated by the final straight, the tow became paramount, and drivers were fighting for the slipstream going into the final minutes. Desperate to gain that benefit, Bearman started his penultimate lap in less-than-ideal fashion.

Exiting Turn 2, the Briton gave the outside wall a tap, leaving him with a steering wheel angled to one side for the remainder of the session.

Undeterred, he continued on his way and with a last-gasp effort, deprived title foes Théo Pourchaire and Vesti the Pole with a 1:52.652.

SATURDAY

Onto Sprint Saturday and there was trouble for several of the contenders for victory. Reverse grid pole sitter Richard Verschoor made contact with the wall at Turn 1 while Zane Maloney and Victor Martins touched to leave the former with a puncture and out of contention.

READ MORE: Trident confirm Christian Mansell for remainder of 2024 Formula 2 season

Contact with the wall at Turn 11 left Ralph Boschung out of the race and led to a Safety Car. A crash later on for Roy Nissany set up a three-lap shootout for the win with the pack closed together again.

Leading by that point, Dennis Hauger was the first into Turn 1 on cold Medium tyres and found the barriers, and Martins was right behind unable to avoid following suit. Daruvala followed the pair in and Pourchaire and Arthur Leclerc joined them in retirement, while Jack Doohan suffered a separate spin behind to fall by the wayside.

Their incidents left Vesti in the lead but having started from P10 on the grid, Bearman was right on his tail. Through the first sector and the Briton was trailing his teammate’s every move, but with a mistake at Turn 4, the door was opened. Bearman seized the chance to get ahead of the Dane just as the Safety Car was deployed to clear Turn 1.

With so many cars to clear, the race ended there and Bearman was victorious for the first time in F2.

SUNDAY

While on Saturday, things went the way of Bearman, Sunday’s victory was hard-fought as he battled against eventual Champion Pourchaire for the win.

The ART Grand Prix driver first had to pass Enzo Fittipaldi for second and achieved it with a tow onto Lap 2. He repeated the feat again on the following tour, this time making his move into the lead.

Bearman didn’t take long to make the move back into first however, as he then pulled off a slipstream pass into the first corner on Lap 4 to move back ahead of Pourchaire.

The PREMA driver kept his closest contender at bay up to the pitstop phase as both pitted on Lap 8 for their mandatory stops, rejoining in the same order.

Bearman kept pushing on, almost colliding with the wall at Turn 15 across multiple laps as he sought to keep Pourchaire behind him throughout.

The Frenchman had to focus his attentions on defending however, as a resurgent Fittipaldi was able to haul the ART driver in and take second in the closing stages.

Bearman was left untroubled out in front to earn back-to-back victories and make an emphatic statement, topping every single session across a weekend.