BAKU FLASHBACK: Verschoor rules the streets as rookies impress

16 September 2025

Last season’s visit to Baku brought plenty of drama between the title contenders as the end of the campaign closed in, while several new faces made themselves known.

Joshua Duerksen claimed the Sprint win, his first in the Championship while on Sunday, Richard Verschoor showed his class in an impressive drive to the top step.

Ahead of the 2025 race weekend, we look back to last year’s event and the top moments.

QUALIFYING BRINGS DRAMA

Three drivers were fighting for the title by this point last year, with Gabriel Bortoleto, Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron vying for the 2024 crown.

Bortoleto wound up the highest-placed of the trio, sixth on the grid for Invicta Racing while his rivals missed out on a top 10 start.

For Aron, he ended the session in 12th but for Hadjar, he and Campos Racing teammate Josep María Martí faced an uphill battle after both went deep at Turn 1 and had to make do with 20th and 21st position.

That left several of their rivals to fight for pole, with Verschoor ultimately winding up the winner on Friday by just 0.017s over Andrea Kimi Antonelli, setting a 1:54.857 to earn pole for TRIDENT.

It left the weekend finely poised with the title stakes higher and higher.

A SPRINT OF SURPRISES

Duerksen claimed his first win in F2 around Baku last season

Saturday’s Sprint was a showcase for the rookies, as Christian Mansell and Gabriele Minì earned points in their first F2 race. The former went from reverse grid pole position, while the latter earned a maiden podium at the first time of asking.

Minì’s race to third place was a statement considering the location, with Baku being one of the toughest venues on the Formula 2 calendar.

Mansell meanwhile was able to lead the opening few laps, before he fell back to eighth by the chequered flag, still earning a point for his efforts.

But winning his first race in Formula 2 in what was his rookie campaign, Joshua Duerksen was worth every bit of his P1 in the Sprint.

The AIX Racing driver went from fourth on the grid and was up to third on the opening lap, and soon cleared Mansell to move himself into second.

Minì gave him a fight for a while longer, but with DRS, Duerksen was able to pass the Italian down the main straight to take the lead.

From that point on, the Paraguayan driver was uncatchable and in control, earning himself a maiden F2 victory he’d later add to in the year with a Feature Race win in the finale around Yas Marina.

VERSCHOOR KEEPS MARTINS AT BAY

Browning was one of the rookies who impressed last year on the streets of Baku

The Feature Race was restarted after a Red Flag at the initial race start needed to be cleared away, but once racing got underway, Verschoor set the tone as he retained the lead in the opening exchanges.

Victor Martins had passed Antonelli for second, and claimed the lead shortly after with DRS into Turn 1, and the Frenchman retained that advantage going into the pitstop phase.

A slow stop however for the ART Grand Prix driver handed the advantage back to Verschoor, and it was left to Martins to try and close the race leader back down.

He was able to whittle away the gap from over two seconds just to 1.1s, agonisingly close to DRS range but a Safety Car with two laps to go allowed Verschoor to remain ahead and earn the win.

Elsewhere, Luke Browning was in fine form as he continued the rookie wave, finishing P7 in his first F2 Feature Race.

All eyes will be on whether Verschoor can repeat the feat this weekend and fight his way back into serious title contention.