Robert Shwartzman took his first FIA Formula 2 victory of the season in the opening sprint race in Baku, while Dan Ticktum produced a storming drive to second.
Guanyu Zhou extended his championship lead after finishing third, but closest challenger Oscar Piastri retired on the opening lap in an incident that also put feature race pole winner Liam Lawson out.
After setting the tenth fastest time in Friday’s qualifying session, Shwartzman lined up on pole in the reversed-grid encounter for Prema, the Ferrari Academy driver converting it into the lead at the first corner ahead of Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala and Virtuosi’s Zhou.
Ticktum lost a couple of places from fifth on the grid in the other Carlin, but quickly dispatched Prema’s Theo Pourchaire for sixth just moments before the safety car was deployed due to a couple of incidents behind.
HWA’s Jack Aitken spun into retirement at turn one, while Piastri and Lawson were involved in a race-ending incident at the next corner. Piastri was tapped from behind by Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich under braking, causing the Prema driver to run deep and make slight contact with Hitech’s Juri Vips. This caused the second Hitech of Lawson, who was just behind Piastri, to lock up and slide into the wall.
Alessio Deledda was the fourth retiree on the opening lap, the HWA driver stopping down an escape road.
The race resumed after five laps, with Vips immediately pouncing to take seventh from Pourchaire, while Ticktum took mover past Campos racer Ralph Boschung into fifth at turn five. Ticktum continued his charge, passing DAMS driver Armstrong for fourth at turn one just moments after setting the fastest lap.
Zhou passed Daruvala for second approaching the halfway stage, as Ticktum closed in on the pair. The Briton was soon past team-mate Daruvala into third at turn one, and took Zhou for second at the same corner one lap later.
Ticktum improved on the fastest lap time, but Shwartzman bettered his effort and retained a commanding lead until the chequered flag. Ticktum finished 5.1 seconds behind, with Zhou taking his fourth podium of the season in third ahead of Daruvala.
Despite losing ground early on, Monaco feature race winner Pourchaire had a strong second half of the race, passing Vips and Armstrong to finish fifth, just 0.6s behind Daruvala having set the fastest lap on his final tour. Boschung took sixth on the penultimate lap from Armstrong, who just held off Vips to finish seventh.
David Beckmann was ninth for Charouz, with Trident’s Bent Viscaal finishing tenth and securing pole for Saturday’s second reversed-grid sprint race.
Race result (21 laps)
| 1 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | 44m35.734s |
| 2 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | +5.144s |
| 3 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | +8.872s |
| 4 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | +10.352s |
| 5 | Theo Pourchaire | ART | +11.039s |
| 6 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | +13.124s |
| 7 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | +14.455s |
| 8 | Juri Vips | Hitech | +14.524s |
| 9 | David Beckmann | Charouz | +17.299s |
| 10 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | +17.764s |
| 11 | Christian Lundgaard | ART | +19.738s |
| 12 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | +21.064s |
| 13 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | +21.837s |
| 14 | Felipe Drugovich | Virtuosi | +25.839s |
| 15 | Matteo Nannini | Campos | +35.970s |
| 16 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | +42.471s |
| 17 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | +49.289s |
| 18 | Marino Sato | Trident | +1m31.300s |
| DNF | Oscar Piastri | Prema | |
| DNF | Liam Lawson | Hitech | |
| DNF | Jack Aitken | HWA | |
| DNF | Alessio Deledda | HWA |
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
