 2021 Baku Feature Race
| ||
|---|---|---|
 The Baku City Circuit was unchanged in 2021. | ||
| Race Information | ||
| Date | 6 June 2021[1] | |
| No. | 102 | |
| Event | Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021[1]
| |
| Location | Baku City Circuit Baku, Azerbaijan | |
| Format | 170 km / 60 min (Feature Race) | |
| Lap length | 6.003 km (3.730 mi) | |
| Distance | 28 laps / 167.980 km (104.377 mi) | |
| Qualifying Result | ||
| Pole Sitter |  Liam Lawson
| |
| Team |  Hitech Grand Prix
| |
| Time | 1:54.217 | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver | Dan Ticktum
| |
| Team | Carlin
| |
| Time | 1:55.199 on lap 24 | |
| Race Result | ||
| First | Second | Third |
 Jüri Vips
|
 Oscar Piastri
|
 Robert Shwartzman
|
| Winner Team | Hitech Grand Prix
| |
| Time | 57:08.634 | |
| Race Guide | ||
| Previous | Next | |
| 2021 Baku Sprint Race 2
|
2021 Silverstone Sprint Race 1
| |
The 2021 Baku Feature Race, formally known as the 2021 Baku Formula 2 Race 3, was the ninth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 6 June 2021.[1] The race would see Jüri Vips secure his second F2 victory, making him the first driver to win a Feature Race and a Sprint Race in the same race weekend since the GP2 Series became F2.[2]
Qualifying would see Liam Lawson sweep to his maiden F2 pole position, a tenth ahead of Hitech Grand Prix teammate Vips.[3] Behind, Oscar Piastri and Théo Pourchaire would share the second row, while Dan Ticktum was the best of the senior drivers in fifth.[3]
The start of the race would be delayed after Jack Aitken, the only driver to select medium Pirelli tyres for the start, and Matteo Nannini stalling on the grid, requiring both to be pushed into the pits to be re-fired.[2] That delay saw the race distance cut by a single lap as the field completed an additional formation lap, before reassembling on the grid for a second attempt.[2]
This time there would be no issues, with Lawson and teammate Vips lunging off the grid and into the first corner side-by-side from the front row.[2] A brief kiss of wheels and the Estonian racer was ahead, with Piastri able to take advantage of Lawson's lost momentum to grab second as Lawson also ran Pourchaire out wide.[2]
However, while the fight for the lead was, relatively, clean, the same could not be said just behind, as Ticktum tangled with Marcus Armstrong and the elbowed out Pourchaire.[2] Their accident left Armstrong in the wall and Pourchaire limping back to the pits with heavy damage, with the Frenchman later sent to hospital for treatment for an arm fracture.[4]
After a brief cameo from the Safety Car the race resumed, with Vips sprinting clear while Lawson got the jump on Piastri to reclaim second.[2] The two Hitechs then set about building a lead, as behind Piastri found himself having to block his teammate Robert Shwartzman to hold third.[2]
Vips was the first driver to abandon his soft tyres at the start of the pit window, while Lawson served his penalty for pushing Pourchaire wide when he stopped a lap later.[2] Piastri completed an additional lap and would rejoin in the wake of Vips, as behind Ralph Boschung would briefly jump Shwartzman before the Russian ace lunged back past to secure third.[2]
The closing stages saw Piastri close right onto Vips' tail, having been slapped with a five second time penalty for an unsafe release from his pitstop.[2] However, try as he might the Australian racer could not find a way past the Estonian racer, although as they started the final tour the #2 Prema was tucked right under the #8 Hitech's rear wing.[2]
Yet, Vips would hold firm on the final tour, claiming victory by a second from Piastri before the Australian racer's penalty was applied.[2] Fortunately for Piastri the five second time penalty would have no effect as he still claimed second ahead of teammate Shwartzman.[2] Felipe Drugovich was next up ahead of Boschung and the recovering Lawson, Jehan Daruvala was next up ahead of a furious Ticktum, while Christian Lundgaard and Lirim Zendeli completed the scorers.[2]
Background[]
There would be no changes made to the Baku City Circuit ahead of the third and final race of the weekend, with the two DRS zones unchanged.[1] Likewise, there would be no changes to the entry ahead of the final F2 race until mid-July, with all 22 cars in race worthy condition for the third battle of Baku.[5]
Zhou Command[]
Guanyu Zhou retained the lead in the Championship as the first day of racing in Baku came to a conclusion, and with his healthy advantage still intact despite a non-score in the second race. Behind, Oscar Piastri had moved back into second and 23 points off the lead, level with Théo Pourchaire but ahead on countback due to having one second place finish to Pourchaire's zero podium finishes. Behind Dan Ticktum had moved to within a point of them in fourth, while Robert Shwartzman had also broken into the 50 point region in fifth.
In the Teams' Championship UNI-Virtuosi would end the first day in Baku still at the head of the table, although their advantage had all but disappeared after their non-score. Instead, Prema Racing had moved to within a point of the British squad, with the defending Champions themselves only five ahead of Carlin in third. Hitech Grand Prix were next up ahead of ART Grand Prix, 25 points behind Carlin, while Trident had moved eight clear of HWA Racelab at the foot of the table.
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 2021 Baku Feature Race is displayed below:
- * Placeholder liveries are show for the second drivers in each team.
Practice[]
Qualifying[]
Qualifying used the well established format for the FIA Formula 2 Championship, with a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday.[3] All 22 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time.[3] There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of either compound of Pirelli tyres.[3]
Report[]
Qualifying would start with the familiar sight of the entire field driving straight out onto the circuit, although Roy Nissany would not be joining them after his heavy accident in practice.[3] The Israeli racer was hence forced to sit and watch as DAMS teammate Marcus Armstrong set the initial pace, before Dan Ticktum edged him out a minute later.[3] The Brit's time at the top would be short lived, however, as Théo Pourchaire completed the first flying laps at the back of the group, recording a 1:55.455 to go fastest.[3]
After a single cooldown lap to prepare their tyres the field went for second runs on their original rubber, with Armstrong again managing to pop-up at the top of the pack at the end of his run.[3] However, the #17 DAMS would again be displaced by Ticktum and then Pourchaire before the field completed their next laps, with a third set of runs quickly following.[3] This time Armstrong would set the pace and hold onto provisional pole, the New Zealander claiming a 1:55.057 as the field swept into the pits for fresh supersoft Pirelli tyres.[3]
Ticktum was the first to return to the circuit, specifically asking his team to head out early so they could avoid any potential red flags around the flat-out street circuit.[3] The Carlin team concurred and sent the #5 car out at the head of the pack, with the Brit duly toppling Armstrong's effort to go fastest.[3] However, there would be a barrage of improvements in the closing stages of the session, as second runs on fresher tyres caused an en-masse swell in pace.[3]
Indeed, Ticktum and Armstrong would soon find themselves bumped back to fifth and sixth in the rush, with Pourchaire able to get back ahead of them, before he too was dumped back into fourth.[3] Liam Lawson and Jüri Vips duly stole the show, with the two Hitechs exchanging fastest sectors as they duelled for pole position.[3] Indeed, after the second runs the two Hitechs had moved into first and second with Oscar Piastri trailing them, with their third runs set to decide who would start from pole.[3]
Ultimately, however, that duel would fizzle out before the end of their final runs, with Vips' pace collapsing in the middle sector.[3] Lawson, meanwhile, would just find a few hundredths to secure his maiden F2 pole with a 1:54.217, while Vips' earlier 1:54.355 was still good enough for second.[3] Piastri was next up ahead of Pourchaire, while Ticktum and Armstrong would share the third row, while Robert Shwartzman qualified in tenth to secure pole position for the 2021 Baku Sprint Race 1.[3]
Post-Qualifying[]
After qualifying a trio of penalties were announced after several drivers were found to have impeded their rivals during the session, albeit inadvertently.[7] Christian Lundgaard was the first to receive his penalty, dropping him to fifteenth on the grid after impeding Guanyu Zhou, while Jack Aitken was slapped with a three place grid penalty of his own for blocking Lundgaard.[7] Guilherme Samaia was the final driver to be penalised after blocking Bent Viscaal in the closing stages of the session, although the Brazilian racer would only drop on position after qualifying in twentieth.[7]
Elsewhere, Nissany was given permission to start after failing to qualify, while Marino Sato served a three-place grid penalty for driving his car in a dangerous condition during Free Practice.[8]
Results[]
The final qualifying result for the 2021 Baku Feature Race are outlined below:
| 2021 Baku Feature Race Qualifying Result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Time | Gap | Ave. Speed | Grid |
| 1st | 7 | Liam Lawson
|
Hitech Grand Prix
|
1:54.217 | — | 189.208 km/h | 1 |
| 2nd | 8 | Jüri Vips
|
Hitech Grand Prix
|
1:54.355 | +0.138s | 188.979 km/h | 2 |
| 3rd | 2 | Oscar Piastri
|
 Prema Racing
|
1:54.508 | +0.291s | 188.727 km/h | 3 |
| 4th | 10 |  Théo Pourchaire
|
ART Grand Prix
|
1:54.639 | +0.422s | 188.511 km/h | 4 |
| 5th | 5 | Dan Ticktum
|
Carlin
|
1:54.830 | +0.613s | 188.198 km/h | 5 |
| 6th | 17 | Marcus Armstrong
|
DAMS
|
1:54.914 | +0.697s | 188.060 km/h | 6 |
| 7th | 21 |  Ralph Boschung
|
 Campos Racing
|
1:54.962 | +0.745s | 187.982 km/h | 7 |
| 8th | 3 |  Guanyu Zhou
|
UNI-Virtuosi
|
1:55.112 | +0.895s | 187.737 km/h | 8 |
| 9th | 6 |  Jehan Daruvala
|
Carlin
|
1:55.122 | +0.905s | 187.720 km/h | 9 |
| 10th | 1 | Robert Shwartzman
|
Prema Racing
|
1:55.161 | +0.944s | 187.657 km/h | 10 |
| 11th | 4 |  Felipe Drugovich
|
UNI-Virtuosi
|
1:55.173 | +0.956s | 187.637 km/h | 11 |
| 12th* | 9 |  Christian Lundgaard
|
ART Grand Prix
|
1:55.245 | +1.028s | 187.520 km/h | 15* |
| 13th | 14 |  David Beckmann
|
 Charouz Racing System
|
1:55.336 | +1.119s | 187.372 km/h | 12 |
| 14th* | 22 | Jack Aitken
|
HWA Racelab
|
1:55.651 | +1.434s | 186.862 km/h | 17* |
| 15th | 24 |  Bent Viscaal
|
Trident
|
1:55.658 | +1.441s | 186.850 km/h | 13 |
| 16th | 11 | Richard Verschoor
|
MP Motorsport
|
1:55.988 | +1.771s | 186.319 km/h | 14 |
| 17th | 20 | Matteo Nannini
|
Campos Racing
|
1:56.463 | +2.246s | 185.559 km/h | 16 |
| 18th | 12 | Lirim Zendeli
|
MP Motorsport
|
1:56.579 | +2.362s | 185.374 km/h | 18 |
| 19th† | 25 |  Marino Sato
|
Trident
|
1:57.539 | +3.322s | 183.860 km/h | 20† |
| 20th* | 15 | Guilherme Samaia
|
Charouz Racing System
|
1:57.793 | +3.576s | 183.464 km/h | 21* |
| 21st | 23 | Alessio Deledda
|
HWA Racelab
|
1:58.264 | +4.047s | 182.733 km/h | 19 |
| 107% Time: 2:02.212[9] | |||||||
| NC‡ | 16 |  Roy Nissany
|
DAMS
|
— | 22 | ||
| Source:[9] | |||||||
- * Lundaard, Aitken and Samaia served three place grid penalties for impeding other drivers during qualifying.[7]
- † Sato served a three place grid penalty for driving his car in a dangerous condition during Free Practice.[8]
- ‡ Nissany was allowed to start the race despite failing to set a time in qualifying at the stewards' discretion.[7]
Grid[]
| Pos. | Pos. | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | |
| ______________ | ||
| Row 1 | ______________ | 1 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | |
| Jüri Vips | ______________ | |
| Row 2 | ______________ | 3 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | |
| Théo Pourchaire | ______________ | |
| Row 3 | ______________ | 5 |
| 6 | Dan Ticktum | |
| Marcus Armstrong | ______________ | |
| Row 4 | ______________ | 7 |
| 8 | Ralph Boschung | |
| Guanyu Zhou | ______________ | |
| Row 5 | ______________ | 9 |
| 10 | Jehan Daruvala | |
| Robert Shwartzman | ______________ | |
| Row 6 | ______________ | 11 |
| 12 | Felipe Drugovich | |
| David Beckmann | ______________ | |
| Row 7 | ______________ | 13 |
| 14 | Bent Viscaal | |
| Richard Verschoor | ______________ | |
| Row 8 | ______________ | 15 |
| 16 | Christian Lundgaard | |
| Matteo Nannini | ______________ | |
| Row 9 | ______________ | 17 |
| 18 | Jack Aitken | |
| Lirim Zendeli | ______________ | |
| Row 10 | ______________ | 19 |
| 20 | Alessio Deledda | |
| Marino Sato | ______________ | |
| Row 11 | ______________ | 21 |
| 22 | Guilherme Samaia | |
| Roy Nissany | ______________ |
Race[]
Report[]
Results[]
The final classification of the 2021 Baku Feature Race is displayed below:
| 2021 Baku Feature Race Race Result | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Race Time | Strat. | Fastest lap | Pts. |
| 1st | 8 | Jüri Vips
|
Hitech Grand Prix
|
28 | 57:08.634 |  -
|
1:55.891 | 25 |
| 2nd* | 2 | Oscar Piastri
|
Prema Racing
|
28 | +6.152s | -
|
1:55.990 | 18 |
| 3rd | 1 | Robert Shwartzman
|
Prema Racing
|
28 | +12.623s | -
|
1:56.194 | 15 |
| 4th | 4 | Felipe Drugovich
|
UNI-Virtuosi
|
28 | +22.400s | -
|
1:56.650 | 12 |
| 5th | 21 | Ralph Boschung
|
Campos Racing
|
28 | +24.418s | -
|
1:56.920 | 10 |
| 6th | 7 | Liam Lawson
|
Hitech Grand Prix
|
28 | +26.207s | -
|
1:56.417 | 12 |
| 7th | 6 | Jehan Daruvala
|
Carlin
|
28 | +28.081s | -
|
1:56.834 | 6 |
| 8th | 5 | Dan Ticktum
|
Carlin
|
28 | +29.801s | -
|
1:55.199 | 6 |
| 9th | 9 | Christian Lundgaard
|
ART Grand Prix
|
28 | +34.058s | -
|
1:56.933 | 2 |
| 10th | 12 | Lirim Zendeli
|
MP Motorsport
|
28 | +36.167s | -
|
1:56.621 | 1 |
| 11th | 22 | Jack Aitken
|
HWA Racelab
|
28 | +36.993s | -
|
1:55.726 | |
| 12th† | 14 | David Beckmann
|
Charouz Racing System
|
28 | +39.973s | -
|
1:57.202 | |
| 13th | 3 | Guanyu Zhou
|
UNI-Virtuosi
|
28 | +47.934s | -
|
1:57.396 | |
| 14th | 11 | Richard Verschoor
|
MP Motorsport
|
28 | +48.794s | -
|
1:56.537 | |
| 15th | 25 | Marino Sato
|
Trident
|
28 | +55.485s | -
|
1:57.554 | |
| 16th | 16 | Roy Nissany
|
DAMS
|
28 | +55.825s | -
|
1:57.155 | |
| 17th | 24 | Bent Viscaal
|
Trident
|
28 | +56.970s | -
|
1:55.820 | |
| 18th | 15 | Guilherme Samaia
|
Charouz Racing System
|
27 | +1 Lap | -
|
1:57.076 | |
| 19th | 23 | Alessio Deledda
|
HWA Racelab
|
27 | +1 Lap | -
|
1:58.992 | |
| Ret | 10 | Théo Pourchaire
|
ART Grand Prix
|
1 | Collision |
|
— | |
| Ret | 17 | Marcus Armstrong
|
DAMS
|
0 | Collision |
|
— | |
| DNS‡ | 20 | Matteo Nannini
|
Campos Racing
|
0 | Stalled |
|
— | |
| Source:[10] | ||||||||
- Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
- Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
- * Piastri served a five second time penalty for an unsafe release.[11]
- † Beckmann served a five second time penalty for failing to follow the race directors instructions.[12]
- ‡ Nannini was unable to start the race after stalling on the formation lap.[2]
Milestones[]
- Second career victory for Jüri Vips.
- Vips became the first driver in the FIA Formula 2 Championship era to win two races in the same weekend.
- Also the first time that the same driver had won two races at a single GP2/F2 meeting since Antonio Giovinazzi at the 2016 Baku Sprint Race.
- Hitech Grand Prix secured their sixth win as an entrant.
Standings[]
At the end of the third race weekend of the season it was status quo at the head of the table, as Guanyu Zhou had remained at the head of the field on 78 points after nine races. However, the Chinese ace's lead had been cut to just five points over the course of the Baku weekend, with second placed Oscar Piastri now with Zhou firmly in his sights ahead of the midway point of the season. Robert Shwartzman was next up ahead of Jüri Vips, while Dan Ticktum rounded out the top five with all of the top five within eighteen points of Zhou.
In the Teams' Championship Prema Racing had moved to the top of the Championship hunt for the first time since the second race of the season in Bahrain, having moved onto 139 points for the campaign. They had hence moved twenty points clear of former leaders UNI-Virtuosi, who were themselves six ahead of Hitech Grand Prix in third. Hitech were level on points with Carlin but ahead courtesy of their three wins to Carlin's one, while ART Grand Prix completed the top five.
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Only point scoring drivers are shown.
References[]
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 'FIA Formula 2 Championship 2021 season provisional calendar announced', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 10/11/2020), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/1lFF2lrhzJbOeFTnd2hPE4/fia-formula-2-championship-2021-season-provisional-calendar-announced, (Accessed 11/11/2020)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 'FEATURE RACE: Vips charges to a controlled second consecutive win in Baku, fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 06/06/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/4lY85iR78wTiD1MmXAapwL/feature-race-vips-charges-to-a-controlled-second-consecutive-win-in-baku, (Accessed 06/06/2021
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 'QUALIFYING: Lawson tops Hitech one-two in Baku with first F2 pole', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 04/06/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/6OczgNvWKMTrNjADUOiDck/qualifying-lawson-tops-hitech-one-two-in-baku-with-first-f2-pole, (Accessed 05/06/2021)
- ↑ 'Statement: FIA Formula 2 Feature Race, Azerbaijan', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 06/06/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/1adpheDDwChyI2b8qiEtjw/statement-fia-formula-2-feature-race-azerbaijan, (Accessed 06/06/2021)
- ↑ 'SPRINT RACE 2: Vips beats Beckmann to first win in chaotic race at Baku', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 05/06/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/4po390p5p9d3mZu7NuCtKd/sprint-race-2-vips-beats-beckmann-to-first-win-in-chaotic-race-at-baku, (Accessed 06/06/2021)
- ↑ Archived, 'Teams and Drivers', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 2020), https://web.archive.org/web/20200629072311/https://www.fiaformula2.com/Teams-and-Drivers, (Accessed 14/06/2018) - Original
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPQP - ↑ 8.0 8.1 'Sato receives grid drop penalty for Baku Sprint Race 1', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 04/06/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/3kLN113KNsnsbLuN7qwgLr/sato-receives-grid-drop-penalty-for-baku-sprint-race-1, (Accessed 05/06/2021)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedResults - ↑ '2021 BAKU EVENT 3 to 6 June 2021: Document 50', fia.com, (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, 06/06/2021), https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2021%20Baku%20Event%20-%20F2%20Race%203%20-%20final%20classification.pdf, (Accessed 06/06/2021)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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