Baku, fast-paced double challenge on the shores of the Caspian Sea
Next weekend, the FIA Formula 2 Championship will return to the track for the twelfth and thirteenth rounds of the season at the fast and challenging Baku City Circuit. After the Spanish trip to the new Madring, the junior series heads to Azerbaijan for a weekend with a completely new format, featuring two qualifying sessions, a Sprint Race, and two Feature Races.
Trident Motorsport heads to the Azerbaijan round strong after the positive results from recent races. Laurens Van Hoepen is fresh of a third-place finish in the Sprint Race in Madrid, a result that allowed the team to add another podium to its season tally.
In the longer Feature Race at the Madring, the 21-year-old Dutchman then finished twelfth after a comeback race, while John Bennett was forced to retire after being involved in a collision.
The result in Spain confirmed the competitiveness demonstrated by Trident Motorsport in the most recent phase of the championship. The Milan-based team, with headquarters in Ossona, took second place with Bennett in the Monza Sprint Race, while the 23-year-old Briton finished fourth in the Feature Race in Brianza.
The Baku weekend will also present a particularly demanding challenge in terms of work management. For the first time this season, the FIA Formula 2 Championship will feature an extended schedule.
After free practice on Thursday morning, the drivers will face two consecutive 20-minute qualifying sessions in the afternoon. The results of the first session will determine the grid for the Sprint Race and the first Feature Race, while the second qualifying session will determine the starting grid for the second Feature Race.
The weekend's unique format will therefore make qualifying management crucial, with two points awarded for pole position in each session. The two Feature Races will retain the usual scoring system. The Sprint Race, as per the regulations, will see the grid determined by the first qualifying session, with the top ten positions reversed.
The 6.003-kilometer Baku City Circuit is one of the most unique tracks on the calendar. The street circuit alternates long straights and hard braking sections with a very narrow and twisty sector that passes through the historic part of the city. The long main straight, which runs along the waterfront, favors slipstreaming and offers significant overtaking opportunities, while the passage near the old city requires precision and concentration, with the walls very close to the racing line.
Finding the right set-up compromise will therefore be one of the key elements of the weekend. The car must ensure good aerodynamic efficiency on the long straights without excessively sacrificing handling through the numerous low- and medium-speed corners. Tyre management and the ability to exploit the opportunities offered by the Safety Cars could also play a decisive role in the three races on the schedule.
Giacomo Ricci, Trident Motorsport Team Manager: “We arrive in Baku after a weekend in Madrid that gave us another podium with Laurens Van Hoepen and important indications of the competitiveness of our cars. Now a very unique event awaits us, with a completely different format than usual. We will have two qualifying sessions, a Sprint Race, and two Feature Races. It will therefore be crucial to manage each session optimally and gather as much information as possible from free practice. In Baku, we will need to be ready to exploit every opportunity and maintain a high level of competitiveness throughout the weekend. The goal is to continue the good momentum shown in recent races and try to score important points with both cars.”
On-track activity in the FIA Formula 2 Championship will begin on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. with the 45-minute free practice session. Two qualifying sessions, both twenty minutes long, are scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. that same day. The Sprint Race will start on Friday at 8:15 a.m., followed by the first Feature Race at 2:15 p.m. The second Feature Race, which will conclude the Azerbaijan weekend, will start on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. All track action will be broadcast live on Sky Sport F1. All times are in local time (GMT +4).