Baku, Mansell porta un punto al debutto

The FIA Formula 2 Championship kicked off round 12 of the season on the fast Baku City Circuit. Teams and Drivers of F2 competed in a tight Sprint Race today at the Azerbaijani venue. In the qualifying session, Trident Motorsport drivers Richard Verschoor and Christian Mansell delivered a sensational performance, securing pole position and the P10 respectively. 

With the top ten qualifying positions reversed on the starting grid for the Sprint Race, the 19-year-old Australian could start from pole. Mansell got away very well and took the lead, while Verschoor dropped to P12 after being slowed down at the first corner behind Kimi Antonelli. 

In the subsequent part of the Sprint Race, the Dutchman was plagued by tyre problems which forced him to stop in the pit lane to make an uncheduled change. Mansell, however, not having the DRS available, lost some positions to Durksen, Minì, and Crawford, which relegated the Australian driver to fourth place. 

In the final stages, a contact with the barriers by Miyata caused the race to be neutralized and was restarted with three to go. The restart turned out to be very confusing. Mansell was involved in some close fighting and dropped to P8, while Verschoor climbed back up to P17, setting the fastest lap. He will start from pole position in the Feature Race, the main race, scheduled for tomorrow at 11:35, local time.