Juri Vips claims back-to-back race wins as the Estonian wins F2’s Feature Race around Baku

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The dominant Hitech driver becomes the first driver in the modern Formula 2 era to win both the Sprint Race and Feature Race in one weekend.

Juri Vips crossed the line first after another dominant display around Baku. The two Prema’s of Oscar Piastri and Robert Shwartzman rounded off the podium places as they came second and third respectively.

Narrowly missing on the podium was Felipe Drugovich as the Brazilian finished fourth ahead of Ralph Boschung in fifth, Liam Lawson in sixth, Jehan Daruvala in seventh, Dan Ticktum in eighth, Christian Lundgaard in ninth and Lirim Zendeli who finished in the final points-paying position in 10th.

Jack Aitken missed out on the points once more as he finished in 11th with David Beckmann behind him in 12th. Championship leader, Guanyu Zhou came across the line down in 13th ahead of Richard Verschoor in 14th, Marino Sato in 15th, Roy Nissany in 16th, Bent Viscaal in 17th, Guilherme Samaia in 18th and Alessio Deledda in 19th.

Starting Grid

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Liam Lawson started from pole position as the New Zealander was joined on the front row by Hitech teammate Juri Vips with Oscar Piastri behind Lawson in third.

Theo Pourchaire qualified in fourth with Dan Ticktum in fifth, Marcus Armstrong in sixth, Ralph Boschung in seventh, Guanyu Zhou in eighth, Jehan Daruvala in ninth and Robert Shwartzman rounding out the top 10.

The second UNI-Virtuosi of Felipe Drugovich missed out on the top 10 as he qualified 11th with Christian Lundgaard in a lowly 12th. David Beckmann followed in 13th, Jack Aitken in 14th, Bent Viscaal in 15th, Richard Verschoor in 16th, Matteo Nannini in 17th, Lirim Zendeli in 18th, Marino Sato in 19th, Guilherme Samaia in 20th, Alessio Deledda in 21st and Roy Nissany in 22nd after he did not compete in qualifying.

As It Happened

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The initial race start was aborted after Aitken and Nannini failed to get off the grid. The rest of the drivers had to endure another formation lap as the two were wheeled into the pit lane with Nannini not even starting the race in the end.

After the five red lights went out, the two Hitech’s battled for the lead as Vips was able to snatch first place from his teammate Lawson.

Moments later, the Safety Car was released as Armstrong came together with Ticktum. The DAMS driver went into the wall and subsequently retired from the race alongside Pourchair who was also involved in the incident.

Piastri got ahold of second place after the restart but Lawson fought back and was able to reclaim the position two corners later.

Ticktum and Lawson were both awarded 10-second time penalties for incidents that saw Armstrong and Pourchaire out of the race.

A few laps later, the New Zealander made his mandatory pit-stop which saw him serve his penalty as he emerged out of the pits on a fresh set of tyres.

At the halfway point, Ticktum lead the race ahead of Aitken with the pair yet to make their stops. Vips was in the net race lead as he sat in third ahead of Shwartzman, Boschung, Drugovich, Daruvala, Lawson and Lundgaard who rounded off the top 10.

The two Red Bull Academy drivers, Lawson and Daruvala, squabbled for the position with the former getting ahead of the latter to eighth position.

Deledda was handed a drive-through penalty after the HWA ignored blue flags but it didn’t mean much to his position as he was at the back of the field anyway.

Ticktum and Aitken both finally pitted onto fresh tyres as Vips was released back into the lead of the race with a handful of laps to go.

In the dying embers of the race, Ticktum was able to use DRS down the start/finish straight as the Carlin blasted past Lundgaard and Beckmann and up into eighth place.

Vips was able to cross the line to win F2’s Feature Race around Baku and become the first driver to win a Sprint Race and Feature Race in one weekend. The two Prema’s of Piastri and Shwartzman crossed the line behind the Estonian to complete the podium places.

What’s Next?

The F2 drivers now face a one-month break as round four is in July with Formula 2 returning to Silverstone. A track that is loved by everyone, it will definitely bring a lot of excitement to fans once more.

Guanyu Zhou still leads the Championship on 78 points but will hope to have a better weekend in the UK after only picking up 10 points in Baku.

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