Feeder Series Preview: Azerbaijan

Written by Jasmin Low, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri

After an exciting European stretch of the calendar, the Formula 2 caravan now shifts to the trio of flyaway races to round out the 2025 F2 season. The first of these races comes in quick time, with the streets of Baku playing host to Formula One’s premier feeder series this weekend. DIVEBOMB gives you the rundown ahead of the weekend’s pair of races. 

Formula 2

Formula 2 will tackle the streets of Baku for round 12 of 14 | Credit: Formula 2

Now, at the pointy end of the 2025 Formula 2 season, it all comes down to the final three rounds, starting with the Azerbaijan round of the F2 calendar in Baku. Whilst the championship remains anyone’s game, those who master the streets of the Azerbaijani capital will inch ever closer to the championship trophy. 

At 3.730 mi (6.003km), the street circuit has played host to F2 since 2017, with Charles Leclerc setting the F2 lap record of 1:52.159 that same year for PREMA Racing. This weekend’s proceedings consist of a 21-lap Sprint Race and a 29-lap Feature. 

The 20-corner extravaganza takes drivers counter-clockwise and through a unique mix of high-speed straights, 90-degree corners, and winding turns. Street circuits are not renowned for their overtaking allowances. 

Yet, Baku’s wide start-finish straight before the braking zone into Turn 1 is home to many a passing manoeuvre, while the tricky narrow sections which weave through the historic city leave the least room for error of any circuit at just 7.6m wide. 

Baku is no stranger to a heated championship battle, as the trio of Gabriel Bortoleto, Isack Hadjar, and Paul Aron entered the 2024 race weekend each with one hand on the championship crown. 

Eventual champion Bortoleto was the only title contender to qualify inside the top 10, placing his Invicta in sixth. Aron narrowly missed out in 12th, with Hadjar left to start at the rear of the field after a moment at Turn 1, qualifying 20th. Trident’s Richard Verschoor wound up best of the rest, beating Kimi Antonelli to pole by 0.017s with a time of 1:54.857. 

Verschoor topped the timesheets during qualifying in 2024 | Credit: Formula 2

This year, Trident have refreshed their driver lineup heading into Baku, having parted ways with Sami Meguetounif and Max Esterson in the weeks following the Monza race weekend. The team has confirmed that Laurens van Hoepen and Martinius Stenshorne will be stepping up from the recently finished Formula 3 championship after completing their campaigns with ART Grand Prix and Hitech TGR respectively. 

Turning back the clock to last year’s Sprint Race, Gabriele Minì and Christian Mansell made their F2 debut, both scoring points. Mansell started the race from reverse-grid pole, dropping back to eighth by the end of the race, whilst Minì earned a maiden podium. Joshua Dürksen fought his way up from fourth before taking a commanding maiden win for AIX Racing. 

As for the Feature Race, Verschoor managed to hold the lead at the race start, but eventually lost out to Martins, who snatched the race lead heading into Turn 1. A slow pit stop from ART handed the lead back to Verschoor, leaving the Frenchman to whittle down the gap to Verschoor’s Trident. 

With just two laps to go, a late safety car was called out, putting a stop to Martins’ pursuit and leaving Verschoor to take the checkered flag. Baku was a pivotal moment in the championship for Bortoleto, his fourth-place finish enough to take the championship lead.

The Championship

Leonardo Fornaroli retained the championship lead after Monza, stretching the points gap to 21 points over Luke Browning in the process. Verschoor will be looking to repeat his previous success this time around and eat away at his 30-point deficit to the championship leader. After a difficult weekend in Monza, Jak Crawford will be hoping for a strong final three rounds, sitting in fourth with 137 points to his name. 

Invicta Racing have picked up the pace throughout the second half of the season, sitting atop the Teams’ Championship standings with 255 points. After a successful feature race performance at the Temple of Speed, Hitech sit in second with 223 points, whilst Campos Racing lie 10 points further back, rounding out the top three. 

In other news, the Spanish team have signed Nikola Tsolov for the 2026 season, stepping up to the premier feeder series category after a successful F3 campaign with the team. The Bulgarian is no stranger to success, having finished second in the Drivers’ Championship with three wins and four additional podiums.