2021 Baku Sprint Race 1

The 2021 Baku Sprint Race 1, formally known as the 2021 Baku Formula 2 Race 1, was the seventh race of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 5 June 2021. The race, which was the 100th second tier race to be staged since the series was reformed as the F2 Championship, would see Robert Shwartzman sweep to a dominant first victory of the season.

The grid for the 100th F2 race to be held would see Robert Shwartzman start from pole position, having qualified in tenth for the Feature Race. He would share the front row with Jehan Daruvala, while Liam Lawson would start from tenth after claiming pole for Sunday's Feature Race.

The start of the race would see Shwartzman sweep into the lead, while Daruvala was distracted fighting with Guanyu Zhou for second. Attention would be focus on the back of the field, however, as the two HWA Racelabs took themselves out of the race, Jack Aitken spinning while Alessio Deledda stalled at turn two.

An eventful opening lap would then end behind the Safety Car, as Felipe Drugovich made slight contact with Oscar Piastri, pushing the #2 Prema into Lawson. Lawson duly ended up in the wall with front end damage with Piastri bouncing off him and out as well, meaning there were four cars out before the end of the opening lap.

At the restart Shwartzman would wait until the last moment to bolt, denying his pursuers the use of the slipstream effect down the long start/finish straight. The ploy worked and the Russian racer was able to retain the lead into the first corner, as behind Jüri Vips jumped Théo Pourchaire for seventh.

The middle phase of the race saw Shwartzman steadily stretch out his lead, while behind Zhou managed to secure second from Daruvala. Behind them, meanwhile, Ticktum would be the main source of entertainment, as the #5 Carlin elbowed his way up to third with moves on Ralph Boschung, Marcus Armstrong and Daruvala.

Zhou was the last man in Ticktum's sights and, despite improving his pace before the Brit cleared his teammate Daruvala, the Chinese racer was unable to resist the #5 Carlin. Indeed, Ticktum would scythe past the #3 UNI-Virtuosi and escape by half a second before Zhou could even react.

With that the race was run, with Ticktum too far back to challenge Shwartzman as the Russian ace won the race at a canter, five seconds clear of the Brit. Zhou completed the podium five seconds down, while Daruvala kept Pourchaire at bay to secure fourth. Boschung and Armstrong were next up ahead of Vips, who rounded out the scorers, while David Beckmann and Bent Viscaal completed the top ten to secure the front row for the 2021 Baku Sprint Race 2.

Background
Over two years after F2's last visit to the Baku City Circuit the class of 2021 would gather in the paddock at the temporary circuit in the Azerbaijani capital for the third round of the season. The Baku circuit itself was unchanged from F2's previous visit, with the two DRS zones remaining on the start/finish straight and between turns two and three.

Feature Formation
The grid for the first race around Baku in two years would be formed on Friday, with the new-for-2021 weekend format seeing qualifying for Sunday's Feature Race used to set the grid for the opening Sprint Race. Liam Lawson would secure pole position for the Feature Race, although the reverse-grid rule saw the New Zealander start from tenth in the Sprint Race 1. Instead, it was Robert Shwartzman who would start from pole in the opening Sprint, with Jehan Daruvala starting alongside him.

Budget Boundaries
Ahead of the third round of the season there would be news regarding several drivers and their struggles and successes and securing funding for their seats on the 2021 grid. The main victim ahead of the Baku round would be Gianluca Petecof, who announced that he would not be taking any further part in the F2 season after running out of funding to retain his seat in the #20 Campos. The Brazilian's seat was subsequently taken up by Matteo Nannini ahead of the Baku round, with the Italian youth declaring that he would take over the seat for the rest of the season, despite having left HWA Racelab after the opening round due to funding issues.

Elsewhere, Jack Aitken confirmed that he would compete in Baku for HWA Racelab in Nannini's former car, while Richard Verschoor revealed that he would continue to fill the #11 MP Motorsport entry in Baku.

Monte Carlo Moves
Guanyu Zhou would end the trip to Monte Carlo with his Championship lead intact after claiming fifth and fastest lap in the Monaco Feature Race, a result which left the Chinese ace on 68 points for the campaign. Oscar Piastri was his closest challenger in second, sixteen off the lead and the best rookie in the field, five ahead of fellow rookie and race winner Théo Pourchaire after his maiden triumph. Dan Ticktum was next up ahead of Liam Lawson, the third rookie in the top five, while pre-season favourite Robert Shwartzman found himself in sixth, with less than half the points of the early leader.

In the Teams' Championship UNI-Virtuosi would retain their early lead in the title hunt, the British squad having moved to within three points of the 100 point mark after the first six races of the campaign. That left them fifteen clear of Prema Racing in second, with the defending Champions themselves having moved ahead of Carlin after their biggest single-race score of the season to that point. ART Grand Prix were next up in fourth ahead of Hitech Grand Prix, with the top five all having more than double the points of MP Motorsport in sixth.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:
 * * Placeholder liveries are show for the second drivers in each team.

Grid
The grid for the first Sprint Race was set by reversing the top ten finishers in qualifying for the Feature Race, as per the updated FIA Formula 2 Championship rules for 2021.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Drugovich served a ten second time penalty for causing a collision with Piastri.

Milestones

 * Fifth victory for Robert Shwartzman.
 * Twentieth victory for Prema Racing as an entrant in Formula 2.
 * 29th win for Prema at GP2/F2 level.
 * Maiden fastest lap recorded by Théo Pourchaire.

Standings
Guanyu Zhou had managed to eek out his lead atop the Championship after his podium finish in the opening race in Baku, the Chinese ace having moved onto 78 points for the campaign. Théo Pourchaire, meanwhile, was up to second, 23 points behind the leader, while Oscar Piastri had slipped to third after his non-score. Dan Ticktum, meanwhile, had held station in fourth, while race winner Robert Shwartzman was up to fifth, 42 points off the lead.

In the Teams' Championship UNI-Virtuosi had remained at the head of the field, and were the first team to break the 100 point barrier as they moved onto 107 points for the campaign. Their lead had been cut to just ten points however, with Prema Racing having moved onto 97 points after Shwartzman's win. The Italian squad were then ten ahead of third placed Carlin, while ART Grand Prix and Hitech Grand Prix completed the top five.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.