2018 Baku Sprint Race

The 2018 Baku Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2018 Baku Race 2, was the fourth race of the 2018 FIA Formula Two Championship, staged at the Baku City Circuit on the 29 April 2018. The race, which was staged in support of the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, would see George Russell claim victory after getting "robbed" of the chance to do so in the earlier Feature Race.

Roberto Merhi would start the race from pole after finishing eighth in the Feature Race, but a slow start ultimately saw Nicholas Latifi streak into the lead, followed by Ralph Boschung. Sérgio Sette Câmara also blasted past Merhi before the Spaniard had sorted himself out, with Lando Norris and Russell on his heels.

Câmara would elbow his way past Boschung during the early stages, leaving the Swiss rookie to tumble back towards Norris and Russell as they dealt with Merhi. Indeed, by the end of the third tour the two Brits were clear of the Swiss racer, while Câmara had gone surging past Latifi for the lead.

Norris' attack on Latifi ended with his Carlin shooting down an escape road, while Russell dealt with the Canadian a lap later with DRS. The ART Grand Prix pilot then set about reeling in Câmara, launching his first attack with five laps to go, briefly getting ahead before the Brazilian pulled back ahead out of turn one.

A lap later and Russell was through, blasting past Câmara into turn one despite the Brazilian's attempts to hold the inside line. The Brit duly pulled clear to claim victory two seconds clear of Câmara, before the Brazilian was disqualified for not having enough fuel. Nyck de Vries was therefore promoted to second having taken Latifi in the closing stages, with the Canadian racer just fending off Norris at the line.

Background
The second race of the Baku weekend would be staged on an unchanged Baku City Circuit, meaning all of the attention was on the fallout after the Feature Race. Indeed, George Russell had a bone to pick with Nyck de Vries after the Dutchman's move on Saturday, a dive for the lead that ultimately cost both a points finish. de Vries, for his part, stated he had wanted victory "a bit too much", and had lunged at Russell too early after the second restart.

In terms of the Championship, and pole and victory had shot Alexander Albon to the sharp end of the standings on Saturday, the Thai driver having the day just six points shy of Lando Norris. Sérgio Sette Câmara was next ahead of Artem Markelov, with the Russian racer starting the Sprint Race seventeen points behind the F2 rookie. Jack Aitken was another driver whom had made a huge leap up the table, moving to fifth, with Antonio Fuoco up in sixth after his podium finish.

Elsewhere, Carlin had extend their lead at the top of the Teams Championship after another strong afternoon, their advantage over the rest of the field standing at 36 points ahead of the second race. DAMS, meanwhile, were leading the chase against the British new boys courtesy of Albon's victory, and had overhauled Russian Time in the process. ART Grand Prix were fourth, two behind the Russian team, with Pertamina Prema next up having dropped to fifth on Saturday.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Grid
The grid for the fourth race of the 2018 campaign was formed from the finishing positions of the Feature Race, with the top eight reversed as per-FIA Formula Two rules.

Race
It was another gusty afternoon in Baku for the second Formula Two race of the weekend, with all the damage from the first race having been repaired. Indeed, the only absentee from the grid would be Feature race podium finisher Antonio Fuoco, whose afternoon was over after he suffered an electrical failure on the formation lap. Fortunately there were no further issues on the formation lap, with the entire field, including Fuoco before his failure, able to pull away from the grid without stalling.

Report
Unfortunately there would be stallers at the start proper, with Jack Aitken, Alexander Albon, Artem Markelov and Maximilian Günther all left on the grid. In the middle of the Aitken/Albon road block, Sean Gelael would get almost completely sideways, throwing his car around the stranded DAMS after making a strong start. The rest of the field fanned out around them without making contact, largely due to the large expanse of tarmac that was the start/finish straight.

At the front, meanwhile, pole sitter Roberto Merhi would make a poor getaway, gifting the lead to Nicholas Latifi into the first corner after he drove around Merhi's teammate Ralph Boschung. Behind Sérgio Sette Câmara bullied his way past teammate Lando Norris into the first corner, before blasting past Boschung into turn three. Norris, meanwhile, would have his mirrors full of a fast starting George Russell, while Aitken, Albon and Markalov joined the fray at the back of the field.

At the end of the opening lap Latifi still held the lead, although that would soon change as Câmara went charging past on the brakes on the outside of turn one. Boschung retained third ahead of Norris and Russell, while, further back, Nyck de Vries completed a dive on Tadasuke Makino. Roy Nissany was under attack from a group of cars behind, while, at the back of the field, Markelov came across the line, just in time to see his engine expire in his mirrors.

Boschung would have to put up a furious defence for third during the early stages, and duly denied Norris from taking the position with a lunge into turn one at the start of lap four. Norris then tried into turn two, forcing Boschung to take a tighter line, before using DRS on the back straight to pull right around the outside of the MP into turn three. He duly sprinted off to catch Latifi, while Russell had to wait until the end of lap seven to blast past the Swiss racer using DRS.

As Russell completed that move, Norris would send a dive inside Latifi into turn one, and looked to have pulled it off. However, momentum carried the Brit wide, and so Latifi was able to get back ahead into turn two, using the inside line, before using DRS to pull ahead into turn three. That allowed Russell to attack his compatriot at the end of the lap, just as Norris caught onto the back of Latifi as they blasted down the back straight.

Indeed, it would be three abreast for second as they completed the lap, with Russell diving to the inside, while Norris went to the outside of the Canadian. Ultimately that was the wrong move for the rookie to make, for he would run out of grip and disappear down the escape road as Latifi squeezed Russell on the inside. The Canadian racer duly held on to second ahead of Russell's ART Grand Prix, while Norris rejoined down in seventh.

Russell took another couple of laps to finally pass Latifi, the Brit pulling off an easy DRS fly-by down the start/finish straight at the end of lap ten. Behind him, de Vries also completed a long awaited overtake, diving inside Boshung into the first corner to claim fourth. Merhi was next just ahead of Norris, while Arjun Maini was enjoying a quiet afternoon at the back end of the points.

Norris would get in position to attack Merhi at the start of lap twelve, moments after teammate Câmara locked up into the first corner, costing himself a few tenths back to Russell. Norris, meanwhile, would try another ambitious move around the outside of turn one, resulting in him getting squeezed on the exit by Merhi. The Brit then drove around the outside of the Spaniard through turn two, just brushing the outside wall, while Maini managed to dart past the Spaniard into turn three, a more conventional dive up the inside doing the job.

Further back Sean Gelael would bury himself into the barriers at turn one all on his own, although that was fortunately removed without the need for a safety car. That meant that Russell would have to use his pace to catch Câmara out front, with the Brit duly getting in position to make a move into turn one on lap seventeen.

A long lunge from Russell up the inside of Câmara into turn one seemed to get the job done, only for the Brazilian to surge back up his inside into turn two. The pair then diced down the back straight, with Russell weaving around behind the Carlin, before the Brazilian claimed the inside line for turn three. Momentum would ultimately carry Câmara wide on the exit of the corner after a small lock up, although he had just enough room to not only make the corner, but also keep Russell at bay.

Come the end of lap seventeen and Russell finally got the job done, an excellent run out of turn sixteen seeing him charge past Câmara down the start finish straight. The Brazilian did his best to try and sneak back past the Brit into the first corner, but Russell swept ahead on the brakes and held the position. Câmara then dropped too far back through turn two the challenge later in the lap.

Two laps to go and Latifi was defending heavily from de Vries into turn one, moving to the middle of the circuit to force the Dutchman to go around the outside into the 90° left. It was enough of a defence from the Canadian, although de Vries would get a good run through turn two to blast past into turn three using DRS. However, Latifi would not allow the Dutchman to escape, and duly harassed the Prema to the line.

With that the race was run, with Russell able to cruise home two seconds clear of Câmara, who would run out of fuel after crossing the line resulting in his eventual disqualification. de Vries was therefore promoted to second ahead of Latifi, while Norris recovered to a strong fourth ahead of Maini. A late charge from Santino Ferrucci saw him claim his first points of the season, while Boschung scrapped with teammate Merhi on the final lap to hold on for seventh.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Aitken set the fastest lap of the race, but did not finish in the top eight.
 * † Günther was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.
 * ‡ Câmara was disqualified from the result as he did not have enough fuel to take a sample at the end of the race.
 * § Fuoco was unable to start after picking up an electrical failure before the race.

Milestones

 * First victory for George Russell in Formula Two.
 * ART Grand Prix claimed their third victory as an entrant in F2.
 * Also their 51st victory at GP2/F2 level.
 * Maiden points finish for Arjun Maini.

Standings
Despite failing to stand on the podium again, Lando Norris had seen his Championship lead extended as a result of the second Baku race, the Brit leaving Azerbaijan with a fourteen point advantage. Alexander Albon retained second a point clear of Sérgio Sette Câmara, who would have been in second, a point behind his Championship leading teammate had he not been disqualified. Artem Markelov was next ahead of Nyck de Vries, while George Russell's maiden victory saw him move into the top six.

In the Teams Championship it was still Carlin who topped the standings after the Baku races, leaving the Black Sea coast with 95 points to their name. Indeed, the new F2 squad were 34 points clear of veterans DAMS after four rounds, with the French squad themselves in a solid second. ART Grand Prix were next ahead of Pertamina Prema, while Trident were finally on the board in ninth.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.