Motor
Formula 2 2024 season: Why did a huge crash occur in Azerbaijan?
by Samarth Kanal
5min read
The 2024 Azerbaijan Formula 2 round was characterised by a spectacular crash in the feature race, while drivers struggled for grip throughout the weekend.
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Richard Verschoor took victory in the feature race for Trident despite damaging his car’s steering column by hitting the walls on entry to the pits, and Invicta Racing’s Gabriele Bortoleto left Baku as championship leader after his rival Campos Racing driver Isack Hadjar failed to score points.
We look at the factors that led to the crash at the start of the Baku feature race - and how the drivers walked away unhurt - and other technical talking points including an unprecedented penalty, track evolution, and the realities of F2 funding.
Why did the Baku F2 crash occur?
The feature race in Azerbaijan was shaped by a massive lap one crash after which red flags were immediately flown and a lengthy stoppage followed to clean up oil and debris.
As the lights went out, Kush Maini stalled his Invicta Racing car and he was collected by MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe. Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti then hit the stationary car and was flipped upside down.
The halo is the key device that keeps drivers protected from head impacts, which is why Marti was able to walk away unharmed.
The halo is a titanium structure that surrounds the driver’s head, with a mass of 7 kilogrammes. The F2 halo is built to Formula 1 specifications, which means it’s designed to withstand a 125kN static load and the impact of an F1 tyre at 140mph.
F2 cars also include strong crash structures to protect the driver from multiple angles, built to FIA specifications.
The stricken Campos Racing car of Pepe Marti after the F2 feature race crash in Azerbaijan
Pepe Marti walks away from the crash at the start of the F2 feature race at Baku
Furthermore, the pitwall is cleared of personnel at the start of the race which means flying debris can’t harm anyone close by.
While drivers were relieved that those involved in the incident were unharmed, and they praised some of the FIA’s safety measures, they did criticise the failure of antistall - a feature that engages the clutch when engine revolutions are too low - in this particular incident.
“Of course we have antistall now but apparently it didn’t work, and something happened in the end. The championship is trying to improve, which they are doing very well,” said feature race winner Verschoor.
ART Grand Prix driver and podium finisher Victor Martins added that Marti’s safety was “the most important” thing but added: “I don’t know, we have antistall from this year. For sure they are trying their best, the championship, the FIA, to make it work, to make it consistent…
The FIA meanwhile found Maini to blame for the crash and gave him a five-place grid penalty that will be served in Qatar.
F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel maintained that the safety systems on the F2 car had worked as intended and Maini made a mistake in Azerbaijan.
Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar hops out of his car on Friday in Baku
Hadjar hit by qualifying penalty
Hadjar locked up at the end of qualifying on Friday and ended up a provisional 15th on the grid, but his situation was worsened by a penalty that was the first of its kind in F2.
Hadjar’s Campos Racing team-mate Marti locked up and hit the wall at Turn 1 and, immediately afterwards, Hadjar did exactly the same thing - ending up next to his team-mate in the barriers.
The Frenchman was then found to have fallen foul of Article 33.5 of the FIA F2 sporting regulations that penalises any driver who is found to be the “sole cause of the issuance of a red flag” during qualifying.
The driver, who led the championship entering Baku, therefore had his fastest qualifying laptime deleted and started the sprint and feature races from 20th on the grid.
He left Azerbaijan without scoring points - for the second-straight weekend - and now trails Bortoleto by 4.5 points.
What is a ‘green’ track? Track evolution explained
There were numerous on-track incidents during F2 practice and qualifying this weekend at Baku, and much of this was down to the ‘green’ surface.
A track surface is dubbed ‘green’ when there is very little grip on it.
There’s little grip to be found at the beginning of a race weekend because the track surface is dusty and dirty.
The track is like this at the beginning of a race weekend because there hasn’t been any action on track, which leads to cars shedding residual rubber onto the racing line that gets caked into the surface and provides extra grip.
As Baku City Circuit is not a permanent racing track but a public road, there isn’t a foundation of rubber caked into the circuit before F2 arrives. Furthermore, given the city is so windy, dust from trees and the seaside is constantly being blown onto the track surface.
Grip was therefore at a premium during Friday practice and qualifying for the F2 races and all 22 drivers struggled. Furthermore, rainfall in the middle of F2 practice made conditions even more difficult and washed away a small amount of rubber.
Gabriele Mini (Prema) traverses the winding Castle section at Baku City Circuit with the surface still light grey - indicating that little rubber has been laid onto the track
The F2 drivers did not however foresee just how slippery the Baku City Circuit surface would be.
Pole-sitter Verschoor commented that the work he did to prepare in Trident’s simulator didn’t pay off as the points he memorised to brake and turn were deemed redundant by the lack of grip.
He said: “The track was so dirty, all the reference points I had from last year were not there anymore.
“Actually, we were struggling a lot in FP [free practice]. I didn’t do it but usually, you always try to get your reference points from the simulator; now we couldn’t take anything from that.”
Foliage also contributes to the track conditions problem
Residual rubber on the surface of Circuit of The Americas, a permanent racing venue that hosts the United States Grand Prix
Kimi Antonelli, who finished third in the feature race for Prema, added: “I was pretty shocked by the grip levels in FP because obviously I did a couple of city tracks this season.
“And then when I did lap one [of the sprint race in Baku] I thought it was wet! I thought with rain tyres, it would have been a bit quicker! There was no real cleaning of the track. It felt really dirty. Also from the trees, it’s a bit hard to manage, it’s really dirty. And then off line there’s completely no grip.”
The track did however evolve. This is when rubber shod from tyres becomes caked into the surface, track temperatures increase with cars running on the racing line, and cars blow dust off the racing line.
However, without any Porsche Supercup or F1 Academy races on the undercard, there was even less opportunity for rubber to be laid down in Baku. This was noted not only by the F2 drivers, but the F1 drivers too.
The FIA does brush away dust from the surface using sweeping trucks, while events such as Pirelli Hot Laps and safety car tests do add a tiny bit of grip to the surface, but in the case of Baku it’s difficult to add much grip using those methods.
Of course, with the racing line evolving into a more grippy surface, the flipside is that the area off the racing line becomes even more slippery as that’s where the dust and debris ends up.
At Baku, this made overtaking difficult - with drivers reluctant to veer from the racing line in order to mount attacks through the corners. Despite that, Joshua Duerksen managed to win his first F2 race for PHM AIX Racing with first place in Saturday’s sprint race, before Verschoor took victory in the following day’s feature race.
Zak O’Sullivan celebrating his victory for ART Grand Prix in the 2024 Belgian F2 sprint race
The costs of driving in F2
Zak O’Sullivan was a notable absence from the F2 grid in Azerbaijan and for an unusual reason: the ART Grand Prix driver did not have the requisite funding to compete in the championship.
He posted on X before the event: “Unfortunately in our sport, there are more factors at play than just the stopwatch. The simple issue comes down to funding, I won’t be able to complete this F2 season with ART GP.”
The 19-year-old Williams F1 junior driver has picked up two wins in his maiden F2 season but, after the round at Monza, Italy, he stepped out of the ART Grand Prix seat and made way for F3 graduate Luke Browning.
Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso, who manages young drivers including F2 title leader Bortoleto, explained: “I think we all will agree that motorsport is extremely expensive right now, not only from the top categories. I think karting became a little bit too much, you know, €200,000, €250,000 for a season in karting now; it seems not [a] logical starting point for any motorsport enthusiast.
“So, yeah. It's not an easy fix. And I don't know how it could be policed in a way. But yeah, I think we are all concerned about that.”
Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, who won the 2006 GP2 Series title (the predecessor to F2) said that “it’s definitely concerning” that costs continue to increase for drivers in junior series.
“I recently heard that, also, in karting, kids aren’t going to school anymore… To get your licence you must have to stay in school and get your education. Over 99% probably of the drivers don’t get to Formula 1, probably more, and it would be great for them to have something to be able to fall back on.
Lewis Hamilton won the 2006 GP2 Series title with ART Grand Prix before stepping up to Formula 1 with McLaren
Meanwhile, Alpine F1 driver Pierre Gasly said: “It's definitely a talking point because over the last eight years, I think the price [of competing in F2 has] already doubled.
“So when I'm hearing what the price is in Formula 2 compared to where they were before, and you are talking about two million plus [Euros], without any guarantee you're going to make it to a professional level and be able to live off the sport… I completely agree that is something we've got to address.”
F2 drivers fund their campaigns using sponsorship money and, if they’re part of an F1 team’s academy, they might get some extra funding from the F1 team.
O’Sullivan has meanwhile asked for local businesses to help him fund his junior career in the hopes that he can return to F2 - or a similarly competitive form of motorsport.