Ollie Bearman takes his first win in FIA Formula 2, securing a PREMA 1-2 after leaders crash out at the Safety Car restart.

Reverse grid pole-sitter, Richard Verschoor was only able to keep his lead for a short amount of time before making contact with the wall at Turn 1. He retired just one lap later with damage to the front of his car, giving the lead to Maloney.

A puncture for Maloney  then forced him into the pits after making contact with the spinning VAR of Verschoor on the opening lap. He later retired on Lap 4 with suspension damage.

Dennis Hauger took the lead, taking advantage of the front-runners’ misfortune. After the chaos of the first few laps, Victor Martins was behind Hauger in second, the pair very closely matched throughout the opening stages of the race.

The next driver to hit the wall in Baku to bring out the Safety Car was Campos’ Ralph Boschung. He was fighting for fifth position until a light tap to the wall while exiting the castle section damaged his suspension, seeing him pull over and retire from the race.

Championship leader, Ayumu Iwasa didn’t take any points home from the Sprint Race in Baku after an hydraulics issue left him with the DRS on his DAMS stuck open. He pulled into the pits on Lap 11 to retire the car.

Roy Nissany brought out the second Safety Car, he ran wide on the exit of Turn 15. He was running a great race until that point, making up nine place from his grid position.

The Safety Car restart saw six cars out of the race, including the leading pair of Hauger and Martins. Hauger hit the wall at Turn 1 after running wide and was followed by Martins.

Jehan Daruvala behind Martins found himself with nowhere to go, leading him to crash into the same spot, his MP Motorsport lodged underneath but thankfully all drivers are okay.

Also involved were, Théo Pourchaire and Arthur Leclerc who both ran wide at the same corner and Jack Doohan who locked up and spun before the reaching the first turn.

The race finished under the Safety Car and Ollie Bearman came out on top after a great overtake on his team mate, Frederik Vesti for the win of the race. Bearman starts on pole for tomorrow’s Feature Race, despite steering issues in Qualifying.

P9 ?? RACE WINNER!

? Olli Bearman wins the #F2 Sprint Race in Baku.
? Frederik Vesti
? Jak Crawford

1-2 for @PREMA_Team ?#Formula2 #RoadToF1 #AzerbaijanGP ?? https://t.co/T8hGYUjuEv via @YouTube

— ?????? F2.COM (@F2Inside) April 29, 2023

Image: Formula Motorsport Limited