Formula 2: Shwartzman wins in Baku

The Russian Ferrari Driver Academy member took his first win of the season in Azerbaijan, dominating the first race of the weekend. Robert got more points in the second race in which he finished fifth.

Robert Shwartzman took a lights to flag win, leading the whole way, making no mistakes in the 21 lap opening race of the weekend. Robert drove impeccably to finish over five seconds ahead of second placed Dan Ticktum.

Satisfaction. “It’s great to see the world from the top step of the podium again,” commented Shwartzman. “It took us a bit of time to put everything together, but I think this win is a good starting point for the championship fight,” commented Robert. “I knew that today, the start would be a crucial moment and I got away well to keep the lead. Then the Safety Car came out and I concentrated on keeping the brakes and tyres up to temperature. At the restart, everything went according to plan and I worked on immediately building up a good enough lead so that those behind couldn't use DRS on me. I always had a good feeling with the car and lap after lap, I could see the performance getting better and that was the case all the way to the chequered flag.”

Classification. Because of the reversed grid, Shwartzman started the second race in Baku today from tenth place. “The idea was to get a good start and keep out of trouble on the first lap and that’s how it worked out,” explained Robert. “Then, I was in a train of cars and as we all had DRS there was no advantage.” After a few laps, Shwartzman had moved up to sixth place and then fifth at half distance, maintaining that position to the flag. A good points haul today sees Robert move up to fifth in the standings, in which the gaps are very close, so that he is just four points off second place. “It’s a long season and every point counts,” concluded Robert. “Now the aim is to end the weekend well in tomorrow’s race.”

Points. Marcus Armstrong also picked up points thanks to a seventh place finish in Race 1. Unfortunately, the New Zealander retired from the second race following an incident when he was fighting for a place on the podium. Marcus will have another chance to do well in tomorrow’s Feature Race, which he will start from sixth place, while Shwartzman starts from the fifth row.