The 12th round of the World Championship will take place this weekend in Azerbaijan

Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto is in Baku, Azerbaijan, this weekend, where he will compete in the 12th round of the F2 World Championship on the city’s street circuit.
Following an impeccable performance in the last round in Italy, where he went from last place to win the race, the young Brazilian has positioned himself in direct contention for the season title. Currently, with 154.5 points, the São Paulo driver is in second place in the Championship, just 10.5 points behind the leader, Frenchman Isac Hadjar.
Despite being well-ranked in the competition, 2024 marks Gabriel’s debut year in Formula 2, and the track in Azerbaijan’s capital is new to the Brazilian, who had never competed there in previous categories. Although it is a street circuit, the Baku track extends over an impressive 6,003 meters and has 20 corners. The track layout, which combines very wide sections with extremely narrow ones, presents different challenges for the drivers throughout the laps. The current record was set in 2017 by Charles Leclerc, with a time of 1:52.129. The Sprint Race, which will be held on Saturday, will have 21 laps, and the Feature Race on Sunday will total 29 laps.

BUSY FRIDAY

On the morning of Friday the 13th, track activities for the event began. First, there was the only free practice session, followed hours later by the qualifying session. The practice was marked by two red flags, which disrupted the entire testing schedule planned by the Invicta Racing team.
Almost in the dark, Bortoleto then moved on to the qualifying session that would define the starting grid for the weekend’s two races. Cautiously, with the first set of new tires, Gabriel set a good pace and, on a 100% safe lap, clocked in a time of 1:56.516, giving him the seventh-best mark at that moment. A few minutes later, all cars returned to the track with a second set of tires for another attempt at a fast lap. Gabriel, after a warm-up lap, was about to start his flying lap when a new red flag was raised, forcing him to return to the pits. At this point, there were just over 4 minutes left in the session. All cars went back to the pits, and when the track reopened, the only option was to complete a warm-up lap and set his best time in a single lap. Gabriel improved his time by almost 1.2 seconds, securing the sixth-best mark with a time of 1:55.330. As a result, the Brazilian will start in fifth position in the Sprint Race and sixth in the Feature Race.
“I believe we achieved a very solid result in today’s qualifying. We must keep our heads focused on the two races. Certainly, our goal is to develop a good strategy for both situations and work to accumulate as many points as possible. Overall, I feel we had a strong start here in Baku,” analyzed the driver sponsored by McLaren, Banco BRB, Porto, Snapdragon, and Barthelemy.
Check out the race schedules below, which will be broadcasted live on the subscription channel Band Sports (Brasília Time).
Saturday (September 14) 07:15 – 08:00 | Sprint Race
Sunday (September 15) 04:35 – 05:40 | Feature Race

Pictures: Disclosure
Press Office of Gabriel Bortoleto
Responsible journalist: Flávio Quick