Tag: Oliver Bearman

Baku Breakdown: Verstappen Untouchable, Crawford and Beganovic Rise, Sainz Podiums

Baku Breakdown: Verstappen Untouchable, Crawford and Beganovic Rise, Sainz Podiums

The streets of Baku never fail. From curbs coming loose in practice to six red flags in Formula 1 qualifying, from Formula 2 rookies finding walls to Williams finally finding a podium, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend delivered its trademark mix of chaos and coronation.

Formula 1: Verstappen Dominates, McLaren Fumbles

Qualifying was carnage: strong winds and six red flags in total. Alex Albon clipped Turn 1 and broke his suspension, Nico Hülkenberg destroyed his front wing, both Alpines ended in the runoff or the wall. Q2 featured Oliver Bearman’s car crabbing before he even set a time, Charles Leclerc going wide on back-to-back laps, and Lewis Hamilton missing out alongside both Aston Martins. Q3 was capped by Leclerc’s heavy hit at Turn 15 and Oscar Piastri crashing hard again, badly damaging his McLaren. Max Verstappen had the final say with a near flawless lap that snatched pole from Carlos Sainz.

Sunday somehow saw all 20 cars start despite Saturday’s carnage. Piastri jumped the lights, hesitated, and was swallowed by the pack. Overdriving in recovery mode, he crashed out by Turn 5 — a brutal weekend for the Aussie.

Albon, starting deep, lost patience with Franco Colapinto, forced the issue without track position, clipped him, shed part of his front wing, and picked up a 10-second penalty.

At the sharp end, Verstappen was untouchable. George Russell gave chase but never got close, while Carlos Sainz pulled Williams to its first podium of the year — more than doubling his season points tally in one go.

The McLaren misery continued: Norris’s race was undone by another slow stop, this one over four seconds thanks to a sticky right-front. Instead of coming out clear of Liam Lawson’s DRS train and fighting Antonelli for fourth, he rejoined behind it and never escaped, finishing seventh.

Top 3: Verstappen, Russell, Sainz

Formula 2: Crawford Cashes In, Beganovic Bags Podium

F2 qualifying was as red-flagged as F1’s. Amaury Cordeel and Victor Martins both found the barriers, then Roman Staněk rejoined dangerously and plowed into John Bennett — session over, Jak Crawford on pole.

The sprint was messy before the stream even stabilized. By lap 5 three cars were already out, the safety car was heading in, and both Trident seats had been filled by F3 call-ups Laurens van Hoepen and Martinius Stenshorne. Stenshorne’s debut ended early with a retirement that triggered a VSC and then a full safety car. Dino Beganovic inherited the lead in the early chaos and never let it go, winning ahead of Luke Browning to give Hitech its first 1–2 since 2020.

The feature had Leonardo Fornaroli leapfrogging Crawford into Turn 1, but lap 5 struck again: Stenshorne in the wall, safety car, nearly the whole field pitting. Fornaroli lost out badly in pit traffic, boxed in and shuffled back. Browning’s runoff excursion ended his hopes, and later Fornaroli rear-ended Alex Dunne. Both continued, but Dunne eventually retired and Fornaroli picked up a 10-second penalty.

Crawford reclaimed the lead after the safety car and managed the race to the end despite heavy pressure from Joshua Durksen. Fornaroli crossed third but was demoted, promoting Beganovic to the podium once again.

Sprint Top 3: Beganovic, Browning, Fornaroli
Feature Top 3: Crawford, Durksen, Beganovic

Formula 3: Quiet Stage, Ripple Effects

With its season wrapped the previous in Monza, Formula 3 sat out Baku. But its fingerprints were still there — most notably in Trident’s promotion of Van Hoepen and Stenshorne to F2, both finding out the hard way just how punishing Baku’s walls can be.

The Takeaway

Baku’s streets chewed up suspensions, tires, and egos — then spit out storylines. Max Verstappen delivered a statement win, reminding McLaren’s surging duo that Red Bull’s ace still sets the standard. Jak Crawford finally turned pole into victory in Formula 2, while Dino Beganovic quietly pieced together another podium-heavy weekend highlighed by his first F2 win. And Carlos Sainz gave Williams champagne to spray, their rebuild now real and measurable.

Same old Baku: brutal, unpredictable, unforgettable.

Monza Madness: Verstappen Ends Pole Curse, Browning Breaks Through, and Inthraphuvasak Seals Campos Glory

Monza Madness: Verstappen Ends Pole Curse, Browning Breaks Through, and Inthraphuvasak Seals Campos Glory

The Temple of Speed lived up to its billing as Monza delivered a weekend of chaos, heartbreak, and breakthrough triumphs across Formula 1, Formula 2, and Formula 3. From Max Verstappen finally ending a six-year curse to Luke Browning grabbing his first F2 win, and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak firing Campos to a historic F3 title, the Italian weekend had it all.

Formula 1: Verstappen Survives McLaren Crossfire

The race began before the lights even went out, with Nico Hülkenberg pulling into the pit lane on the formation lap and retiring immediately. Only 17 cars actually took the grid, as Hadjar and Gasly also started from the pits.

At lights out, Lando Norris was shoved onto the grass down the front stretch, while Verstappen cut the first chicane to hang onto the lead. To avoid the stewards’ wrath, he finally ceded the spot to Norris down the main straight to complete lap one.

Early pit strategies kicked off with Oliver Bearman diving in at the end of lap 18, but his undercut attempt on Yuki Tsunoda fizzled—though he made the pass on track with warmer tires soon after. Gravel at Lesmo two briefly looked like it might be a hazard, but it stayed safely off line.

Fernando Alonso’s day ended on lap 25 with suspension failure, and things only escalated from there. Lawson and Tsunoda made contact, Verstappen developed visible blistering on his tires by lap 30, and on lap 41 Bearman and Carlos Sainz tangled, sending both spinning. The stewards slapped Bearman with a 10-second penalty.

McLaren drama lit up the final stint: Norris lost out to Oscar Piastri after a brutal six-second pit stop, only to be gifted the place back via team orders with five laps remaining. Free to race, Norris held second to the flag.

Up front, Verstappen never cracked. He became the first pole-sitter to win at Monza since 2019, finishing ahead of Norris and Piastri. Alexander Albon’s P7 result pushed Williams to 86 points—already more than the team scored in the previous seven seasons combined. Kimi Antonelli crossed the line in eighth but was bumped to ninth by a penalty for erratic driving.

Top 3: Verstappen, Norris, Piastri

Standings snapshot: Oscar Piastri leads the Drivers’ Championship on 324 points, 31 clear of teammate Norris. Verstappen sits third on 230. McLaren (617) nearly doubles Ferrari (280) in the Constructors’. Williams’ 86 is its best season in a decade.

Formula 2: Browning Breaks Through

Qualifying set the tone with three red flags, the last triggered by Richard Verschoor crashing into the wall. That handed Luke Browning pole. The sprint was wild as ever: Zane Maloney spun into the gravel on lap two, bringing out the safety car, and Leonardo Fornaroli capitalized to win.

The feature, though, belonged to Browning. He nailed the start but was quickly chased down by Joshua Durksen, who made an early move for the lead. Goethe’s strategy was undone when Dunne’s crash brought out the safety car right after Goethe had pitted—dumping him to eighth while rivals boxed under yellow.

The restart carnage was pure F2. Shields hit the wall just as the race was about to resume, then Arvid Lindblad locked up massively into turn one, clattering Stanek and dragging Victor Martins into the wreck. All four retired, another safety car deployed. At the second restart, Durksen stole the lead from Browning, while Sami Meguetounif spun through the runoff.

But Browning wasn’t done. On lap 19 he retook the lead, controlled the chaos, and drove on to his first Formula 2 victory. Durksen and Pepe Martí joined him on the podium.

Top 3: Browning, Durksen, Martí

Standings snapshot: Browning’s breakthrough vaults him to the championship lead on 174 points, with Fornaroli (153) and Verschoor (144) still in the hunt. The title fight remains alive heading into the fall stretch.

Formula 3: Inthraphuvasak Ignites Campos

Rafael Câmara arrived at Monza already crowned champion, so the spotlight shifted to the fight for second in the Drivers’ standings and the Constructors’ title between Campos and Trident.

Qualifying had been split, with Ugo Ugochukwu and Brad Benavides topping their groups to set up an all-American front row. The sprint race went to Tim Tramnitz, but the finale was where the fireworks truly lit.

The feature began with a lap-one safety car after Charlie Wurz was caught up, and it didn’t slow down. Benavides and Ugochukwu swapped positions. So many safety cars as another came out was out as Ugochukwu spun into the gravel after hitting debris on the racing line.

Benavides and Nikola Tsolov then went back and forth for the lead around lap 13, Benavides hanging on at the end of the lap. But lap 17 was decisive—Inthraphuvasak launched into Turn 1 and swept past both Benavides and Tsolov in a single move to take control.

Câmara, starting all the way back in 30th, staged a furious charge through the field and ended up P5, a fitting exclamation point to his dominant season.

Inthraphuvasak’s victory sealed Campos’ first ever FIA Formula 3 Teams’ Championship, with Tsolov’s runner-up finish enough to secure second in the Drivers’ standings.

Top 3: Inthraphuvasak, Tsolov, Noel León

Standings snapshot: Câmara ends champion on 166 points, Tsolov second on 124, Mari Boya third on 116. Campos Racing clinched the Teams’ title over Trident, 314 to 303.

The Takeaway

Monza delivered on every front. Formula 1 saw Verstappen break the pole curse while McLaren’s team orders kept the championship story simmering. Formula 2 once again proved it’s the sport’s chaos engine, with Luke Browning finally turning promise into silverware. And Formula 3’s curtain call crowned Campos, Tsolov, and Inthraphuvasak in a finale worthy of the season.

The Temple of Speed might as well be renamed the Temple of Storylines.

2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Recap

The streets of Baku are are typically good for some wild action, but the weekend’s featured races were actually rather calm compared to other years. The non-featured races were a whole different story though, especially the F2 sprint.

In qualifying, American Brad Benavides crashed bringing out a red flag leading to him starting at the back of the field in both the sprint and featured race, two races he ended up not finishing either. The big incident of the weekend though came at the end of the sprint when a massive crash in turn one took out six cars.

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The driver of the weekend in F2 is unquestionably Oliver Bearman, who had the fastest lap in practice, qualified in pole position, won the sprint, and stood atop the podium in the featured race. American Jak Crawford snuck onto the podium in the sprint finishing third and came away with another point finishing tenth in the featured race. Championship leader coming into the weekend Ayumu Iwasa really struggled, qualifying 17th, retiring during the sprint, and finishing twelfth on Sunday finishing the weekend with zero points, allowing Theo Pourchaire to take over as the Championship leader after four weekends.

The F1 weekend was the first double qualifying weekend with there only being a single practice on Friday followed by the featured race qualifying. Then Saturday had the sprint qualifying followed by the sprint race, then the traditional Sunday featured race.

Pierre Gasly had a Friday to forget as smoke came pouring out of his car in practice and he found the wall later on in Q1that also saw Carlos Sainz and Zhou Guanyu spin and Nyck de Vries hit the wall. The surprise in Q2 was Sainz off the track again and George Russell in the Mercedes that had so many upgrades in the month break missed Q3. Ultimately it was Charles Leclerc getting a Baku hat trick, grabbing his third consecutive pole in Azerbaijan.

Leclerc continued his qualifying dominance in the sprint qualifying, grabbing pole there as well. The sprint race saw Leclerc hold on for a bit before Sergio Perez was able to get by and dominate the race, finishing nearly 4.5 seconds ahead of Leclerc, with Max Vertappen also making the podium.

Unlike a year ago when Perez beat Leclerc to the first turn, Leclerc held onto the lead early on Sunday, but eventually lost his spot to Verstappen and not long after Perez, as the Red Bulls looked were easily the fastest cars on the track yet again. On lap 10, de Vries went down the escape road that led to a safety car, but before the safety car was determined, Verstappen entered the pit lane, costing his multiple positions. Perez took over the lead of the race and got his pit in during the safety car and didn’t look back completing the double finishing two seconds ahead of his teammate. Leclerc held onto third despite being more than 21 seconds behind Perez, but it did give Ferrari their first podium on a Sunday this season.

With two laps to go George Russel pit for soft tires and managed to secure the fastest lap on the final lap of the day, earning himself an extra point.

With the double, Perez has closed the gap to Verstappen who now only holds a six point lead at the top of the driver standings, while Fernando Alonso is 27 points behind Perez. Red Bull has more than double their nearest competitor in the constructor standings, as it appears they will be running away with that championship this season.

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Meanwhile, in Austria the F1 Academy got underway, with Abbi Pulling grabbing herself a double podium, but it was Marta Garcia who stole the weekend. While Amna Al Qubaisi won the middle race of the weekend, Garcia found herself on top of the podium twice, including the first ever F1 Academy race. Garcia came away with 58 points this weekend, while Al Qubaisi securing 36 points, and her younger sister Hamda finishing the weekend with 26 points, one more than Pulling.

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