Câmara’s bad morning. The Invicta driver qualified well, ahead of Tsolov in both sessions, but his Sprint unravelled at the first corner. He locked up, made contact with Mari Boya and picked up a 10-second penalty that dropped him to 16th, out of the points.

Tsolov limits the damage. Starting from reverse-grid pole, the Campos driver couldn’t hold on for the win as his rear tyres faded. But fifth place and four points were enough to add to his lead, which is exactly what a championship leader needs on a weekend like this.

Rodin’s qualifying masterclass. Dunne and Stenshorne took first and second in both qualifying sessions. They start both Feature Races from the front row, and they’re the favourites for the big points on Friday afternoon and Saturday.

The mood in the paddock reflects that. With so much uncertainty over the remaining calendar, every team is treating Baku as if it could be the final chance to score points. That makes the racing more aggressive, which partly explains the incidents in the Sprint. Expect the same intensity in both Feature Races.

Because Baku has two Feature Races this year, there were two qualifying sessions on Thursday. Q1 set the grid for Feature Race 1 (and the top 10 reversed for the Sprint), while Q2 set the grid for Feature Race 2. Rodin Motorsport topped both.

For the title fight, qualifying went Câmara’s way. He was fifth and third, while Tsolov was tenth and eighth. On a street circuit where overtaking in the tight middle sector is difficult, that gave Câmara a clear head start for both Feature Races. It also meant Tsolov inherited pole for the Sprint, because the Q1 top 10 is reversed for Friday morning’s race.

The format change is unusual for F2. On a normal weekend there is one qualifying session: its result sets the Feature Race grid, and the top 10 are reversed for the Sprint. In Baku, a second session was added to set the grid for the extra Feature Race. That gives drivers two chances to get qualifying right, but it also doubles the pressure, because a poor lap in either session now costs a whole race’s worth of track position.

Rodin’s pace was striking. Dunne was two-hundredths clear of Stenshorne in Q1, and Stenshorne was more than four-tenths quicker than anyone in Q2. Dunne, fourth in the championship, now has a real chance of getting into the title picture if he converts his poles into wins. Each pole is worth two points in F2, and those are already banked.

The Sprint was chaotic from the start. Câmara locked up into the first corner and tagged Mari Boya, which earned him a 10-second penalty. Boya crashed at Turn 2 soon after, bringing out the first safety car. A second one followed when Joshua Dürksen hit the wall at Turn 1. There were other incidents too: Oliver Goethe misjudged his braking and took out Gabriele Mini, and Ritomo Miyata and Noel León collided at Turn 1.

Through it all, Dino Beganovic kept his head. The DAMS driver moved to the front and held on to win, with Trident’s Laurens van Hoepen second and Rodin’s Alex Dunne third. Dunne also took the fastest lap bonus point. Tsolov, who started from pole, faded to fifth as his rear tyres went off. For a driver whose job this weekend is to protect a lead, four points were a decent outcome.

For Beganovic, the win was a timely reminder of his speed after a season in which results have been harder to come by than his qualifying pace suggested. Sixth in the championship, he’s too far back to be a title factor, but a win in front of Formula 1’s paddock is exactly the kind of result that gets noticed. Van Hoepen’s second place was similarly impressive: he started ninth on the reversed grid and made his way forward through the restarts without getting caught up in the incidents around him.

Rodin had another strong morning, with Dunne third and Stenshorne fourth. DAMS had two cars in the top six, with Roman Bilinski sixth behind Beganovic. Mini, third in the championship before the weekend, left with nothing after being taken out, a blow to his slim title hopes. For a reminder of how incidents like these happen at a street circuit, our explainer on what causes crashes in motor racing covers the common causes.

*Dunne’s total excludes the pole-position points he will receive for Feature Race 1. Stenshorne likewise has pole points pending for Feature Race 2.

One other name in the Sprint classification caught the eye: Colton Herta, who finished ninth for Hitech. The American, a race winner in IndyCar, switched to Formula 2 for 2026 in search of the experience and superlicence points needed for a Formula 1 seat. He has been learning a very different car and a new set of circuits this season, and a points-paying finish in Baku would be another step in that transition.

The Sprint changed the title picture in Tsolov’s favour. Going into Baku he led by 7 points (177 to 170). Now it’s 11. That’s still small, but on a weekend with two Feature Races each worth 25 points to the winner, every point counts. Campos also leads the teams’ championship by 40 points from Invicta.

Behind the top two, Dunne is the man to watch. He’s 35 points behind Tsolov, but with both front rows in Rodin’s hands, a strong Feature Race double could bring him right into contention. Our Tsolov vs Câmara head-to-head sets out the strengths of the two leaders.

Feature Race 1 runs on Friday afternoon (11:15 UK time), with Dunne on pole ahead of Stenshorne and Noel León. Feature Race 2 follows on Saturday morning (08:00 UK), with Stenshorne leading Dunne and Câmara on the grid. Both races include a mandatory pit stop, which adds a strategy element that the Sprint doesn’t have.

The points on offer are much bigger. A Feature Race win is worth 25 points, plus one for the fastest lap if the driver finishes in the top 10. The pole-position bonus of two points is already allocated to the Rodin drivers. That means Tsolov and Câmara can each score up to 26 points per Feature Race, 52 across the two.

Baku itself will play a big part. The circuit combines a very long, flat-out run along the seafront with a tight, twisty section through the old city, where the track narrows sharply and the walls leave no room for error. Slipstreaming on the main straight makes overtaking possible, but the narrow sections punish anyone who gets it wrong. Tyre management also matters: Tsolov’s Sprint fade shows how quickly the rear tyres can go off when a driver has to defend.

The pit stop adds another layer. Teams choose when to bring their drivers in during the Feature Race, and a well-timed stop under a safety car can gain several places at no cost. At Baku, where safety cars are common, that can turn the race upside down. A driver starting tenth, like Tsolov in Feature Race 1, has a real chance to move up if the timing falls his way.

Our expectations

On grid position alone, Câmara is better placed for both races. If he can make the most of starting fifth and third, he could wipe out Tsolov’s lead by Saturday lunchtime. Tsolov’s job is harder but simpler: stay out of trouble, make up places through the pit window, and finish close enough to Câmara to limit the swing. Baku is also famous for safety cars and late-race drama, so the grid order might not hold for long.

The Rodin pair should be strong again, and a Dunne win in either race would reshape the top four. Our view: the championship lead could change hands this weekend, but whoever leaves Baku ahead will probably be within a single good race of the other. For how points build up across a season, see our guide to how racing championships are scored.

After Baku, F2’s calendar shows two more rounds: Lusail, Qatar (27–29 November) and Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi (4–6 December). F2 has said those rounds will run with standard weekend formats, and there’s no sign yet of Imola appearing on the F2 calendar, even though it has been discussed as a possible F1 replacement venue.

The bigger question is Formula 1’s decision. F1 teams expect a final call on the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix by the middle of October. Because F2 races on those weekends, that decision will set the length of the F2 season. If both rounds go ahead, two more Sprint and Feature Race weekends remain after Baku. If they don’t, Baku could effectively be the title decider. We covered this in detail in our F2 finale briefing, and the same uncertainty hangs over F1’s title run-in.

The numbers show how much is at stake. If Qatar and Abu Dhabi both go ahead, each weekend offers a driver up to 39 points: 11 from the Sprint including fastest lap, and 28 from the Feature Race including pole and fastest lap. That’s 78 more points after Baku, enough for anyone in the top four to stay in the fight. If the two rounds are cancelled, the championship would be decided on points scored by Saturday, and the current top two would be the only realistic contenders.