Armstrong seventh, disaster for Lawson in Baku opener

Marcus Armstrong slipped back to seventh in the opening Formula 2 race of the weekend in Baku.

Running as high as fourth in the early stages of the race, Armstrong struggled to match the pace of the rivals around him.

The Ferrari Academy driver two places on the penultimate lap to demote him outside the top five.

Still, the result is Armstrong’s first points-scoring race since the opening round in Bahrain and a positive step forward after a challenging previous round in Monaco.

Meanwhile, it was a short-lived, calamitous day for Liam Lawson.

Lawson started tenth in the first sprint race (reverse top ten order) after securing pole position in yesterday’s qualifying for the weekend’s feature race.

After a clean opening corner, the Kiwi was then squeezed into the turn two barrier.

Lawson was powerless to prevent the incident and vented his frustration over the team radio, aware he will start the second sprint race from a lowly 20th.

Four cars were eliminated from the race after the opening lap, including Australian driver Oscar Piastri.

After cleaning up the lap one shenanigans, the race was largely processional.

Former Toyota Racing Series champion Robert Shwartzman led all 21 laps for a commanding victory.

Shwartzman finished ahead of Dan Ticktum, who put on an impressive display to come from sixth to second, and championship leader Guanyu Zhou.

The second F2 race of the weekend will be a reverse top-ten of the race one finishing order, meaning Armstrong will start fourth.

That race is scheduled to start at 1.40 am NZT, Sunday, June 6.