Liam Lawson’s charge to a second Formula 2 win hit the skids when he incurred a ten-second time penalty in the final race at Baku, crossing the line in sixth.
Lawson started the race on pole but lost an early place to Juri Vips on the run to turn one.
Theo Pourchaire then looked to capitalise on Lawson’s slow start and lunged himself up the inside of the Kiwi.
However, Lawson swerved across to cover Pourchaire, which race control determined was forcing another driver off the track.
The incident resulted in a costly time penalty, which Lawson served during his pitstop and ruined his victory chances.
“I didn’t f……g do anything to Pourchaire,” expressed a frustrated Lawson over the team radio.
Still, Kiwi fans were treated to a sublime recovery effort from the Red Bull Junior, highlighted by a daring dive-bombs on Jehan Daruvala and David Beckmann.
Lawson reeled in Ralph Boschung in the closing few laps and eventually finished just over a second behind the Swiss driver.
Marcus Armstrong’s disappointing Azerbaijan weekend ended on lap one when he was pitched into the wall at turn two.
It was the second DNF in a row for Armstrong after he crashed out of yesterday’s sprint race.
Vips won the feature race following a dominant second half to the race for the Estonian.
Oscar Piastri was second despite a five-second time penalty for an unsafe pitlane release.
Robert Shwartzman rounded out a solid weekend on the final spot on the podium.
The next round of the F2 championship will be at Silverstone on July 17-18.
Results to follow
