The overheating of the rear brakes on their cars during the qualifying session condemned Hadjar and Martí to start from the back in both races, which was to be decisive for the entire weekend in Azerbaijan
Misfortune plagued the three days of the penultimate FIA Formula 2 round held on the Baku city circuit, and various circumstances prevented both Isack Hadjar and Pepe Martí from showing their true potential. Despite everything, the best news is that there are still four races left in two meetings, and the whole team is already working on fine-tuning every detail to be 100% ready for that final sprint.
On Friday, during the early morning free practice, Hadjar set the fastest time of the two Campos Racing drivers, stopping the clock at 2m00.174 in a session where a few drops of rain only added extra tension. His teammate Martí, with the other Dallara F2 sporting Red Bull colours, set a best lap of 2m02.317s in his first kilometers in Baku. Later in qualifying, things began to go awry. After setting laps of 1m56.893s and 1m57.218s respectively with their first set of soft tires, both Campos Racing drivers hurried out of the pits for their second attempt. However, an issue with the overheating of the rear brakes caused both drivers to lock their tyres almost simultaneously and crash into the barriers at the end of the straight. To make matters worse, as a consequence of causing the red flag, Hadjar had his best lap time cancelled, dropping from 15th to 20th on the starting grid, just ahead of Martí.
On Saturday, in the sprint race, both drivers went on the attack and after the first lap Hadjar was already sixteenth while Martí was running eighteenth. The Frenchman later overtook Juan Manuel Correa and on the seventh lap gained another place at the expense of Richard Verschoor. Martí was not to be outdone and also got past Enzo Fittipaldi. On lap 14, Ritomo Miyata's crash into the barriers brought out the safety car. On lap 18, the safety car pulled in and the race resumed. With the field bunched up, a collision forced Martí to pit to replace his front wing. After 21 laps, Hadjar crossed the finish line in twelfth place, a great recovery but still short of scoring points. Martí, after his unscheduled pit stop, finished in 19th place.
On Sunday, in the feature race, the Campos Racing drivers had another chance. Unfortunately, when the lights went out, Kush Maini stalled his car on the grid. While most of the field managed to avoid him, Oliver Goethe did not and collided with him, sending the Indian driver's car into Martí. The Spanish driver, who ended up flipping his car at one point, was fortunately able to get out unscathed. After almost an hour of waiting due to the red flag, and once the track was cleared of the countless debris from the start incident, the race resumed behind the safety car. Hadjar, on soft tires, managed to conserve them and extended his stint as much as possible, hoping for a potential safety car or VSC. After 12 laps, he could delay his pit stop no longer and entered the pits without the miracle happening. Thus, after rejoining the track, Hadjar finished in 14th place.
With just two meetings to go, Hadjar is now second with 165 points, 4.5 behind Gabriel Bortoleto. Campos Racing holds the second place in the teams' standings with 208 points.
The championship now takes a long break until the next round at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar on November 30th and December 1st. Just a week later, the championship will conclude at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Photos: © Dutch Photo Agency
