Verschoor takes Baku F2 race win after lap 1 horror crash, Antonelli P3

The Dutchman missed out on a win from pole in Monaco, but he made it count at the Baku City Circuit on Sunday. Behind him was Victor Martins in P2, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli rounded out the podium by taking P3.

Verschoor holds on after massive first-lap crash

Before the feature race got underway, the top three in the championship were separated by just 30 points, but championship leader Isack Hadjar had to start in P20, with Gabriel Bortoleto starting P6 and looking to close the gap to the Red Bull junior driver.

The race started with Verschoor on pole and Antonelli in second, but it was immediately stopped after a horror crash right at the start of the race involving Kush Maini, Oliver Goethe and Josep Maria Marti. Maini's car stalled when the lights went out, meaning he stayed stationary while the other cars flew down to turn one. Unfortunately for Goethe and Marti, they both collided with the Indian's car, with the latter flying in the air as a result of the massive impact. Thankfully, there were no injuries as everyone walked away despite the extensive damage.

After a delay of over 30 minutes to clear the debris of the earlier crash, the race got back underway, but because of the pause, the race continued with a timer counting down from 35 minutes instead of a lap counter. During the red flag period, all the drivers made their first pit stops and changed their tyres.

It was a rolling start to get things back underway, and Verschoor started brilliantly to stay first ahead of Antonelli in P2, with Victor Martins and Zane Maloney staying in P3 and P4, respectively, and Bortoleto in P5.

However, Martins found the extra pace that no one else could, and after passing Antonelli just a lap after the safety car came in, the Frenchman was all over the back of Verschoor, and down the massive start/finish straight, Martins used DRS to his advantage and took the lead of the race with 20 minutes remaining.

But during the second round of stops, Martins dropped down behind Verschoor and Antonelli after a slow stop, with Maloney, third in the drivers' championship, moving ahead of the Italian and the Frenchman by going for the overcut. However, with colder tyres, the Bajan driver came under pressure from Antonelli right away and locked up into turn 3, going straight down the escape road after clipping wheels with the Prema driver. Antonelli continued but was overtaken by Martins, while Maloney dropped down to the back of the grid.

With seven minutes remaining, Verschoor was still in the lead, but Martins was much quicker. However, just three minutes later, Gabriele Mini in the other Prema crashed into the wall between sectors two and three, bringing out the safety car, meaning the race timer ticked down under safety car conditions, giving Verschoor a feature race win ahead of Martins and Antonelli.

In the championship, with Hadjar and Maloney both finishing at the back of the grid, a fourth-place finish for Bortoleto means he takes the lead in the drivers' championship.