The historic streets of Baku gave the title contenders plenty to think about this weekend in Formula 2. The Ferrari Junior Rafael Câmara arrived at the Azerbaijan GP chasing Nikola Tsolov, and left with a seven-point championship lead. Meanwhile Alex Dunne’s long-awaited first win of the season brought him firmly into the fight with just two rounds remaining.
Whenever cars hit the track in Baku, you can be sure that there’ll be an incident or two; the narrow and technical street track has claimed many victims in its time. 2026, it seems, proved no different. Here’s what we learned from Round 12 at the Azerbaijan GP.
Câmara pulled through after a costly start
Câmara’s weekend started with a costly mistake in the Sprint Race, as contact with Mari Boya earned him a ten-second penalty and left the rookie without points. His response across the two Feature Races proved decisive; driving to P4 in Feature Race 1 was enough to take the championship lead following Tsolov’s retirement, with Câmara snatching the position from Noel León just metres from the finish line.
Câmara then kept himself in contention throughout Feature Race 2, staying close enough to Dunne to inherit victory when the Irishman’s five-second penalty was applied. With Tsolov closing rapidly behind, maintaining that pace also protected the Brazilian from his closest championship rival.
His third win of the season leaves Câmara seven points clear heading into the next round.
Dunne’s patience paid off – and his competition have taken notice
Alex Dunne had been waiting all season for a win, after an inconsistent season start and a slew of agonsingly close results. Once the Irishman reached Baku hot off the back of a second place finish in Madrid, he looked capable of taking at least one from the offset.
A second place classification in Practice was followed by his first pole of 2026, before a charging Sprint drive brought him from 10th to a bronze. In Feature Race 1, the wait for the top step of the podium was over, granting the Rodin driver his first win of the season – and his first win since earlier last year. Dunne led home a Rodin one-two with his teammate Martinius Stenshorne, and giving his title challenge a boost just in time.
Dunne almost made it two-for-two in the weekend’s Feature Races, reaching the chequered flag first again in Feature Race 2, only for a pit-entry infringement to demote victory into third place. That will sting – particularly with title rival Câmara taking the win instead. Still, three podiums from three races made this a big weekend for Dunne and took his deficit to the lead down to 18 points with four more races to go this season.
Rodin had speed to spare
The clearest message from qualifying was that beating Rodin would take something special.
Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne locked out the front row in both sessions, separated by just 0.033s in the first. Stenshorne then found another level in Qualifying 2, beating his teammate by 0.445s to claim his first Aramco Pole Position Award.
Their race pace was equally convincing. Stenshorne had to reclaim lost ground more than once in Feature Race 1, but still followed Dunne home in second. Fourth in both the Sprint and Feature Race 2 rounded out a strong weekend for the Norwegian.
Rodin left with only one victory, but across qualifying and the races, theirs were the cars everyone else had to chase.
Tsolov dug himself out of trouble
Tsolov’s weekend was slipping away before his recovery in Feature Race 2. In fact, the Bulgarian’s Championship campaign has been on a tightrope after a mixed bag of results during the second half of this season. The Campos driver struggled to put a lap together in qualifying, then falling from reverse-grid pole to fifth in the Sprint as his rear tyres faded. Retirement in Feature Race 1 followed, taking his Championship lead with it.
Starting 11th for the final race of the weekend, The Red Bull Junior needed to bring home a result more akin to his form earlier in the year – and he delivered. Tsolov worked his way through the field, passed Stenshorne and was closing quickly on Câmara as the finish approached. Dunne’s penalty promoted him to second, but the drive itself was just as significant: after four difficult races on the trot and a podium-drought since July, Tsolov was back on the attack. Tsolov leaves Baku chasing rather than leading, though a seven-point deficit keeps the fight tight.
Beganovic keeps the results coming
Amid all the championship drama up front, Dino Beganovic carried on from his win in the Madrid Feature Race to secure a string of great results. The Swede passed Tsolov for the Sprint lead and handled both Safety Car restarts to secure his second consecutive F2 victory this season, incidentally making it the second another Baku Sprint win of his career.
Beganovic backed it up with third in Feature Race 1, keeping León and Câmara behind him at the finish, before adding more points to his tally as he secured P7 in the final race. Baku demanded plenty from its drivers across three races as we’ve grown to expect. Beganovic left with another win, another podium and more reason to feel confident heading into the next round. While a Championship win may be off the cards, the young Swede’s future in motorsport will only benefit from a flourish at the end of the season.
In a nutshell
With three races’ worth of points on offer, Baku was always going to have a big say in the championship. While a chasing Câmara made the most of his chance, Tsolov’s late charge and Dunne’s pace suggest the new leader will have plenty to contend with heading into the closing rounds of the season.
Dunne may be the one leaving Azerbaijan wondering what might have been. After all, a second win was within reach, and losing it to a penalty handed valuable points to a title rival. If he and Rodin can carry this form into the next round, though, Câmara and Tsolov will have another serious threat to keep an eye on.
Formula 2 returns on 26th-29th November in Lusail, Qatar.
Featured image: PREMA Racing