The ultra-fast street circuit running through the Azerbaijani capital will host the twelfth round of the current FIA Formula 2 season. Martí and Lindblad head into the antepenultimate event of 2025 with their eyes firmly set on the podium and on scoring valuable points to continue climbing up the overall standings
The 2025 FIA Formula 2 campaign continues apace, and this coming weekend will bring another chapter at the Baku City Circuit, the ultra-quick venue set in the streets of the eponymous capital, straddling Europe and Asia. Baku marks the third-to-last stop on the calendar, with only Qatar (29-30 November) and Abu Dhabi (6-7 December) remaining afterwards.
That is why Pepe Martí and Arvid Lindblad, the two Red Bull Junior Team members driving Campos Racing’s FIA F2 cars, will aim to extend their recent run of strong results. Between them, Martí and Lindblad have already racked up five wins and four further podiums. Martí claimed his first win of the year in Sakhir and doubled up in Spielberg, before clinching a third triumph at the Hungaroring just prior to the summer break. Only two weeks ago, in Monza, the Barcelona-born driver produced one of his trademark comebacks to secure third place in Sunday’s feature race.
On the previous day, it was Lindblad who flew the Campos Racing flag with a fine runner-up finish in Saturday’s sprint, also grabbing the fastest lap. The young Briton, a rookie in FIA Formula 2 this year, already knows what it takes to win in the category, having done so in Jeddah and Barcelona—the latter after taking pole position and leading most of the race.
In the Drivers’ Championship, Martí currently sits sixth with 112 points, just ahead of Lindblad, who occupies seventh with 101. As for Campos Racing, the Alzira-based outfit lies third in the Teams’ standings with 213 points.
The Baku City Circuit, designed by renowned and omnipresent architect Hermann Tilke, opened in 2016 and staged its first Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2017. Since then, it has only been absent once from the calendar—in 2020, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. At 6.003 km in length, it is the third-longest track on the FIA F2 calendar, behind only Spa-Francorchamps and Jeddah.
Baku is undoubtedly a circuit of contrasts. On the one hand, its endless straights allow cars to reach very high-top speeds; on the other, it features as many as twenty corners, some at right angles. While the straights are extremely wide, certain turns—notably Turn 8—are barely seven meters across, leaving little room for manoeuvre. Teams therefore opt for low downforce setups, increasing tire stress as mechanical grip becomes critical. Key factors will be traction and braking. With DRS and such long straights, overtaking opportunities will be plentiful—something that will certainly benefit Lindblad, who faces a fightback after carrying over a ten-place grid penalty from the second Monza race.
Free practice will get underway on Friday at 08:00, with qualifying later the same day at 12:00. Saturday’s sprint race is set for 12:15, while Sunday’s feature race will start at 09:00. All times are CET (Spanish time).
Adrián Campos (Team Principal of Campos Racing): “After Monza, we head to another circuit where both top and average speeds are very high. Certainly, Monza and Baku also have their differences. Let’s not forget that the Azerbaijani track is a street circuit—unusual, no doubt, but still a street circuit. The long straights make overtaking easier, but it is also a track that demands strategy, as safety cars are a constant due to the narrow corners that so often result in contact with the walls. We are eager to wrap up the European leg of the FIA F2 season and achieve results that will allow us to keep climbing the overall standings.”
