Baku, CMC: Barbadian race car driver Zane Maloney failed to finish after enduring an early setback in an incident-filled Formula 2 sprint race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday.
The 19-year-old overcame early contact with a rival to grab an early lead before he was forced into retiring from the 21-lap race.
ART Grand Prix driver Victor Martins of France attempted to split the front row starters – Dutch pole-sitter Richard Verschoor in the Van Amersfoort and Maloney in the Rodin Carlin – but there was no room for him, and he banged wheels with the Barbadian.
Verschoor did not hold onto the lead for long, and he crashed into the wall at Turn 1, forcing him into early retirement from the race.
Maloney momentarily assumed the front of the field. Still, the contact with Martins had caused a right rear puncture and forced him into the pits for a set of supersoft tires, and Norwegian Dennis Hauger in the MP Motorsport car capitalized to seize the lead from sixth on the grid.
The Barbadian driver returned and stayed on the lead lap, but he eventually bowed out of the race with nine laps remaining and failed to earn a point.
Maloney hopes for better results in the feature race on Sunday to improve from ninth on 29 points in the drivers’ standings.
“It’s another street circuit with many big braking points and tricky sections,” he said ahead of the feature race. “We’re going to be close to the front at every track and every round, so we must focus on being ready for any scenario.
“That comes down to strategy as well and down to me knowing exactly where I need to be on the track. It will be a tough round, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Maloney will start seventh on the grid and hope to carve his way through the field in an attempt to grab a podium finish.
So far this year, he grabbed third in the season-opening Bahrain GP on March 5 in Sakhir, 17th in the Saudia Arabia GP on March 18 in Jeddah, and fifth in the Australia GP on April 2 in Melbourne.
“It’s been a very challenging season, which was expected coming in because when you’re at this level, it’s always going to be tough,” he said.
“For Bahrain was powerful from our side. Qualifying wasn’t fantastic, but it was more down to a mistake from my side. We had the pace to be relatively high, and we showed that in the race with our first podium.
“Jeddah was complicated, I just struggled for some pace the entire weekend, but it was cool that we could bounce back from that in Australia. Going into the next rounds, I’m confident that we can do a great job. It’s a good baseline, and now we can fight for our position.”
On driving for Rodin Carlin, Maloney said he hoped familiarity bred success in his first season of F2 racing.
“I’ve driven with them in Formula 4, and we won the championship, and I also drove for them in Euroformula, so I already know the team well, and there’s a great atmosphere within the team,” he said.
“I’ve known all the engineers, all the mechanics, and team principals for a while, so it’s nothing new to me. Being part of such a great team, they do an amazing job on and off track. They’re always doing a great job in every category they do.”
On being part of the Red Bull Racing academy program, Maloney said it was a massive opportunity in his attempt to fulfill a boyhood dream of being the first Formula 1 driver from Barbados.
“Being from Barbados, it’s been my dream for my entire life to be part of such an amazing team,” he said. “Of course, my focus right now is Formula 2, and Red Bull is helping with that in terms of simulator time, feedback, and general things to allow me to learn as quickly as possible.
“It’s an opportunity that I’m taking with both hands, and I’m looking forward to the future, but for now, of course, I’m more focused on F2.”
Teenaged British driver Oliver Bearman claimed his first F2 win in a dramatic finish to the sprint race in which 11 drivers, including Verschoor, crashed out.
Off the back of his maiden pole for the F2 Grand Prix on Sunday, Bearman lined up ninth on the grid for the sprint race and defied the drama to snatch the win from PREMA Racing teammate Frederik Vesti of Denmark.
A late restart with only three laps brought chaos when race leader Hauger and second-placed Martins crashed.
The PREMA pair were there to pick up the pieces, and the race ended behind the third and final safety car, with Hitech Pulse-Eight driver Jak Crawford of the United States keeping himself out of trouble to take his second podium in third.
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