John Bennett in Azerbaijan. Picture: Dutch Photo Agency

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Nail-biting race in Azerbaijan for Salisbury F2 driver John Bennett

Jamie JonesSeptember 30, 20260 Comment0

SALISBURY racing sensation John Bennett fought back to a top-10 finish during a challenging FIA Formula 2 Championship event in Azerbaijan.

After starting the month with his best weekend of the 2026 season at Monza, which featured his second career F2 podium finish, the Wiltshire driver was cruelly out of luck in Madrid when he was removed from both races by two collisions.

The Trident youngster, who claimed a superb maiden F2 win in the summer at Spielberg, hoped to put that right as the series headed to the Baku street circuit on September 24 to 26, with three races up for grabs.

Action started on Thursday, with free practice and a double qualifying, which started well for Bennett, sitting just outside the top 10 at the end of practice, before two tight qualifying sessions saw him finish 15th and 17th.

FIA Formula 2 Championship in Azerbaijan

Friday played host to the first two contests, beginning with a 21-lap sprint race. Bennett was initially a victim to a chaotic start, falling to the rear of the pack after contact from Joshua Durksen’s Invicta. The safety car made an early appearance though, allowing for a spectacular recovery to follow from the Trident driver.

John Bennett in Azerbaijan. Picture: Dutch Photo Agency

Bennett instantly disposed of Cian Shields on the restart and then steered past Rafael Villagomez in quick succession, whereafter his surge continued with moves on Emerson Fittipaldi and Colton Herta.

With five laps to go, he was up to P14 from P21, when the safety car emerged again – this time to remove Durksen’s car from the barriers.

A manic restart saw cars scattered across the road after tripping over each other at Turn 1.

Bennett dodged his way through the carnage and evaded a spinning duo directly in front of him to not only survive, but climb up the order.

He continued his charge to the very end, with nail-biting final overtake at the chequered flag on Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak securing him 10th place.

F2 Azerbaijan – race 2

Race two later that afternoon was the first of two longer feature races, including a mandatory pitstop for all drivers.

John Bennett in Azerbaijan. Picture: Dutch Photo Agency

Bennett was among those starting on the super soft Pirelli tyres, and emerged after a solid opening stint three places better off from his grid slot in 12th place, ahead of Trident team-mate Laurens Van Hoepen, as the safety car was scrambled.

His race sadly unravelled at the restart though, as he was an innocent party in a multi-car collision that eliminated a number of drivers.

One final race on Saturday morning remained, Bennett hopeful of coming away with a strong result. Unfortunately, luck evaded him once again, as he was abruptly punted into a spin at the first left-hander, ending his race immediately.

“We were very unlucky in Madrid, and sadly it was much of the same this time for us,” he said. “Our pace was definitely there, as shown in the first race, but Baku is one of those circuits where it’s very easy to be accidentally caught up in other people’s incidents. That was twice the case this weekend unfortunately.

“We can be proud of how we recovered in the sprint though, and we could have gone even further if it had been a longer race I think. We’ve got plenty still in our locker, the sprint performance showed our race pace was amongst the strongest on the grid, so we are optimistic going into the next round.”