Here is the thing about the chaos of a street circuit opening lap: it almost never ends quietly in the stewards' room. Following the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race in Baku, both Joshua Duerksen and Oliver Goethe picked up penalties for separate collisions.
First up, the Invicta Racing driver found himself in trouble over an opening lap incident at Turn 2 involving Car 25 of John Bennett. After reviewing onboard and external camera footage alongside hearing from the drivers and team representatives, the stewards laid the blame squarely on Car 2. They cited a breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2 (d) of the FIA International Sporting Code.
Thankfully for Duerksen, the stewards did note a mitigating factor. An earlier opening lap incident between Car 1 and Car 12 directly contributed to the tangle with Car 25. That nuance brought a lesser five-second time penalty. But because Duerksen failed to finish the Sprint Race, that sanction was converted into a three-place grid drop for Feature Race 1.
Over on the other side of the penalty sheet, Oliver Goethe was handed a 10-second time penalty after causing a crash at Turn 1. That messy moment involved his MP Motorsport teammate Gabriele Minì alongside Hitech’s Ritomo Miyata. The stewards spoke with all three drivers and representatives from both MP and Hitech before examining the video evidence.
They concluded that Car 10 was entirely to blame after completely misjudging the sudden loss of downforce while running in close proximity. A locked brake pedal, a loss of control, and a double impact with Car 3 and then Car 9 sealed the outcome. That standard 10-second time penalty drops Goethe from P15 down to P16 in the final classification.
