‘Oh my god’: Terrifying carnage rocks Formula 2 race in Baku

The Formula 2 feature race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix started with scary scenes with one car flipping over after a horror crash.

Terrifying scenes. Photo by James Sutton/Getty Images

The motorsport world held its collective breath on Sunday evening after the Formula 2 feature race from Baku, Azerbaijan was rocked by a horrific crash off the starting line.

As the lights went out for the race, Invicta’s Kush Maini’s failed to start from fifth on the grid, forcing the other drivers to go around him.

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But MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe didn’t see the car, clipping the back of Maina’s vehicle and bouncing it in the path of Campos’ Pepe Marti, whose car flipped on its side and slid into the wall.

However, luckily Marti’s car flipped back over back onto its wheels.

The commentator said: “We’ll need a red flag, we need a red flag immediately. We’ve got a car upside down on the pit straight.”

Another commentator called it “horrible”.

Immediately after the incident happened, championship leader Isack Hadjar, who is Marti’s teammate, said on team radio: “Oh my God, that was really bad.”

Incredibly, all three drivers walked away from the incident unharmed as the drama caused a red flag the delayed the race for 30 minutes as the stewards cleaned up the debris.

Fans were shocked by the horror crash.

“Scary one,” one fan tweeted.

Another posted: “Nasty incident, glad everyone walked away from it.”

A third wrote: “Haven’t seen carnage this bad in F2 in so long. This is a reminder of how dangerous this sport can get. Glad all the drivers are safe.”

Formula 2’s official account posted: “It’s a testament to the safety procedures put in place that everyone involved is OK.”

It was a horror start. Photo by James Sutton/Getty Images

It was a lucky escape for all the drivers. Photo: Fox Sports

Maini's car was wrecked. Photo: Fox Sports

Eventually the race got under way with Richard Verschoor able to go from pole to victory ahead of Victor Martins and 2025 Mercedes Formula 1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli in third.

It was Verschoor’s first win of the F2 season and he became the 16th different driver to claim a win a race in F2 this year.

“Super happy, this one is finally mine,” the 23-year-old Dutchman said.

“It was a super good race, Victor to be honest was the quickest car on track but I’m really happy I did some quali laps in the end which kept me in the lead.

“So very happy, and onto the next.”

The race also saw a change in the championship lead with Gabriel Bortoleto’s fourth place seeing him overtake Hadjar, who had consecutive races without points after starting the race in 20th.

Originally published as ‘Oh my god’: Terrifying carnage rocks Formula 2 race in Baku