By Lap 21, Alex Sun had closed in on Ticktum, the gap between them shrinking steadily as a decisive overtaking battle loomed.
Approaching Turn 3, Alex Sun braked early and executed a brilliant switchback maneuver that stunned everyone watching. With a much stronger exit, he immediately claimed the optimal racing line into Turn 4.
Ticktum tried to defend and hold his position, but his tires had already reached the cliff edge of wear. With grip severely compromised, he had no way to resist Alex Sun's charge.
Alex Sun held his line calmly and completed the overtake with ease, leaving Ticktum no chance to fight back.
With that move, Alex Sun returned to his familiar place at the front of the race.
As his lead continued to grow, he once again disappeared from the broadcast cameras.
Running alone at the front, the time gap between him and the chasing drivers kept stretching wider.
Lap by lap, the race moved forward. By Lap 24, Alex Sun's huge advantage allowed him to begin lapping slower cars.
One car, two cars, three…
He remained completely composed. Each overtake was clean and decisive, and most of the lapped drivers moved aside voluntarily, not daring to block him.
On Lap 25, heading down the start-finish straight, Alex Sun suddenly caught sight of a lapped car ahead—Deledda.
Although the marshal beside the track was already waving blue flags repeatedly, signaling the slower car to yield and clear the racing line for the race leader, Deledda behaved unusually and ignored the blue flags entirely.
Even though being lapped was inevitable, he showed no intention of moving aside. Instead, he stubbornly held his racing line, deliberately blocking Alex Sun.
Watching Deledda stubbornly defend ahead of him, Alex Sun couldn't help feeling a little helpless. He grumbled to himself:
"Man, you're already getting lapped and you're defending like a lion. Is that really necessary? And besides… can you actually stop me?"
While keeping the car under control, he complained to Mark over the TR, his voice full of disbelief.
"Mark, Deledda won't move aside. He's already getting lapped and he's still defending like crazy. What is this guy even doing?"
Even as he complained, Alex Sun never lifted his pace. Reaching the second DRS straight before Turn 3, he immediately opened DRS, caught the slipstream, and pinned the throttle.
The overtake was effortless.
He cleared Deledda instantly and opened the gap in a flash.
After the pass, Alex Sun's voice came over the TR again, still sounding puzzled.
"I honestly don't know what he was thinking. It's like he doesn't have a brain. He couldn't stop me anyway, yet he insisted on blocking until he gets a penalty."
Mark replied through the headset, sounding slightly exasperated.
"Copy that. Nice pass. I'll report it to the stewards. Just protect the car and bring it home smoothly—you've got the win."
Then Mark suddenly remembered something and added another reminder over the TR.
"Oh, and Alex Sun—if another backmarker refuses to yield later, don't force the overtake."
"Remember the 2018 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix? When Verstappen tried to lap Ocon, Ocon forced his way back past and they collided. Verstappen's car was damaged and he lost a victory that was almost guaranteed. Let's not repeat that."
Alex Sun replied calmly,
"Copy. Understood."
In the livestream booth, Jolyon Palmer watched Alex Sun pass Deledda with ease and immediately burst into excited commentary, praising Alex Sun while also criticizing Deledda.
"Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! Alex Sun handled that perfectly. Even with Deledda stubbornly defending, there was simply no stopping him!"
"Honestly, Deledda's move made no sense. He was already getting lapped and still defended hard. The blue flags were practically being waved to pieces and he pretended not to see them. Completely unnecessary. Thankfully Alex Sun stayed calm and didn't get dragged into it!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the livestream chat exploded with messages. Before long, one particular comment began appearing over and over again.
"I thought there was nobody here. Why wave blue flags? Go talk to the race officials. We're all racing hard here. I defended with everything I had—how did you still pass me?"
Rebecca Lin sat in the VIP viewing area on the second floor of the pit building, watching the race while following the livestream on her phone.
Seeing Deledda's ridiculous defense, she frowned and was just about to complain along with the viewers in the chat.
But when her eyes landed on the repeatedly copied comment, she instantly lost it and burst into laughter. The annoyance in her eyes quickly melted away.
With three laps remaining, Alex Sun continued driving with steady precision. Maintaining his perfect rhythm, he overtook two more lapped cars.
By that point, he had passed a total of six backmarkers during the race, setting a new F2 race record at the Baku circuit for the number of lapped cars overtaken.
The checkered flag began to wave, shining brightly under the sunlight.
At that very moment, Alex Sun guided his red car across the finish line beneath the fluttering flag.
The roar of engines, the cheers from the grandstands, and the shouts of the Prema team from the pit lane merged together, echoing across the entire Baku circuit.
Alex Sun had won the 100th F2 feature race.
It was the second F2 feature race victory of his career, a win filled with significance.
As he crossed the line, Alex Sun held the steering wheel with one hand and gradually slowed the car. His right fist shot high into the air in celebration, his expression brimming with bold, unrestrained joy as he answered the cheers and shouts from the Prema team across the track.
A second later, his excited shout came through the TR.
"Winner! Rosin, you'd better honor the bet! I told you already—winning this race was easy for me!"
Mark's excited voice immediately followed over the TR.
"Well done! Alex Sun, you're the winner! That was incredible!"
René Rosin had been listening quietly with a smile on the other end of the radio. But when he heard the words "honor the bet," he immediately cut in, laughing as he teased back.
"You brat, don't get cocky too soon! The bet I made was about the Drivers' Championship for the season. What you just won is only a race victory, so don't get ahead of yourself."
Although he sounded teasing, the pride in Rosin's voice was impossible to hide.
He had watched Alex Sun grow from the raw driver he was during winter testing into someone capable of leading races and winning them with calm authority. Deep down, he had already fully acknowledged the young driver.
The bet they had made earlier was simply something he came up with when half the team had been poached—both a way to justify the situation and a way to push Alex Sun to grow faster.
Half a minute later, Piastri crossed the finish line in his car.
With a commanding ten-second advantage over Vips, he secured second place and further strengthened Prema Racing's dominance.
Ten seconds after that, Vips crossed the line as well, safely holding on to third place.
The top three positions of the race were now officially settled.
...
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