Qualifying report
FIA F2 Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi F2: Russell edges towards title with pole
George Russell took a step closer to the Formula 2 title by taking pole position in Abu Dhabi on his final race weekend before he joins Williams in Formula 1.
Jack Benyon
Published: Nov 23, 2018, 3:51 PM
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ART Grand Prix driver Russell takes four championship points for his fifth pole of his rookie F2 campaign, extending his lead over his only title rival Alexander Albon.
The latter – the favourite for a Toro Rosso F1 seat next year – now trails by 41 points as he could only manage eighth in qualifying, meaning Russell only needs eighth to take the title in Saturday’s feature race.
Prema’s Nyck de Vries ran in the mid-session gap where drivers usually regroup in the pits and took provisional pole, while Albon’s DAMS teammate Nicholas Latifi followed a similar strategy and moved into second.
But Russell’s 1m49.251s gave him a two-tenth cusion over de Vries and Latifi, as the latter was told to abort his last lap with an undiagnosed issue.
Artem Markelov took fourth – improving his Russian Time machine’s woeful handling from practice – while Russell’s ART teammate Jack Aitken rounded out the top five in his best qualifying since Budapest in July.
Recently announced Haas F1 junior driver Louis Deletraz was sixth, ahead of the McLaren-bound Lando Norris.
Behind Albon, Tadasuke Makino (Russian Time) and Norris’s teammate and now fellow McLaren junior Sergio Sette Camara completed the top 10.
Makino showed strong pace throughout the session and was baulked by the errant car of Campos driver Luca Ghiotto early on, but recovered to set a respectable late lap.
Red Bull F1 junior Dan Ticktum out-qualified Arden teammate and potential future Super Formula rival Nirei Fukuzumi by 0.4s in his first ever F2 qualifying session, going 14th quickest.
Qualifying results:
Pos. # Driver Team Time Gap 1 8 
George Russell 
ART Grand Prix 1'49.251 2 4 
Nyck de Vries 
Prema Powerteam 1'49.541 0.290 3 6 
Nicholas Latifi 
DAMS 1'49.647 0.396 4 1 
Artem Markelov 
RUSSIAN TIME 1'49.869 0.618 5 7 
Jack Aitken 
ART Grand Prix 1'49.946 0.695 6 20 
Louis Deletraz Charouz Racing System 1'50.038 0.787 7 19 
Lando Norris 
Carlin 1'50.059 0.808 8 5 
Alexander Albon 
DAMS 1'50.155 0.904 9 2 
Tadasuke Makino 
RUSSIAN TIME 1'50.180 0.929 10 18 
Sergio Sette Camara 
Carlin 1'50.187 0.936 11 10 
Niko Kari 
MP Motorsport 1'50.375 1.124 12 15 
Roberto Merhi 
Campos Racing 1'50.513 1.262 13 21 Antonio Fuoco Charouz Racing System 1'50.522 1.271 14 11 Dan Ticktum Arden International 1'50.580 1.329 15 3 
Sean Gelael 
Prema Powerteam 1'50.812 1.561 16 17 
Alessio Lorandi 
Trident 1'50.855 1.604 17 14 
Luca Ghiotto 
Campos Racing 1'50.892 1.641 18 9 
Dorian Boccolacci 
MP Motorsport 1'51.037 1.786 19 12 
Nirei Fukuzumi Arden International 1'51.048 1.797 20 16 
Arjun Maini Trident 1'51.597 2.346
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