Abu Dhabi F2: Albon tops final practice of 2017

Albon replaced his ART Grand Prix teammate Nobuharu Matsushita at the top of the times early on in the 45-minute session and held the top spot until one-third distance.

Norman Nato then usurped Albon to briefly take first place for Arden International but the ART driver moved back to the top spot with the fastest lap of the session – a 1m48.974s – with 20 minutes remaining.

Nato wound up 0.135s adrift in second place, just over 0.1s quicker than Racing Engineering’s McLaren Formula 1 junior Nyck de Vries in third.

Matushita was fourth fastest, ahead of Antonio Fuoco and Oliver Rowland, who had to pit early on, shortly after smoke had streamed from his car as he ran down the long straight ahead of the Turn 8/9 chicane.

Russian Time driver Artem Markelov and Macau Grand Prix star Sergio Sette Camara were seventh and eighth, ahead of Prema Racing's Leclerc.

The Ferrari F1 junior, who can break the all-time GP2/F2 pole position record if he takes the top spot in qualifying later today, looked to be grappling with his car around much of the Yas Marina circuit, sliding out of the slower speed sequence at Turns 11/12/13 during the middle part of the session before locking up and going off-track at Turn 8, taking to the runoff and cutting Turn 9.

Gustav Malja completed the top 10, just ahead of Louis Deletraz and Campos Racing driver Alex Palou.

In the other Campos Racing run-car, Norris finished his first official F2 session in 19th spot, only ahead of Trident driver Nabil Jeffri.

Norris’ best lap was 2.056s slower than Albon’s best and he was over 1.0s adrift of new teammate Palou.

The 2017 F3 champion – who was runner-up in Macau last weekend – also incurred the wrath of Markelov, who dived past Norris at the final corner before gesturing rudely in the Briton’s direction at Turn 1 on the next lap.

Several drivers ahead off-track moments during the session, including de Vries and Nato – who both locked up and ran wide at Turn 1 before carrying on – while Rowland and Albon lost time at the Turns 5/6 chicane in separate incidents with Roberto Merhi and Jeffri.

Practice results

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	8	Alexander Albon	ART Grand Prix	16	1'48.974
2	20	Norman Nato	Arden International	17	1'49.109	0.135
3	3	Nyck de Vries	Racing Engineering	18	1'49.211	0.237
4	7	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	17	1'49.243	0.269
5	2	Antonio Fuoco	Prema Powerteam	19	1'49.285	0.311
6	9	Oliver Rowland	DAMS	17	1'49.342	0.368
7	6	Artem Markelov	RUSSIAN TIME	19	1'49.403	0.429
8	14	Sergio Sette Camara	MP Motorsport	17	1'49.560	0.586
9	1	Charles Leclerc	Prema Powerteam	19	1'49.651	0.677
10	4	Gustav Malja	Racing Engineering	17	1'49.874	0.900
11	18	Louis Deletraz	Rapax	18	1'49.892	0.918
12	12	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	18	1'50.025	1.051
13	5	Luca Ghiotto	RUSSIAN TIME	17	1'50.121	1.147
14	19	Roberto Merhi	Rapax	18	1'50.169	1.195
15	10	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	17	1'50.192	1.218
16	15	Jordan King	MP Motorsport	21	1'50.378	1.404
17	17	Santino Ferrucci	Trident	20	1'50.436	1.462
18	21	Sean Gelael	Arden International	17	1'50.579	1.605
19	11	Lando Norris	Campos Racing	17	1'51.030	2.056
20	16	Nabil Jeffri	Trident	17	1'51.926	2.952