Bahrain F2: Norris beats Russell to maiden pole
McLaren Formula 1 junior Lando Norris took his maiden Formula 2 pole position for the Bahrain season opener, with Mercedes reserve George Russell completing an all-rookie front row.
Lando Norris, Carlin
FIA Formula 2
The reigning European F3 champion set his best time of 1m41.761 with three minutes on the clock, demoting Russell, who led for most of the session, by 0.062s.
Despite running wide at the final turn, Russell was up to first place with his first representative laptime, which remained the benchmark until the mid-session pitstops.
The Mercedes junior then rejoined the track relatively early, with 10 minutes still remaining, and went half a second quicker.
Several drivers including Maximilian Gunther, Jack Aitken and Sergio Sette Camara closed the gap, but it was Norris who finally managed to steal first place.
Norris and Russell eventually ended the session first and second and will form the front row for the first race of 2018.
DAMS' Alex Albon was third, also less then a tenth off the pace, with Prema's Nyck de Vries claiming fourth thanks to a last-minute improvement.
New team Charouz secured fifth courtesy of Louis Deletraz, followed by Norris' Carlin teammate Sette Camara and Honda proteges Nirei Fukuzumi (Arden) and Tadasuke Makino (Russian Time).
Renault reserve Aitken (ART) and Gunther (Arden) had to eventually settle for ninth and 10th respectively.
Last year's runner-up Artem Markelov took a disappointing 17th, the Russian Time driver the only one to try to set a fast lap during the mid-session break.
Qualifying results:
Cla | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lando Norris | Carlin | 1'41.761 | |
2 | George Russell | ART Grand Prix | 1'41.823 | 0.062 |
3 | Alexander Albon | DAMS | 1'41.850 | 0.089 |
4 | Nyck de Vries | Prema Racing | 1'41.880 | 0.119 |
5 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz Racing System | 1'42.174 | 0.413 |
6 | Sergio Sette Camara | Carlin | 1'42.221 | 0.460 |
7 | Nirei Fukuzumi | BWT Arden | 1'42.246 | 0.485 |
8 | Tadasuke Makino | RUSSIAN TIME | 1'42.264 | 0.503 |
9 | Jack Aitken | ART Grand Prix | 1'42.282 | 0.521 |
10 | Maximilian Gunther | Arden | 1'42.336 | 0.575 |
11 | Antonio Fuoco | Charouz Racing System | 1'42.342 | 0.581 |
12 | Luca Ghiotto | Campos Racing | 1'42.414 | 0.653 |
13 | Roberto Merhi | MP Motorsport | 1'42.423 | 0.662 |
14 | Arjun Maini | Trident | 1'42.437 | 0.676 |
15 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1'42.447 | 0.686 |
16 | Ralph Boschung | MP Motorsport | 1'42.460 | 0.699 |
17 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1'42.816 | 1.055 |
18 | Santino Ferrucci | Trident | 1'42.818 | 1.057 |
19 | Sean Gelael | Prema Racing | 1'43.016 | 1.255 |
20 | Roy Nissany | Campos Racing | 1'43.350 | 1.589 |
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