Testing report

FIA F2

Deletraz quickest on first day of F2 testing

Louis Deletraz topped the first day of Formula 2's post-season test in Abu Dhabi for MP Motorsport, which also had the fastest time in GP3 testing earlier in the day.

Alex Kalinauckas

Edited: Nov 30, 2017, 4:49 PM

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Louis Deletraz, MP Motorsport

Alexander Albon, DAMS

Santino Ferrucci, Trident

Arjun Maini, Trident

Nicholas Latifi, DAMS

Norman Nato, Racing Engineering

Sean Gelael, PREMA Racing

Nyck De Vries, PREMA Racing

Alexander Albon was second quickest for the DAMS squad ahead of Norman Nato, who was driving for Racing Engineering.

With the majority of the field concentrating on long runs during the day's first F2 session – the series alternated with GP3 at the Yas Marina track – most of the drivers set their quickest times during the evening slot.

Deletraz – third quickest for MP in the first session – ended up with a best time of the day, a 1m48.282s, which was 0.802s quicker than the fastest time set by McLaren Formula 1 junior Lando Norris earlier on.

Albon wound up 0.045s adrift on his first time out for DAMS, with Nato's best time 0.23s slower than Deletraz.

Haas F1 junior Santino Ferrucci was fourth fastest for the Trident team, where he had closed out the second half of the 2017 F2 season after beginning the year racing for DAMS in GP3.

Nyck de Vries recovered from a morning session where he only completed four laps due to an engine problem, to post the day's fifth fastest time for his 2018 team, Prema Racing.

Norris finished the day in sixth place testing for Campos Racing, the team where he made his competitive F2 debut at the 2017 season finale in Abu Dhabi last weekend.

The McLaren F1 junior will race for the Carlin team in F2 in 2018, but with the British squad taking a sabbatical from the second-tier category this year he has continued to work with Campos.

George Russell – the 2017 GP3 champion for ART Grand Prix – finished the day in seventh place for the French squad, ahead of 2017 Russian Time teammates Luca Ghiotto and Artem Markelov in eighth and ninth – with the former testing for MP today.

Another Haas F1 junior, 2017 Jenzer Motorsport's GP3 race winner Arjun Maini, rounded out the top 10 for Trident.

Jack Aitken, testing at the same venue where he clinched the 2017 GP3 runner-up spot last weekend, was 11th in the other ART car, with DAMS driver Nicholas Latifi separating him from Nirei Fukuzumi (third in 2017 GP3 standings), who was 13th fastest for Arden International.

Day 1 test times:

Pos. Driver Team Time Gap 1 Louis Deletraz MP Motorsport 1'48.282 2 Alexander Albon DAMS 1'48.327 0.045 3 Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1'48.512 0.230 4 Santino Ferrucci Trident 1'48.648 0.366 5 Nyck de Vries Prema Racing 1'48.700 0.418 6 Lando Norris Campos Racing 1'48.710 0.428 7 George Russell ART Grand Prix 1'48.805 0.523 8 Luca Ghiotto MP Motorsport 1'48.842 0.560 9 Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1'48.848 0.566 10 Arjun Maini Trident 1'48.889 0.607 11 Jack Aitken ART Grand Prix 1'49.007 0.725 12 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1'49.204 0.922 13 Nirei Fukuzumi Arden International 1'49.300 1.018 14 Ralph Boschung Arden International 1'49.531 1.249 15 Tadasuke Makino RUSSIAN TIME 1'49.577 1.295 16 Sean Gelael Prema Racing 1'49.799 1.517 17 Guan Yu Zhou Rapax 1'49.803 1.521 18 Rene Binder Rapax 1'50.821 2.539 19 Maximilian Gunther Racing Engineering 1'51.638 3.356 20 Michael Dorrbecker Campos Racing 1'52.147 3.865

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