Qualifying report
FIA F2 Jeddah
F2 Jeddah: Piastri grabs fourth consecutive pole
Oscar Piastri claimed his fourth consecutive Formula 2 pole position, extending his championship lead in the process by claiming the four bonus points in Jeddah.
Tom Howard
Edited: Dec 4, 2021, 1:27 AM
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The championship leader produced the goods on his final lap to post a 1m40.878s to snatch pole by 0.165s from Prema teammate Robert Shwartzman.
ART Grand Prix's Theo Pourchaire seemed on course for pole before Piastri and Shwartzman struck, demoting the Frenchman down to third at the chequered flag.
Piastri's title rival Guanyu Zhou was sixth fastest, almost half a second shy of the poleman, and as a result is now 40 points behind in the championship race.
As drivers jostled for track position, the first indicative times on the super soft tyres came five minutes into the 30 minute session as Pourchaire shot to the top.
However, he was soon pipped by Ralph Boschung, Piastri and practice pacesetter Shwartzman, who posted a 1m41.747s to head the timesheets by 0.064s after the first flying laps.
Zhou could only managed a time good enough for 10th, the reverse gird pole, some 1.3s adrift of Shwartzman.
Rookie Clement Novalak made an impressive start to his first F2 qualifying session to sit fifth behind Pourchaire after his first run.
Pourchaire made the most of his second flying lap to eclipse Shwartzman by three tenths, but the later issued an immediate response to reclaim provisional pole at the halfway mark, to pip the youngest ever F2 race winner by 0.029s.
Piastri remained third while Lundgaard jumped to fourth ahead of Felipe Drugovich, Dan Ticktum and Juri Vips, who demoted Novalak to eighth.
The field all came in for a second set of super softs ahead of their second and final runs with 10 minutes remaining.
Only Zhou and Marcus Armstrong improved on their first flyers of the run as the title contender jumped to third, while Armstrong climbed to eighth.
Hopes of a pole for Ticktum were dented after suffering a right rear puncture that required an unscheduled trip to the pits.
Zhou shaved even more time from his personal best on his second flyer to initial slot into third.
However, behind his rivals were also on hot laps with Pourchaire next to strike, moving into provisional pole.
But the teenager's joy was short-live as Piastri denied him pole courtesy of a rapid first sector in his final lap. Shwartzman threatened to knock the Australian off pole but fell short as he crossed the line.
Christian Lundgaard ended the session fourth after a late effort saw the Dane leapfrog Drugovich and Zhou.
Boschung, Vips and Armstrong filled seventh through to ninth, while Liam Lawson rounded out the top 10 and will earn the reverse grid pole for Saturday's opening race.
Novalak emerged as the quickest of the four F2 debutants in 12th position.
The opening sprint race of the weekend is due to start at 1530 local time 12:30pm GMT.
Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap 1 Oscar Piastri
Prema Powerteam 12 1'40.878 2
Robert Shwartzman
Prema Powerteam 11 1'41.043 0.165 3
Theo Pourchaire
ART Grand Prix 13 1'41.218 0.340 4
Christian Lundgaard
ART Grand Prix 13 1'41.297 0.419 5
Felipe Drugovich
UNI-Virtuosi 11 1'41.302 0.424 6
Guanyu Zhou
UNI-Virtuosi 12 1'41.350 0.472 7
Ralph Boschung
Campos Racing 12 1'41.532 0.654 8
Jüri Vips
HitechGP 12 1'41.610 0.732 9
Marcus Armstrong
DAMS 12 1'41.618 0.740 10
Liam Lawson
HitechGP 12 1'41.619 0.741 11
Jehan Daruvala
Carlin 12 1'41.861 0.983 12
Clement Novalak
MP Motorsport 11 1'41.890 1.012 13
Dan Ticktum
Carlin 12 1'41.960 1.082 14
Bent Viscaal
Trident 12 1'41.972 1.094 15
Roy Nissany
DAMS 12 1'42.076 1.198 16
Jack Doohan
MP Motorsport 11 1'42.114 1.236 17
Marino Sato
Trident 11 1'42.466 1.588 18
Enzo Fittipaldi
Charouz Racing System 12 1'42.870 1.992 19
Olli Caldwell
Campos Racing 12 1'42.919 2.041 20
Guilherme Samaia
Charouz Racing System 12 1'43.422 2.544 21
Logan Sargeant
HWA Racelab 12 1'43.481 2.603 Alessio Deledda
HWA Racelab 0 View full results
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