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Edition

Australia
Qualifying report

Sochi F2: De Vries beats Norris, Russell to pole

McLaren Formula 1 junior Nyck de Vries took pole position in Formula 2 qualifying at Sochi, edging title contenders Lando Norris and George Russell.

Nyck De Vries, PREMA Racing

Nyck De Vries, PREMA Racing

FIA Formula 2

Russell led the way for much of the session after a stunning opening lap, only for the Dutchman to unseat the championship leader late on and claim his second pole in F2.

ART Grand Prix driver Russell struggled to improve on both of his final flying laps and to add insult to injury, Norris jumped him at the death.

The 2019 McLaren F1 driver has struggled with qualifying in F2 all season and appeared to be out of sorts in this session, until a brilliant last lap aboard his Carlin car sealed second.

With neither of the leading title contenders picking up the four bonus points for pole, Norris trails Russell, who starts third in Saturday’s feature race, by 22 points.

Nicholas Latifi jumped DAMS teammate Alex Albon on his last lap as the pair took fourth and fifth respectively.

Luca Ghiotto put Campos into the top six, while surprise Monza feature race winner Tadasuke Makino took seventh.

Makino's Russian Time teammate and FP1 Renault F1 tester Artem Markelov could only manage 19th, the slowest of those to set a representative lap as Arjun Maini’s early spin meant he brings up the rear for Trident.

Behind Makino, Sergio Sette Camara’s four-race run of beating his teammate Lando Norris ended with eighth, ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Jack Aitken and Arden’s Maxi Gunther.

Roberto Merhi, who started the season with MP and sat out the two most recent rounds before joining Campos, was 12th on his return.

Session results

Cla # Driver Team Laps Time Gap
1 4 Netherlands Nyck de Vries Italy Prema Powerteam 11 1'46.476  
2 19 United Kingdom Lando Norris United Kingdom Carlin 11 1'46.696 0.220
3 8 United Kingdom George Russell France ART Grand Prix 12 1'46.839 0.363
4 6 Canada Nicholas Latifi France DAMS 11 1'46.890 0.414
5 5 Thailand Alexander Albon France DAMS 11 1'47.039 0.563
6 14 Italy Luca Ghiotto Spain Campos Racing 12 1'47.151 0.675
7 2 Japan Tadasuke Makino Russian Federation RUSSIAN TIME 12 1'47.372 0.896
8 18 Brazil Sergio Sette Camara United Kingdom Carlin 12 1'47.384 0.908
9 7 United Kingdom Jack Aitken France ART Grand Prix 13 1'47.634 1.158
10 11 Germany Maximilian Gunther United Kingdom Arden International 9 1'47.743 1.267
11 21 Italy Antonio Fuoco Charouz Racing System 10 1'47.774 1.298
12 15 Spain Roberto Merhi Spain Campos Racing 9 1'47.854 1.378
13 17 Italy Alessio Lorandi Italy Trident 12 1'48.006 1.530
14 20 Switzerland Louis Deletraz Charouz Racing System 12 1'48.105 1.629
15 3 Indonesia Sean Gelael Italy Prema Powerteam 12 1'48.154 1.678
16 10 Finland Niko Kari Netherlands MP Motorsport 10 1'48.206 1.730
17 12 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi United Kingdom Arden International 11 1'48.327 1.851
18 9 France Dorian Boccolacci Netherlands MP Motorsport 12 1'48.491 2.015
19 1 Russian Federation Artem Markelov Russian Federation RUSSIAN TIME 9 1'48.568 2.092
  16 India Arjun Maini Italy Trident 2 2'14.971 28.495

 

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Edition

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