Mercedes Formula 1 junior George Russell claimed a maiden Formula 2 pole in qualifying at Paul Ricard, ending second-placed Alexander Albon’s three-race pole position streak.
ART Grand Prix’s Russell dominated the session. Initially setting the fastest time during the opening runs, Russell improved by 0.5 seconds on his second lap to defend provisional pole at the half-way mark in the 30-minute qualifying.
In the final run of the session, Russell improved again. Shaving a critical 0.3s from his time, his was able to hold onto pole position despite a flurry of improvements from those behind.
Albon, who entered the final runs in third place, managed to claw to within 0.166s of Russell’s late benchmark. DAMS’s Albon had secured the last three F2 poles but had to settle for second.
McLaren F1 reserve and current F2 championship leader Lando Norris had to rely on a late improvement to secure third on the grid.
After finishing his first lap in 11th, Norris could only improve to ninth on his second lap. With a fresh set of tyres, he vaulted up to second on his final lap of the session before swiftly being demoted to third by Albon.
Norris’s Carlin team-mate Sergio Sette Camara was 0.6s adrift of pole but managed to seal fourth place. A crash at the end of qualifying in Monaco forced him to miss the last two races with a hand injury.
Sette Camara’s time was just 0.017s clear of Campos’s Luca Ghiotto in fifth. ART’s Jack Aitken was a slender 0.034s further back in sixth.
Artem Markelov recovered from a compromised practice after a spin and stall to qualify seventh ahead of Prema Racing’s Nyck de Vries.
McLaren junior de Vries was in contention for pole, recording a session-best sector one time in the closing stages. However, his lap was ruined when a safe mode was activated on his car. He crawled back to the garage and was unable to improve on his first run.
Louis Deletraz, who was fifth after the first half of the session, ended up ninth. Nicholas Latifi rounded out the top 10.
Trident’s Santino Ferrucci suffered a safe mode glitch in the opening stages. The team managed to remedy the issue and he climbed from 16th to 13th with his final run.
