George Russell secured his third-successive Formula 2 pole position in 2018, with the Mercedes Formula 1 junior heading DAMS’ Alexander Albon by 0.076s at Silverstone.
Russell’s pole follows a dominant run in practice earlier today which saw the championship leader lap more than seven-tenths quicker than anyone. His pole means that he has further extended his title lead to 14 points over Lando Norris.
Russell led the field after the first set of qualifying runs prior to a red flag on a 1m 40.706s, just ahead of Louis Deletraz and Carlin’s Sergio Sette-Camara.
The session was red flagged after just eight-minutes following a mechanical failure for Roy Nissany, who was forced to park his Campos-prepared car on the outside of Village corner, meaning the end of the Israeli’s day.
Championship challenger Norris sat down in 11th following the first runs as a result of a scrappy lap that saw the McLaren F1 reserve slide wide at Copse and nearly lose control of his Carlin-run machine.
The red flag was rescinded only a few minutes later, and Russell duly went out and shaved another tenth from his time to extend his leading advantage to over three-tenths of a second, ahead of the now second-placed Alexander Albon.
Charouz Racing System’s Antonio Fuoco then recorded a stunning time more than three-tenths quicker than the ART-pilot to lead the field heading into the final runs.
Russell was not to be denied however as he posted a 1m 39.989s tour, edging out Albon in the final reckoning.
Antonio Fuoco was unable to match Russell in the end, but still managed to improve his time, and will start from third place for tomorrows feature race.
Louis Deletraz made sure both Charouz cars would start in the top four, with Sergio Sette Camara starting fifth.
Lando Norris struggled to sixth just behind his team-mate Camara, his best lap over four-tenths down on pole-man Russell.
Arjun Maini enjoyed a strong session by putting his Trident seventh on the grid, while Artem Markelov had one of his strongest qualifying performances to date by lining up just behind the Indian in eighth.
Rounding out the top ten were Luca Ghiotto and Maximillian Gunther, for Campos and Arden International respectively.
It was a tough day for two other championship contenders, however, as Nyck de Vries and Jack Aitken could only manage 11th and 12th – the pair over eight-tenths down on Russell’s benchmark time.
