McLaren Formula 1 junior Nyck de Vries took a sensational maiden Formula 2 pole position at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, setting a time over four-tenths quicker than anyone else.
De Vries provisionally set the quickest time during the first runs with a 1m 56.450s, but quickly had his lap invalidated due to a track limit infringement after crossing the white line on the inside at Radillion.
This left Lando Norris at the head of the times, albeit briefly as championship leader George Russell snatched away the top spot by just over two-tenths on his second lap after having had his warm-up time deleted, again due to a track limit infringement.
Sergio Sette Camara ended the first runs in third position a further two-tenths behind his Carlin team-mate, while Artem Markelov and Louis Deletraz rounded out the top five.
The Dutchman re-gained the top spot mid-way through the session with a stunning lap that put the Prema driver nearly half-a-second clear of Russell.
Russell looked the man to deny de Vries pole – the Brit setting a sector one time just 0.005s slower.
He lost time throughout the lap, however, and – despite setting a personal best – could only manage a time 0.403s slower than de Vries’ benchmark.
Sette Camara lined his Carlin up in third position, as both he and Luca Ghiotto demoted Norris down to fifth by the end of the session.
Norris was then forced to stop his car on track just before Turn 14 on his slowdown lap – the cause of the stoppage is yet to be confirmed.
Alexander Albon set a first sector time nearly a tenth quicker than that of de Vries, but like Russell bled time throughout the rest of the lap to eventually end up sixth, over eight-tenths away from pole.
Antonio Fuoco and Deletraz made sure both the Charouz-run machines start the feature race within the top ten in seventh and ninth respectively, with Honda junior Nirei Fukuzumi eighth for Arden.
Artem Markelov completed the top ten for Russian Time.
