George Russell took his fourth Formula 2 pole of the 2018 season in a tight Monza qualifying battle, edging out Sergio Sette Camara while title contender Lando Norris could only manage seventh.
The resulting four points for Russell’s pole mean he now extends his slender five-point championship advantage to nine over Norris.
Sette Camara flew to the top of the timesheets following the opening runs of the session, the Brazilian steering his Carlin to a 1m32.052s, just 0.170s faster than Russell’s opening gambit.
Alexander Albon was initially third fastest for DAMS, while Luca Ghiotto and Antonio Fuoco rounded off the early top five.
Lando Norris could only manage a time quick enough for eighth on his first run – the McLaren Formula 1 junior racer over eight-tenths away from his pace-setting team-mate.
With a potential rain shower failing to materialise, Albon was the first of the title contenders to head back out on track for his second run.
A tidy lap saw him take the top spot, although Russell snatched it back away just seconds later by nearly three-and-a-half tenths.
Early leader Camara posted the fastest final sector on his own improved lap, but fell just 0.054s short of usurping the Brit and was forced to settle for second.
Artem Markelov improved his lap but could only manage fourth, while an improvement for Nicholas Latifi meant both DAMS-run machines would start in the top five.
While Norris was able to improve to his final position of seventh, he was nearly six-and-a-half tenths away from his championship rival’s pole time.
Spa pole-sitter and feature race victor Nyck de Vries was a disappointing 11th in what was a disastrous session for the Italian Prema Racing squad’s home race, book-ended by Sean Gelael only managing the 17th fastest time.
