McLaren Formula 1 junior Lando Norris was fastest in Formula 2 practice in Russia, beating Prema Racing’s Nyck de Vries and championship leader George Russell.
Norris – who enters the penultimate weekend of the season 22 points adrift of Russell in the championship – appeared at first to be exclusively battling his title rival for top spot on the timesheet.
Russell vaulted to first place with a 1m48.635s benchmark but was swiftly displaced. Recording a 1m48.231s, the F1-bound Norris seized top spot by 0.404s.
The Mercedes junior attempted to retake first with his next run. Despite recording session best times in the first and second sector and being on course to beat Norris by 0.229s, a lock-up at the heavy braking zone at Turn 13 meant that the lap was ruined.
That mistake allowed de Vries to sneak into second place on the timesheet. Improving later in the session compared to his rivals, he ended up 0.172s adrift by the chequered flag.
On his final hotlap, de Vries threatened to topple Norris after beating Russell’s sector one benchmark. However, a weaker middle sector and traffic at the end of the lap halted his progress.
Russell in third edged Norris’s Carlin team-mate Sergio Sette Camara into fourth place. Camara has outqualified Norris at every round since Austria in June.
Nicholas Latifi ended the session in fifth. He pushed the limits at Turn 10, running over the artificial grass on the exit and nearly brushing the concrete wall on one run.
Latifi along with Norris and Artem Markelov all completed F1 FP1 immediately prior to the F2 session, with Force India, McLaren and Renault respectively.
Surprise Monza feature race winner Tadasuke Makino jumped up to sixth place on the timesheet late on, while his Russian Time team-mate Markelov improved with his last lap but could only manage 14th.
ART Grand Prix’s Jack Aitken was seventh ahead of Alexander Albon, who is currently on the periphery of the championship tussle occupying third in the drivers’ standings.
Latifi in fifth was only 0.056s quicker than Albon in eighth.
Luca Ghiotto and Antonio Fuoco rounded out the top 10, while Maximilian Gunther was 11th for Arden International despite suffering a left-rear puncture mid-session.
Making his F2 debut this weekend as a replacement for Ralph Boschung at MP Motorsport, Niko Kari ended practice in a promising 13th.
Returning to the series with Campos Racing as a replacement for Roy Nissany, Roberto Merhi finished a distant 19th – 1.899s behind pacesetter Norris.
