Start, F2, Red Bull Ring, 2018

Russell wins again to close on Norris

Formula Two

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Mercedes junior driver George Russell took his fourth Formula Two victory of 2018 to increase the pressure on championship leader Lando Norris.

Russell led the field away from pole position at the start of the race, which began behind the Safety Car due to the series’ ongoing problems with cars stalling.

The Safety Car returned to the track soon after the start after Ralph Boschung came to a stop. Most drivers used this opportunity to make their mandatory pit stop. This meant Carlin, whose drivers Norris and Sergio Sette Camara were running second and third, had to stack their drivers.

A handful of cars stayed out and assumed the lead of the race, but Russell cycled back into the lead once they had visited the pits. In the intervening period Norris fell behind Roberto Merhi, and wasn’t able to re-pass the MP driver until the final laps.

Norris finally did so in the DRS zone approaching turn three. Soon afterwards Merhi also fell prey to the rapidly-recovering Antonio Fuoco, who claimed the final podium spot. Merhi came in fourth ahead of Alexander Albon, Sette Camara, and Tadasuke Makino.

A dramatic final lap saw Artem Markelov, who had started near the back of the grid and made his pit stop late, tear through the midfield. A stunning three-in-one more through turn three moved him up into ninth place, but even better was to come. He pounced on Nirei Fukuzumi at the final corner to claim eighth, and pole position for Sunday’s sprint race.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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6 comments on “Russell wins again to close on Norris”

  1. It’s very certain for me that Russel will get a seat next season. Maybe in Perez or Sirotkin place? Very likely.

    Good race for Norris overall, but he needs to stay ahead of Russel tomorrow. I still think his place is very linked to Alonso future, if Alonso stays it’ll be a very easy decision by the team, a rookie and a veteran. But what if Alonso leaves? Even if they get a veteran, if they put Norris on Vandorne seat they will be left with zero driver reference for car development.

    Again Camara was hit by his unlucky wave (and Carlin mistakes). It’s the third time the team let him down. He had a gap of almost 5s before the Safety Car and he ended up losing 4 places. Carlin isn’t as strong as Carlin, for instance it’s very clear that both Norris and Camara lost car balance after the change to softs.

    1. *Carlin isn’t as strong as ART*

      1. @miani Right, Art are the benchmark for F2(GP2) super professional race team, however credit to Carlin who are leading the Team Championship, yes they need to adapt to this class again but with Norris and Sette Camara they have given the drivers the cars needed to compete.

        It was harsh on Sette Camara but if he had qualified in front of Norris it would have been a different story!

        1. I would say your point is pretty fair, but the problem wasn’t the stacking (there’s nothing to do about it) but the slow left rear tyre change that cost him those places. If you watch the replay, you can see that he lost 1-2s.

          1. @miani Thanks, I didn’t see that had really dropped Sette Camara due to being at the circuit.

            However that has happened in F1 this and previous seasons to more seasoned and bigger teams with more severe consequences (Ricciardo 2016, Monaco).

  2. It was fun race to watch from the top of the Red Bull stand at the circuit with a brilliant view from T10 through to T4 and T6-T8. Action all race, Sette Camara was hurt by the double stacking, pre-safety car it was shaping up for a close fight in the top 3.

    Well done Russell he is starting to look the class of the field coming off the back of his GP3 championship last year.

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