Charles Leclerc showed his rivals a clean pair of heels by claiming an astonishing fifth pole position in a row at this afternoon’s qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, setting the fastest times on both sets of tyres to easily lead home rivals Sergio Sette Camara and PREMA teammate Antonio Fuoco by three tenths in a warm and dry session in Austria.

The Monegasque driver stopped the clocks at 1:13.396 late in the session to easily claim the pole position: his rivals threw everything they had at him but could not close the large gap up to stop him continuing his run of poles this year.

The session opened to warm but cloudy conditions as all of the drivers heading straight out on track, with Leclerc only briefly delayed after stalling while he waited for the green lights. Nyck De Vries was the first on track and soon led the way, setting the first competitive time before Nobuharu Matsushita, Oliver Rowland, Antonio Fuoco, Sette Camara and Leclerc alternated on the top of the timesheets, the latter taking a lead of a tenth back to the pits.

His rivals all drew breath before pushing once again on the second set of tyres, with ART pair Alexander Albon and Matsushita briefing running 1-2, until first Sette Camara and then Leclerc usurped the pair: with just a few minutes remaining Luca Ghiotto pushed hard but lost time in the final sector and teammate Artem Markelov was delayed by traffic returning to the pits, while behind them Leclerc set the 2^nd quickest time of the session and Sette Camara came to rest in the gravel at turn 8 after pushing too hard to close the gap.

Behind the top three Albon made a solid return from injury for P4 ahead of Rowland, Matsushita, De Vries, Ghiotto, Nicholas Latifi and Norman Nato, with the top 13 drivers within a second of the top time. On a circuit which famously provides great racing for a grid which is so close together on time, tomorrow’s Feature Race should be unmissable.

Preliminary Free Practice Classification

Landing at the mountainous Austrian up-and-down venue of Red Bull Ring in Styria, the FIA F2 Championship is approaching the middle stage of the championship which include some of its most classic and iconic venues in rapid succession. After Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Budapest will come quickly in a real tour-de-force before the August summer break.

Team Trident secured two solid performances in the double street rounds at Monaco and Baku, bringing home points on both occasions. At the Red Bull Ring the team is expected to confirm the great pace showed so far, and the roster will feature a welcomed addition with the return of Raffaele Marciello. The Italian racer, who finished the 2016 GP2 Series season in fourth place, will bring his great speed and experience, making the team’s line-up even more competitive.

Working with Raffaele is not new for Team Trident. Back in 2015, he secured four podium finishes for the Trident stable to finish the overall GP2 Series championship in seventh place. Lining-up alongside him will be team regular Nabil Jeffri. The Malaysian showed constant improvement throughout the championship so far and is looking forward to making a breakthrough to the front end of the grid.

Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager: “In Baku our drivers continued to showcase the same signs of growth we made in Monte Carlo. The Red Bull Ring is a really technical circuit, where every single detail can make a difference, so our drivers and technical staff will need to give 100% to continue to perform in such a convincing fashion."

"The preparation work for the Austrian weekend has been incredibly detailed, and I’m looking forward to see the team’s potential in the upcoming round of the season.”

Raffaele Marciello, Driver #17: “I’m really proud to be back working with Team Trident after the previous and really positive experience in the 2015 GP2 Series. They proved both competitive and professional throughout the years, a real benchmark in motor sports."

"I look forward to making my contribution to strengthen the team even further. I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of a Trident-prepared car at Red Bull Ring. It will also be my debut in the revamped FIA Formula 2 Championship."

Charles Leclerc has continued his sparkling run of form by topping today’s free practice session despite a late off-track moment at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, with a strong lap of 1:14.356 to lead teammate Antonio Fuoco and Rapax’s Nyck De Vries by over three tenths at the flag in warm and dry conditions.

With the weather being notoriously changeable and the clouds drawing towards the Styrian circuit ahead of the session, fears of rain abounded all along the pitlane. Happily though the rain held off for the whole session, although all of the drivers were immediately on track when the lights went green to ensure as much running as possible.

On such a short track the time gaps were always likely to be close, and so it proved: Artem Markelov, Louis Deletraz, Antonio Fuoco, Leclerc and Nicholas Latifi all spent time on top of the timesheets before the Ferrari Academy driver annexed P1 at the 15 minute mark. With most of the grid concentrating on long run pace there were few changes to be made in the order, although Fuoco slid up to 2nd on the half hour, just ahead of De Vries.

With 5 minutes remaining the pace picked up once again: Leclerc showed he was pushing by locking up at turn 4 and running wide through the gravel before returning to the track, with Latifi running similarly wide at turn 9, but with 2 minutes to go Sergio Sette Camara stopped on track just before the pitlane entrance, prompting a VSC period until the chequered flag, which dropped just as the threatened rain began to fall.

Behind the top three Latifi and teammate Oliver Rowland, Sergio Canamasas, Nobuharu Matsushita, returnee Alexander Albon, Ralph Boschung and Luca Ghiotto rounded out the top ten: with just one second covering from P2 to P20 this afternoon’s qualifying session promises to be even more exciting than usual.

Preliminary Free Practice Classification

Norman Nato grabbed this afternoon’s FIA Formula 2 Championship Sprint Race victory at the Baku City Circuit despite following the championship leader Charles Leclerc across the line: the Monegasque driver had a 10 second penalty which sent the win back to the Frenchman, ahead of Leclerc and Nicholas Latifi. 

The seeds of the victory came at the start, when a storming start by Nato from P4 saw him alongside front row starter Oliver Rowland when the pair were squeezed by poleman Ralph Boschung: the Briton slid inside and through into the lead at turn two while the Frenchman had to defend from a fast charging Latifi behind him, while further back Leclerc had shuffled back to 10th before starting his fightback on the very first lap. 

Next time through Nato was desperate to dispatch Boschung, and the pair touched as the Frenchman dived down the inside into turn 2, losing part of his right front wing in the process before heading off after Rowland with Latifi in his wake. It was only 2 laps before fourth placed Nyck De Vries eased by Boschung, and then one more lap to move into the podium positions as he blasted past Latifi on the front straight. 

It was all to change in short order though, when Rowland slowed from the lead and De Vries ran deep at turn 3 with the pair both out with mechanical gremlins, handing the lead to Nato from Latifi and Jordan King, with Leclerc already up to P4 and looking for more. The Monegasque was running a second faster than anyone as he strung a collection of qualifying laps together: he was past King on the front straight on lap 10, through Latifi there 2 laps later, and it was only a matter of time before he claimed the lead as he hunted down the first perfect weekend in championship history. 

On lap 17 the bitter call came on the screens that Leclerc (and Sergio Canamasas) would receive 10 second time penalties for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags earlier in the race: Nato didn’t defend a lap later when the Monegasque grabbed the lead on the road, but as the laps rolled down there was insufficient time (or tyres) to build a big enough gap to hold the lead. Leclerc took the flag 1.3 seconds ahead of Nato, which because an 8.7 second win for Nato, with Latifi holding on for the podium ahead of a race long battle between King, Sergey Sirotkin, Artem Markelov and Nobuharu Matsushita, with Luca Ghiotto claiming the final point of the race. 

Pole, two fastest laps, a win and a second means Leclerc leaves Baku with an extended lead in the drivers’ championship over Rowland, 122 points to 80, with Markelov on 76, Ghiotto on 57, Latifi on 53 and Matsushita on 50 points, while in the teams’ championship RUSSIAN TIME and DAMS lead the way on 133 points each ahead of PREMA Racing on 124, ART Grand Prix on 94 and Rapax on 61 points as the grid turns towards Spielberg for the 5th round of the 2017 championship.

Sprint Race Provisional Classification