Alexander Albon takes pole for F2 Feature Race in Azerbaijan
Lando Norris and George Russell start second and third respectively
By William Esler
Last Updated: 11/12/18 2:52pm
Alexander Albon took his maiden Formula 2 pole with a brilliant lap in Baku which beat Lando Norris to top spot by over two tenths of a second in qualifying for the Feature Race at the Azerbaijan GP.
The London-born Thai driver took a different line to the others on the pit-straight, hugging the inside wall with his DAMS car as he looked to take the shortest possible route to the line, despite running on the dirty part of the track.
And as he posted the quickest time, his DAMS team-mate Nicholas Latifi spun, causing a yellow flag and bringing the session to a premature end.
The four points for pole move Albon up to fourth in the drivers' championship ahead of Saturday's Feature Race, which is live on Sky Sports F1 at 9am.
Behind Albon, it was a battle of the Brits as Lando Norris and George Russell posted their best times within seconds of each other, both taking top spot for a few seconds.
But it was Carlin driver and championship leader Norris who secured the front row start, pushing ART's Russell down to third.
The other British driver on the grid, Jack Aitken, will start from seventh.
Elsewhere, American youngster and Haas junior Santino Ferrucci set his best qualifying performance in F2 with fifth, while Maxmilian Gunther recovered well from an early on track stoppage to take 11th.
But for one of the title favourites it was another disappointing qualifying with Artem Markelov only 18th - one place worse than his grid slot in Bahrain. In the desert the Russian put on an overtaking masterclass to finish on the podium, could we see it again on Saturday in Baku?
Tune into Sky Sports F1 to find out, coverage starts at 8:55am with the race underway at 9am.
