McLaren's Norris sweeps F2's first pre-season test day
McLaren Formula 1 reserve driver Lando Norris swept the first day of Formula 2 pre-season testing at Paul Ricard.
Photo by: FIA Formula 2
The rookie F2 racer, driving for the returning Carlin outfit, was quickest both in the rain-affected morning session and on a dry track in the afternoon, ending the day with a best effort of 1m43.095s.
Tuesday's track action marked the first collective timed test for the new halo-fitted Dallara F2 2018 car, three weeks on from the shakedown runs at Magny-Cours.
Norris topped the morning session with a 1m56.136s lap on wets, ending the first half of the test day nine tenths clear of his nearest rival, MP Motorsport's new signing Ralph Boschung.
The Brit was quickest for a fair chunk of the afternoon, too, but was shuffled down the order soon after the session entered its final hour – only to soon reclaim the top spot for good.
Fellow McLaren junior Nyck de Vries, who joined reigning champion outfit Prema in the off-season, finished the day in second place, two tenths off the pace.
Norris' Carlin teammate Sergio Sette Camara was a close third, as he had been in the morning session, despite having triggered one of its numerous red-flag stoppages with an off.
Luca Ghiotto was fourth on the day for Campos, ahead of ART's Mercedes-backed reigning GP3 champion George Russell and the other Prema car of Sean Gelael.
Russell's ART teammate Jack Aitken, who was recently named Renault's F1 reserve, took seventh overall, heading the BWT-liveried cars of Arden teammates Nirei Fukuzumi and Maximilian Gunther.
Williams junior Oliver Rowland, testing for DAMS in place of the sidelined Nicholas Latifi, made up the top 10, with his squadmate Alex Albon 14th after sitting out almost the entire afternoon due to an engine change.
Ex-F1 driver Roberto Merhi was 16th for MP, while Russian Time's 2017 F2 runner-up Artem Markelov propped up the order, without a slick-tyre laptime to his name.
Test results
Pos. | Driver | Team | AM | PM |
1 | Lando Norris | Carlin | 1:56.136 | 1:43.095 |
2 | Nyck de Vries | Prema | 2:00.088 | 1:43.282 |
3 | Sergio Sette Camara | Carlin | 1:57.289 | 1:43.401 |
4 | Luca Ghiotto | Campos | 2:00.067 | 1:43.707 |
5 | George Russell | ART Grand Prix | 2:04.282 | 1:43.745 |
6 | Sean Gelael | Prema | 2:00.095 | 1:43.844 |
7 | Jack Aitken | ART Grand Prix | No Time | 1:44.115 |
8 | Nirei Fukuzumi | BWT Arden | 1:59.759 | 1:44.232 |
9 | Maximilian Gunther | BWT Arden | 1:57.742 | 1:44.277 |
10 | Oliver Rowland | DAMS | 2:12.894 | 1:44.345 |
11 | Arjun Maini | Trident | 1:57.591 | 1:44.522 |
12 | Ralph Boschung | MP Motorsport | 1:57.037 | 1:44.603 |
13 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz | 1:58.619 | 1:44.807 |
14 | Alexander Albon | DAMS | 1:57.357 | 1:44.950 |
15 | Santino Ferrucci | Trident | 1:58.899 | 1:45.023 |
16 | Roberto Merhi | MP Motorsport | 1:58.358 | 1:45.086 |
17 | Roy Nissany | Campos | 2:03.983 | 1:46.166 |
18 | Antonio Fuoco | Charouz | 1:58.780 | 1:46.480 |
19 | Tadasuke Makino | Russian Time | 2:03.229 | 1:47.050 |
20 | Artem Markelov | Russian Time | 2:10.443 | No Time |
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