Red Bull Ring F2: Markelov wins from charging Russell
Renault junior Artem Markelov took a lights-to-flag win in Formula 2's Red Bull Ring sprint race as George Russell took the championship lead after an impressive charge to second.
Photo by: FIA Formula 2
Russian Time duo Markelov and Tadasuke Makino held the first two positions after the rolling start, but the hero of the early stages was Russell.
The Mercedes F1 junior began as seventh as Roberto Merhi couldn't take the start from fifth, and immediately passed title rival Lando Norris into Turn 1.
He then made the same move and picked off Antonio Fuoco, Alex Albon and Sergio Sette Camara lap by lap to progress to third.
Two laps later he moved past Makino for second, with Markelov holding a 2.5s advantage at the time.
But Russell couldn't make up ground on Markelov, who further extended his lead and cruised to take his third win of the season by 5.6s.
Russell finished second and took the championship lead from Norris, who couldn't emulate Russell's charge and even lost positions late on to end up 11th.
Makino held third in the first half of the race but started to lose ground in the latter stages, losing three positions.
Sette Camara claimed the final podium position as he matched the pace of Markelov and Russell, with Fuoco in fourth finishing further eight seconds behind.
Albon was fifth ahead of Makino with Santino Ferrucci and Nicholas Latifi moving ahead of Norris and Nirei Fukuzmi for the final two points-scoring positions.
Fukuzumi settled for ninth, with Arjun Maini taking 10th.
Sprint race results
Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 28 | - |
2 | George Russell | ART Grand Prix | 28 | 5.6 |
3 | Sergio Sette Camara | Carlin | 28 | 8.5 |
4 | Antonio Fuoco | Charouz Racing System | 28 | 17.1 |
5 | Alexander Albon | DAMS | 28 | 17.9 |
6 | Tadasuke Makino | RUSSIAN TIME | 28 | 22.5 |
7 | Santino Ferrucci | Trident | 28 | 24.5 |
8 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 28 | 27.2 |
9 | Nirei Fukuzumi | Arden International | 28 | 28.0 |
10 | Arjun Maini | Trident | 28 | 28.6 |
11 | Lando Norris | Carlin | 28 | 30.1 |
12 | Maximilian Gunther | Arden International | 28 | 30.8 |
13 | Luca Ghiotto | Campos Racing | 28 | 32.1 |
14 | Nyck de Vries | Prema Powerteam | 28 | 32.9 |
15 | Ralph Boschung | MP Motorsport | 28 | 36.9 |
16 | Roberto Merhi | MP Motorsport | 28 | 38.8 |
17 | Roy Nissany | Campos Racing | 28 | 44.1 |
18 | Jack Aitken | ART Grand Prix | 28 | 44.2 |
Louis Deletraz | Charouz Racing System | 23 | 5 laps | |
Sean Gelael | Prema Powerteam | 22 | 6 laps |
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