Luca Ghiotto withstood pressure from newly crowned Formula 2 champion Nyck de Vries to seize victory in a Sochi sprint race truncated after a heavy opening-lap accident.

Polesitter Nikita Mazepin battled Jack Aitken on the run to Turn 2 on the first lap of the race, but the two drivers missed their braking points and sailed into the runoff area on the outside of the corner.

Tangling as they attempted to rejoin, Mazepin was pitched across the track and collected Nobuharu Matsushita’s Carlin-prepared car.

Matsushita made heavy contact with the barriers on the outside of the long right-hander Turn 3, along with Mazepin. Both drivers were taken to hospital for precautionary checks, with the incident leading to a 50-minute red-flag delay as the medical team attended to Matsushita and circuit officials completed barrier repairs.

Through the melee, Ghiotto had climbed from fifth on the grid to lead, ahead of Ferrari junior Callum Ilott and Nyck de Vries – who was crowned champion after winning Saturday’s feature race – lining up third at the restart.

With the race shortened to 15 laps, Ghiotto was able to hang onto the lead, absorbing significant pressure from de Vries, who managed to battle passed Ilott immediately at the restart with the two running wheel-to-wheel for several corners.

On the final lap, de Vries threatened Ghiotto into Turn 2, where the Virtuosi driver had regularly occupied a defensive line during the previous laps, but was unable to out-brake the leader.

The top six were covered by less than four seconds at the chequered flag, with de Vries trailing Ghiotto by 0.7s. Ilott clinched third place ahead of DAMS’ Nicholas Latifi.

Latifi inherited fourth from his team-mate Sergio Sette Camara, who was handed a five-second time penalty for failing to rejoin the track by navigating the bollards after running wide at Turn 2 on the opening lap. Sette Camara’s excursion was in avoidance of a spinning Louis Deletraz, after the Carlin driver lost control in the braking zone.

Sete Camara was classified sixth, also dropping behind the second Virtuosi of Guanyu Zhou.

F2 returnee Artem Markelov restarted ninth after starting the race from the back of the grid, and did occupy the final points paying position in eighth at mid-distance. Overtaken by Giuliano Alesi and Jordan King in the closing stages, Markelov ended up 10th.

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Photo: FIA F3 Championship

Red Bull junior Juri Vips claimed victory from reversed grid pole in the final race of the FIA Formula 3 Championship season in Sochi.

Ferrari’s protege Marcus Armstrong vaulted above his Prema team-mate Jehan Daruvala to snatch second in the standings, finishing the race in second place while Daruvala ended up 15th after stalling from fourth on the grid.

Hitech GP’s Vips immediately defended from HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes on the long run to Turn 2, holding onto the lead which he was able to control throughout the 20-lap race.

Vips built a comfortable advantage early after Hughes tangled with Hitech’s Leonardo Pulcini while battling for second place. Pulcini danced around the outside of Hughes at Turn 4, brushing his sidepod on the run to Turn 5. Hughes then tagged Pulcini at the next apex, spinning the Italian.

Through the tussle, Armstrong and Pedro Piquet squeezed passed Hughes but Vips had amassed a three second lead.

Armstrong closed the gap in the final quarter of the race, with Vips’ end victory margin being 2.1s, and gained two extra points with fastest lap. This was what put Armstrong ahead of Daruvala in the standings.

Daruvala started from pitlane after his formation lap. His battle back to 11th on-track included skipping the Turn 2 chicane and incorrectly navigating the bollards for a five-second time penalty, dropping him to 15th.

His champion team-mate Robert Shwartzman completed the podium in third, inherited after Trident’s Pedro Piquet suffered a mechanical problem in the final laps of the race.

Hughes ended up fourth ahead of Piquet’s team-mate Niko Kari, who had a comparatively quiet drive to fifth.

It was all action behind in the closing stages, as Hitech’s Yifei Ye rose to take his first points in sixth.

MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor and Jenzer Motorsport’s Yuki Tsunoda had diced over the position, exchanging lunges at Turn 2 before both slipped back. Tsunoda dived into the pits on the penultimate lap, dropping out of contention, while Verschoor was seventh.

The Dutchman’s team-mate Liam Lawson surged from 12th to eighth in the final three laps of the race, dumping Christian Lundgaard out of the points on the final lap and dropping him into a wheel to wheel tussle with his ART Grand Prix team-mate Max Fewtrell.

Lundgaard ended up ninth, while Fewtrell was pipped to 10th by Carlin’s Logan Sargeant.

Race results (20 laps)

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Photo: Carl Bingham / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship

ART Grand Prix driver Nyck de Vries edged closer to the Formula 2 championship by taking pole position at Sochi, extending his advantage over DAMS’ Nicholas Latifi by four points.

De Vries, announced as a Mercedes Formula E driver since the last round at Monza, now leads the F2 drivers’ championship by 63 points and can clinch the the title in Saturday’s feature race. Latifi will line-up second on the grid.

Williams reserve Latifi – searching for his maiden F2 pole position – posted the fastest time in the opening exchanges, edging de Vries by 0.055s after the first laps of the 30-minute session. The DAMS driver then extended his advantage and was the first to dip into the 1m47s.

But de Vries responded in the second half of the session, stealing pole position with a 1m47.440s and while Latifi improved on his penultimate effort, he could not overhaul the points’ leader.

Monza polesitter and Ferrari academy driver Callum Ilott was third for the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz, only missing out on a front row start by 0.037s.

The Virtuosi pairing of Luca Ghiotto and Guanyu Zhou ended up fourth and fifth, gradually climbing up the order and gaining speed as the session progressed.

Sergio Sette Camara suffered a huge lock-up at Turn 13 on his fastest lap, still managing to clip the apex en route to sixth on the grid fro DAMS.

Louis Deletraz was seventh, while his Carlin team-mate Nobuharu Matsushita was another driver to flatspot a left-front tyre at Turn 13, having to bail out of his second timed effort of the session and complete his final run in the gap as a result. He vaulted from 13th to sixth, eventually sliding to 10th.

Nikita Mazepin and Jordan King qualified ahead of the Honda junior into eighth and ninth respectively.

Jack Aitken was only 12th for Campos after his first run was derailed when he made contact with Trident’s Giuliano Alesi, breaking his front wing. The incident is to be investigated by the stewards. Alesi escaped damage and ended up qualifying in 14th.

F2 veteran Artem Markelov returns to the series at his home event, driving alongside Tatiana Calderon at Arden. Eight-time race winner Markelov qualified in 16th, ahead of series debutant Matevos Isaakyan in 17th for the Sauber Junior Team.

Qualifying results

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Photo: Joe Portlock / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship

Ferrari Academy driver Callum Ilott secured a maiden Formula 2 pole position in a damp qualifying session at Monza, driving the single entry from the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz.

Renault junior Guanyu Zhou and ART’s Nikita Mazepin made it a surprise all-rookie top three.

Intermittent showers throughout made for greasy track conditions, with the track yielding it’s fastest times 10 minutes into the 30-minute qualifying session.

Ilott vaulted to the top of the timesheet three times as the track continued to evolve and benchmarks tumbled.

His 1m33.887s benchmark propelled him to provisional pole when Nobuharu Matsushita looped his Carlin-prepared car at the Della Roggia chicane, beaching the car in the gravel trap and triggering a red flag.

While running was suspended, the drizzle returned. Immediately after running resumed, Arden’s Tatiana Calderon spun at Ascari making contact with the outside wall and sending the session into another red flag delay.

For the remaining 15 minutes, drivers struggled to match their previous personal best efforts and it took until the final minutes of the session until improvements were posted.

Championship leader Nyck de Vries recorded session best sector one and three times and managed to climb from seventh to qualify fourth for ART Grand Prix. Jordan King was the only other driver to improve, and elevated himself from 11th to eighth.

Ilott’s time remained the fastest in the session to secure an undoubtedly emotional pole, following the tragic accident at Spa-Francorchamps last week in which his team-mate Juan Manuel Correa sustained injuries and his former team-mate Anthoine Hubert lost his life.

Virtuosi Racing’s Zhou was 0.143s adrift of Ilott in second place, while Mazepin outqualified team-mate de Vries for the first time this season in third.

Sergio Sette Camara was fifth for DAMS ahead of Matsushita, who still held onto sixth place despite missing the final 20 minutes of the session. Championship contender and Williams reserve Nicholas Latifi was seventh.

Mick Schumacher pedalled his Prema-prepared car to ninth ahead of Carlin’s Louis Deletraz, who had set a session best sector two benchmark before Matsushita’s spin forced him to abandon what would prove to be his final representative qualifying effort.

Sean Gelael was 11th, beating the lone Trident of Giuliano Alesi and Campos’ Jack Aitken.

Luca Ghiotto was fastest in practice but struggled to 14th for Virtuosi, ahead of Marino Sato – who spun while en route to the pits during the second red flag period – Mahaveer Raghunathan and Tatiana Calderon.

Qualifying results

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Photo: Joe Portlock / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship

Virtuosi Racing’s Luca Ghiotto topped the timesheet in Formula 2 practice ahead of his home round at Monza, but is under investigation along with team-mate Guanyu Zhou for using a wet tyres in the session.

The track was partially damp at the start of the 45-minute practice, but the session was not declared wet by race control. While the rest of the field carried out installation laps on dry compound tyres, both Virtuosi drivers completed their first laps on the wet tyre, and were soon placed under investigation by the stewards.

Practice was effectively reduced to a 20 minute session, as Ferrari junior Callum Ilott, Marino Sato and Mahaveer Raghunathan were the only drivers to set times in the early stages.

When the rest of the field emerged, championship leader Nyck de Vries set the benchmark pace and was 0.8s clear of the field after his second timed lap.

But his advantage was quickly eroded and de Vries opted to abort a lap which would have seen him extend his lead at the top of the times, recording a session best sector two split, with five minutes to go.

Ghiotto then posted a 1m33.017s time to vault to first, edging de Vries by 0.103s – a pacesetting effort that was not beaten.

Carlin’s Louis Deletraz, who posted a rapid sector one split time, was third and narrowly edged team-mate and 2017 Monza feature race polesitter Nobuharu Matsushita in fourth.

Renault junior Jack Aitken was fifth for Campos, ahead of Williams reserve and championship challenger Nicholas Latifi and the second Virtuosi of Zhou in seventh.

Mick Schumacher and team-mate Sean Gelael ended up eighth and ninth for Prema while early pacesetter Ilott rounded out the top 10.

Only 17 cars have been entered into the Monza round following the tragic events at Spa-Francorchamps. Arden, Trident and the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz field just one car each this weekend.

Free Practice results

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Photo: FIA Formula 2

Mick Schumacher clinched his first Formula 2 win after absorbing race-long pressure from Nobuharu Matsushita in the Hungaroring sprint race.

Reigning European Formula 3 champion Schumacher had yet to stand on the F2 podium prior to the reversed grid race, which he started from pole.

Carlin’s Matsushita launched from second on the grid and immediately challenged Prema driver Schumacher around the outside of Turn 1, but his attack was repelled.

Settling into second place, Matsushita was rarely more than a second behind the leader, only once falling outside of two seconds adrift after having to fend off DAMS’ Sergio Sette Camara.

He closing to within a half-second on the penultimate lap, but Schumacher had it under control for a lights-to-flag victory.

Camara finished third after slipped adrift of the lead battle following his mid-race attack on Matsushita. The Brazilian boldly dived to the inside of Matsushita at Turn 1 but ran wide on the exit, allowing the Carlin racer to retain second.

In the closing stages, Camara’s attention turned to MP Motorsport’s Jordan King behind. Campos Racing’s Jack Aitken secured fifth, having vaulted ahead of a slow-starting Luca Ghiotto.

The Virtousi driver slipped down to ninth, and spent several laps staring at Nikita Mazepin’s rear wing, as the ART Grand Prix driver climbed fourth places at the start. Mazepin eventually struggled with tyre degradation and Ghiotto squeezed him onto the grass en route to Turn 2 to seize eighth place and the final point.

Ghiotto finished behind both his title rivals, with championship leader Nyck de Vries extending his advantage to 30 points over Nicholas Latifi as the pair finished sixth and seventh. Latifi pressured de Vried throughout the race, albeit unable to make an overtake attempt.

Guanyu Zhou and Callum Ilott rounded out the top 10 for Virtuosi and Sauber Junior Team by Charouz respectively.

Arden’s Anthoine Hubert danced around the outside of Giuliano Alesi at Turn 2 in the closing stages to grab 11th place after the two had both demoted Mazepin at the previous corner. Mazepin slipped back to finish 15th. Hubert’s team-mate Tatiana Calderon was the only retirement in the race, after wheel-to-wheel contact with Arjun Maini caused her suspension damage.

Race results (28 laps)

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Photo: FIA Formula 2

ART Grand Prix’s Nyck de Vries extended his Formula 2 lead with the bonus points for pole in wet conditions at the Hungaroring.

His closest title rivals Luca Ghiotto and Nicholas Latifi ended up second and third, with 52 points now covering the trio.

De Vries survived two off-track moments on his first out-lap of the session, sliding wide at Turn 2 before taking to the run-off area at the Turns 6 and 7 chicane.

Regardless, his first flying lap edged Virtuosi’s Ghiotto by 0.089 seconds, while DAMS’ Latifi built up his pace to slot into third by the halfway point of the session.

With conditions remaining wet in the closing stages, Latifi briefly vaulted to first before de Vries delivered a 1m49.809s lap to return to the top.

With a session-best time in sector one, Ghiotto managed to squeeze into second place but was 0.227s adrift of de Vries, with Latifi a further half-second behind.

Prema’s Mick Schumacher was on course to improve on his final lap of the session before running wide at the penultimate corner and making a near-identical error at the final turn to stay in fourth place.

Louis Deletraz had a lap time deleted for a track limits infringement at Turn 7 halfway through the session but recovered to take fifth for Carlin, 0.018s ahead of Sauber Junior Team by Charouz’s Callum Ilott.

Silverstone sprint race winner Jack Aitken diverged on strategy compared to his rivals, pitting early for suspension set-up changes. He set a session-best sector two time but, like Schumacher, ran wide at the final corner and qualified seventh.

Nobuharu Matsushita was eighth for Carlin, beating Arden’s Anthoine Hubert and Ghiotto’s team-mate Guanyu Zhou.

Sergio Sette Camara struggled throughout the session, ending up in 13th for DAMS. Nikita Mazepin triggered the only red flag of the session when he stalled after spinning at Turn 7 on his outlap.

Qualifying results

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Photo: FIA Formula 2

ART Grand Prix driver and Formula 2 championship leader Nyck de Vries went fastest in free practice at the Hungaroring, despite a spin in the closing stages.

De Vries, who won a rain-affected feature race at Hungary last season, recorded a 1m29.236s benchmark – including a session-best split time in the final sector of the lap – to end practice at the top of the timesheet.

The Dutchman struggled for grip in the closing stages though, spinning at Turn 5 while completing his race-pace evaluation.

The long run assessments were truncated by a red flag after Trident’s championship returnee Ralph Boschung crashed at Turn 1.

Boschung lost control when applying the brakes and veered into the armco barriers, becoming a passenger en route to a head on collision with the tyre barriers in the run-off area. Boschung was unscathed but the red flag lasted for five minutes, leaving drivers with 20 minutes remaining in the session.

With all of the fastest times being delivered prior to the red flag, Mick Schumacher ended up in second place for Prema, ahead of Arden’s Anthoine Hubert – who suffered a big lock-up at Turn 1 when attempting to eclipse Schumacher’s time.

MP Motorsport’s Jordan King was 0.316 seconds adrift of de Vries in fourth ahead of Virtuosi Racing’s Guanyu Zhou.

Jack Aitken was one of the last drivers to set his personal best for the session, with the Campos Racing driver vaulting from the bottom of the order to sixth.

DAMS’ Sergio Sette Camera stalled when attempting a practice start at the end of the session, copying the mistake made by Tatiana Calderon earlier on. Camara and title-fighting team-mate Nicholas Latfifi could only manage seventh and 12th. Latifi’s first runs were heavily compromised by traffic.

Virtuosi’s Luca Ghiotto, currently third in the standings,?Carlin’s Nobuharu Matsushita and Sauber Junior Team by Charouz’s Callum Ilott rounded out the top 10.

Free Practice results

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Photo: FIA Formula 3

ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard finished fastest in FIA Formula 3 practice at the Hungaroring, as no Prema cars made it into the top four.

Lundgaard surged to the top of the timesheet in the closing stages of the 45-minute session, having been largely anonymous during the early runs.

His session-best effort in the third sector was eclipsed by HWA’s Jake Hughes, but the Brit was unable to depose Lundgaard and slotted into third place behind Trident’s Pedro Piquet.

Piquet appeared most likely to snatch top spot at the chequered flag, recording the best sector one time. Lundgaard’s ART team-mate Max Fewtrell improved late on to leap up to fourth.

Prema, runaway leader in the teams’ championship with over double the points of second-placed Hitech GP, slipped down the timesheet in the closing stages, despite having held the top three spots in just over five minutes remaining.

Points leader Robert Shwartzman ended up fifth despite provisionally holding the best time in all three sectors. He edged team-mate Marcus Armstrong after a session-long duel, while Jehan Daruvala drove the third Prema entry to 12th.

Hitech’s Leonardo Pulcini and Juri Vips were eighth and ninth, the latter flying up the order with a final lap good enough to turn a provisional 24th into eighth. Alex Peroni (Campos Racing) and Niko Kari (Trident) rounded out the top 10.

Raoul Hyman sat at the top of the timesheet with eight minutes left on the clock, but the Sauber Junior Team driver slipped to 17th after failing to improve.

Carlin’s Teppei Natori was 23rd fastest, and having missed the weighbridge during the session ended up having his lap times prior to that point deleted.

Free Practice results

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Photo: Joe Portlock / FIA F2 Championship

Renault academy driver Anthoine Hubert claimed a home victory from pole after dominating the Formula 2 sprint race at Paul Ricard, seizing his second consecutive reversed-grid race win.

Juan Manuel Correa finished second for Sauber Junior Team by Charouz ahead of Hubert’s fellow Renault junior Guanyu Zhou who ensured that all three podium spots were occupied by series rookies.

GP3 reigning champion Hubert launched well from pole while fellow front-row starter Correa dropped to third behind a fast-starting Jack Aitken.

Building a lead of over two seconds early on, Hubert proceeded to manage the gap. After quickly recovering to second place, muscling passed Aitken on the brakes approaching the Turn 8 chicane, Correa traded fastest laps with the leader.

However, he failed to make an impression on Hubert’s margin and the Frenchman claimed a second consecutive sprint race win, to follow up his maiden F2 victory in Monaco.

Virtuosi Racing’s Zhou managed to dispatch Nicholas Latifi with a bold move at the tight Turn 5 early on to grab fourth place before turning his attention to Aitken.

Starting from seventh, a scintillating start propelled Aitken into podium contention. However, the Campos driver immediately attempted to regain second after being demoted by Correa, challenging the American on the extreme inside of the track on the approach to Signes.

Wisely backing out of the move, Aitken lost ground and was then passed by Zhou at the final corner in a move which would seal the final spot on the podium.

Aitken finished fourth, while DAMS team-mates Sergio Sette Camara and Latifi ended up fifth and sixth after a lengthy dice.

Latifi initially lost the place after running wide at Turn 2, allowing Sette Camara a successful lunge at Turn 3. The two ran side-by-side through Signes corner later in the lap, but Latifi was unable to make the outside line work and had to settle for sixth.

Louis Deletraz looked set to bag the fastest lap points before his Carlin team-mate Nobuharu Matsushita pinched them late on.

Deletraz’s pace allowed him to catch and pass ART Grand Prix’s Nyck de Vries in the closing stages, as the feature race winner struggled for speed.

Callum Ilott then passed de Vries at Turn 11 after a superb run through Signes launched him into the overtake to clinch the final point. Half a lap later, Matsushita then demoted de Vries to a 10th place finish.

MP Motorsport’s Jordan King started in third place but ran off the track after out-braking himself at Turn 1 on the opening lap. Losing ground, he did not have the pace to stay in the points, sliding back to finish 11th.

Prema’s Mick Schumacher was the race’s only retirement, stopping on track shortly after pitting for fresh rubber due to a right-rear puncture – his sixth race in succession without scoring points.

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