Oscar Piastri claimed his third consecutive F2 pole position as he took pole for 2021 Russian Feature Race.
Piastri bounced back from a tough Practice session to claim his third pole position ahead of Jehan Daruvala and Theo Pourchaire, following a crazy Qualifying session which saw the lead change hands on various occasions.
Zhou qualified fourth ahead of Ralph Boschung who was quick all day long as HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes sprung a surprise as he qualified sixth on the grid.
Now here is a full roundup of Friday’s F2 Practice and Qualifying action in Sochi, Russia.
Practice
Liam Lawson led the majority of the field out for installation laps as DAMS held back Roy Nissany and Marcus Armstrong, who headed out for the first time as everyone who returned to the pit lane headed back out onto track.
Campos’ Ralph Boschung however was initially fastest after the opening flying laps with 1m 50.945, before finding 1.134 seconds on his next flier to lower the benchmark to 1m 49.811.
Felipe Drugovich ultimately was the only driver to eventually better Boschung’s time as he set a session-topping 1m 49.423 in the 20th minute of the session, ahead of the Swiss driver who improved to 1m 49.444 just four minutes after Drugovich went top of the timesheet.
Theo Pourchaire, Zhou and Juri Vips round out the top five ahead of Bent Viscaal, Robert Shwartzman, Christian Lundgaard, Richard Verschoor and Piastri, who was only tenth quickest.
HWA Racelab’s Alessio Deledda meanwhile caused a brief red flag with nine minutes left after he spun on the exit of Turn 15, having lost rear grip out of Turn 14 on entry into the following corner.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | 1m 49.423 |
| 2 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.021 |
| 3 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.179 |
| 4 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | + 0.228 |
| 5 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.257 |
| 6 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | + 0.379 |
| 7 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA | + 0.416 |
| 8 | Christian Lundgaard | ART GP | + 0.448 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.506 |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA | + 0.568 |
| 11 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | + 0.629 |
| 12 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | + 0.699 |
| 13 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.704 |
| 14 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | + 0.985 |
| 15 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 1.043 |
| 16 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | + 1.066 |
| 17 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 1.187 |
| 18 | David Beckmann | Campos | + 1.341 |
| 19 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 1.380 |
| 20 | Marino Sato | Trident | + 1.521 |
| 21 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | + 1.569 |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA Racelab | + 3.108 |
Qualifying
ART GP’s Christian Lundgaard and Theo Pourchaire were first out on track as majority of drivers opted for super soft tyres and two warm-up laps.
Boschung put himself quickest with 1m 48.264 following completion of everyone’s opening laps, although Zhou moved top with 1m 47.994 upon completion of second fliers in the opening run ahead of Piastri and Daruvala, as Boschung slipped to fourth ahead of Practice topper – Drugovich who sat fifth.
Piastri however was amongst a few drivers who found time in the opening fliers of the second and final runs, as the Alpine Academy member posted 1m 47.969 to displace Zhou by 0.025s, as Shwartzman and Liam Lawson improved to third and fourth respectively.
Daruvala however found 0.306s with a minute left to put himself on provisional pole only for Piastri to snatch his third consecutive F2 pole position by 0.198s after posting 1m 47.465 to extend his championship lead over Zhou to 19 points.
Daruvala settled for second ahead of Pourchaire, Zhou and Boschung as Hughes claimed a shock sixth place on Sunday’s grid ahead of Shwartzman, Lawson, Vips and Dan Ticktum who claims reverse-pole for Sprint Race One.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA | 1m 47.465 |
| 2 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | + 0.188 |
| 3 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.426 |
| 4 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | + 0.529 |
| 5 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.559 |
| 6 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | + 0.608 |
| 7 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA | + 0.633 |
| 8 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | + 0.664 |
| 9 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.674 |
| 10 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | + 0.706 |
| 11 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | + 0.725 |
| 12 | Christian Lundgaard | ART GP | + 0.790 |
| 13 | Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | + 0.821 |
| 14 | David Beckmann | Campos | + 0.963 |
| 15 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 1.122 |
| 16 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | + 1.197 |
| 17 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | + 1.320 |
| 18 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 1.524 |
| 19 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | + 1.761 |
| 20 | Marino Sato | Trident | + 1.874 |
| 21 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 2.000 |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA Racelab | + 2.924 |