Guanyu Zhou led a UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s 1-2 to secure his first FIA Formula 2 (F2) Championship pole in feature race, with Luca Ghiotto in second.
It was a steady start to the F2 qualifying session at Silverstone with UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s Guanyu Zhou leading teammate Luca Ghiotto and DAMS’ Sergio Sette Camara in the Top 3 after the first run. Two drivers went for an alternate strategy though.
Prema’s Mick Schumacher and MP Motorsport’s Jordan King were the two as the former slotted in 10th but was pushed by the latter to take the position, after Schumacher (1m39.227s) lost chunks of time due to traffic on his quick time to be 11th.
Meanwhile, at the front, Zhou (1m38.182s) continued to improve on his time as he scored his first F2 pole for the feature race in a 1-2 for his team, with Ghiotto (1m38.410s) and Camara (1m38.511s) maintaining their track position in the Top 3.
Camara was followed by his teammate Nicholas Latifi (1m38.519s), who crucially had track position from F2 title rival ART Grand Prix’s Nyck de Vries (1m38.613s), who was only seventh. In the Top 5 was Carlin’s Louis Deletraz (1m38.547s).
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz’s Callum Ilott (1m38.549s) slotted in sixth, with the Top 10 then being rounded out by Campos Racing’s Jack Aitken (1m38.686s), Carlin’s Nobuharu Matsushita (1m38.877s) and BWT Arden’s Anthoine Hubert (1m39.046s).
The other Sauber Junior Team by Charouz’s car of Juan Manuel Correa missed on a Top 10 in 11th but the Colombian was the last car to be under a second of Zhou’s time. Returning Triden’ts Dorian Boccolacci was 17th with MP Motorsport’s Mahaveer Raghunathan 20th.
Position 11-20: Correa, Jordan King, Mick Schumacher, Arjun Maini, Giuliano Alesi, Nikita Mazepin, Boccolacci, Sean Gelael, Tatiana Calderon, Raghunathan.