Carlos Sainz Jr put his DAMS in top of timetable at the end of first qualifying session, which defines starting grid for first race. Pierre Gasly will be with him in the first row while from who Sainz will have to actually defend from is Roberto Merhi, departing fourth but second in championship. In between Gasly and Merhi will start Matthieu Vaxivière.
Carlos Sainz takes pole position again. If, as commonly happens, converts pole to victory, he will be able to catch some fresh air and scape a little from championship lead. That would make things worse for Merhi, who with four races left is at sixteen points from Sainz and after being two consecutive weekends cutting points and points.
Another character in this session was Pierre Gasly. Sainz’s partner in RedBull young driver programme made second position in grid and will have the honour to share first row with Sainz in a race taking place in his country.
What is a surprise is that the two young drivers in RedBull, with half a tenth between them, scaped from other rows for three tenths, the most time space between two drivers this session. Great driving that will be tested today at 1:00 pm local time.
Results:
Pos. | Car | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | |
1 | 1 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | DAMS | 13 | 1:47,436 | |
2 | 7 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Arden Motorsport | 14 | 1:47,498 | + 0,062 |
3 | 16 | Matthieu Vaxivière | FRA | Lotus | 13 | 1:47,784 | + 0,348 |
4 | 22 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Zeta Corse | 12 | 1:47,879 | + 0,443 |
5 | 3 | Sergey Sirotkin | RUS | Fortec Motorsports | 14 | 1:47,950 | + 0,514 |
6 | 20 | Zoel Amberg | SUI | AVF | 12 | 1:47,976 | + 0,540 |
7 | 15 | Marlon Stockinger | PHI | Lotus | 13 | 1:48,068 | + 0,632 |
8 | 4 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 13 | 1:48,106 | + 0,670 |
9 | 17 | Jazeman Jaafar | MAS | ISR | 12 | 1:48,182 | + 0,746 |
10 | 9 | Marco Sørensen | DEN | Tech 1 Racing | 12 | 1:48,208 | + 0,772 |
11 | 6 | Luca Ghiotto | ITA | International Draco Racing | 13 | 1:48,255 | + 0,819 |
12 | 11 | Will Stevens | GBR | Strakka Racing | 14 | 1:48,275 | + 0,839 |
13 | 28 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Comtec Racing | 13 | 1:48,298 | + 0,862 |
14 | 12 | Matias Laine | FIN | Strakka Racing | 13 | 1:48,352 | + 0,916 |
15 | 10 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Tech 1 Racing | 13 | 1:48,434 | + 0,998 |
16 | 8 | William Buller | GBR | Arden Motorsport | 12 | 1:48,458 | + 1,022 |
17 | 2 | Norman Nato | FRA | DAMS | 14 | 1:48,505 | + 1,069 |
18 | 5 | Pietro Fantin | BRA | International Draco Racing | 13 | 1:48,551 | + 1,115 |
19 | 19 | Beitske Visser | NED | AVF | 12 | 1:48,566 | + 1,130 |
20 | 26 | Meindert Van Buuren | NED | Pons Racing | 12 | 1:48,647 | + 1,211 |
21 | 25 | Oscar Tunjo | COL | Pons Racing | 12 | 1:48,698 | + 1,262 |
22 | 27 | Cameron Twynham | GBR | Comtec Racing | 13 | 1:49,086 | + 1,650 |