Carlin’s Yuki Tsunoda beat teammate Jehan Daruvala to take pole in FIA Formula 2 (F2) Championship at Sochi in a 1-2 finish.

It was a bit chaotic to start the F2 qualifying at Sochi as multiple drivers were unhappy with traffic on their fast laps. There was also a spin for DAMS’ Juri Vips and an off-moment for Hitech GP’s Luca Ghiotto, which further hampered drivers.

The Carlin duo, though, were relentless as Jehan Daruvala set the early benchmark with a 1m49.068s from teammate Yuki Tsunoda (1m49.320s). They led Hitech GP’s Nikita Mazepin, with the Prema drivers just behind him.

The FIA Stewards, meanwhile, put Ghiotto under investigation for hampering UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s Call Ilott, who was only 11th, as the Italian couldn’t set a representative lap along with Vips and ART Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong.

The second run was as close it could get as despite Daruvala looking good, Carlin teammate Tsunoda found time to take his third F2 pole by just the 0.006s margin. The Japanese set a 1m48.688s to his teammate’s 1m48.694s.

It ended up being a Carlin 1-2 with F2 points contender Prema’s Mick Schumacher slotted in third from Ilott as Ghiotto was fifth – but could get a penalty still. After not being able to set a good lap, ART’s Christian Lundgaard finally managed to, to be sixth.

The third F2 contender Robert Shwartzman was only seventh as Campos Racing’s Jack Aitken did well in eighth, to be ahead of UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s Guanyu Zhou and Hitech GP’s Mazepin in the Top 10. After a spin, DAMS’ Vips came back strong in 11th.

He headed the two Charouz drivers with Pedro Piquet ahead of Louis Deletraz, with Armstrong also managing to set a lap eventually to be 14th ahead of F2 debutant Jake Hughes in the HWA Racelab car.

Position 16-22: Felipe Drugovich, Dan Ticktum, Marino Sato, Roy Nissany, Artem Markelov, Giuliano Alesi, Guilherme Samaia.

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