Alpine F1 junior Piastri secures third consecutive F2 pole in Sochi

Daruvala stormed to the top of the timesheets in the closing seconds of qualifying in Russia, over 0.3s clear of Guanyu Zhou, who is Piastri’s main rival for the title. 

Another impressive final sector for Piastri ensured he got ahead of Daruvala for pole and the additional four points that come with it. 

Zhou dropped to fourth after being unable to find gains on his final run, allowing ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pourchaire to get ahead for third. 

Behind the top four of Piastri, Daruvala, Pourchaire and Zhou was Ralph Boschung, who enjoyed his best qualifying of the season. 

Jake Hughes qualified sixth ahead of Russian driver Robert Shwartzman.

Shwartzman currently sits third in the championship, but once again struggled for one-lap pace relative to his less experienced teammate.

Liam Lawson was eighth in the lead Hitech ahead of Juri Vips, while Dan Ticktum secured 10th and reverse grid pole position for tomorrow. 

Marcus Armstrong qualified 11th for DAMS ahead of Christian Lundgaard and Felipe Drugovich.

David Beckmann and Richard Verschoor completed the top 15.

Heavy rain is forecast for Saturday in Sochi, forcing organisers to move the first F3 race to Friday afternoon.

F2’s sprint races are set to take place as planned, although torrential rain would change that.

Click here for the full FIA Formula 2 qualifying results from Russia.