Russell sorts them out in Sochi
FORMULA 2 SOCHI (RUS) SEPTEMBER 29-30 ROUND 11/12
George Russell has one hand firmly on the Formula 2 title after another great weekend at Sochi. Now his only challenger is Alexander Albon, who took victory in Saturday’s feature race as Lando Norris dropped out of title contention.
If anything can characterise Russell’s season, it’s consistency and his ability to improve his ART Grand Prix car through a weekend. In the feature race he lacked the edge of DAMS pairing Albon and Nicholas Latifi, who he said had “the strongest pace of any driver and any team all season”.
But after staying late on Saturday with the team to investigate, Russell was rocket-like in the sprint race, and he managed a number of tricky scenarios including mid-race rain to dominate proceedings.
Although he has already been confirmed in a Mclaren seat in Formula 1 next year, Carlin driver Norris maintained that winning the F2 title is important to him.
But it all went wrong during the feature race when he was released from his pit box before his front-right wheel was attached, putting him out of the race. That placed him at the back for the sprint race, where only fastest lap would have kept him in with a chance – but Russell grabbed those bonus points before the rain came. Norris also earned himself a stop-go penalty in the sprint race for an infringement on the formation lap, and was pushing hard when he was tagged into retirement by Arjun Maini. Little wonder Norris described the weekend as “horrendous”.
While Norris’s title bid was unstitching in the feature race, Albon – third in the standings arriving in Russia – was ready to pounce. Since tyre degradation was high at Sochi, it looked as though those starting on the soft prime rubber – as opposed to the supersoft option – would have an advantage. Indeed, Artem Markelov led most of the race having started in 19th, but the prime runners couldn’t maintain pace towards the end of the stint. Markelov might still have had a chance, but his radio failed and he took his Russian Time team by surprise when he pitted for his supersofts.
The key move came in the pitstops for Albon, who jumped polesitter Nyck de Vries. But on both stints Albon and team-mate Latifi were rapid. After locking up with three laps to go, de Vries flat-spotted and Latifi was able to move through for a brilliant one-two for DAMS, a team in fine form. Latifi has been rejuvenated in the past three rounds, having struggled before that.
Markelov fell back to 11th, vitally important in his battle for fourth in the points with Prema Racing man de Vries.
While Russell won on Sunday, Latifi believed this was “his race to win” until an “idiot move” from Alessio Lorandi wiped him out at Turn 5. Lorandi had already gone straight on at Turn 2 – along with a
host of other drivers, including Russell – before he locked up for T5 and crashed into the back of Latifi’s car.
Russell made haste after the resultant safety car had come in, dispatching Arden’s Nirei Fukuzumi for the lead. Fukuzumi’s car was so tail-happy that you could be forgiven for thinking he was driving in a different formula as Russell reeled him in.
There have been many occasions when adversity has hit Russell while leading a race, almost as if some higher power had taken against him. And it remains a cruel injustice that, while Norris and Albon
(who goes to Formula E) thoroughly deserve their seats for next season,
Russell’s future remains uncertain.
The adversity on this occasion was rain. It looked as if it might be possible to remain on slick tyres, but Russell took the difficult decision to pit for wet-weather rubber on lap 13. His rivals followed.
Russell was peerless in the wet to win by 7.4 seconds over Sergio Sette Camara and Albon. De Vries ended a race-long battle with Markelov by taking fourth from him on the penultimate lap.
Albon now trails Russell by 37 points, with 48 on offer from the Abu Dhabi finale. That’s a struggle as vertiginous as they come, especially since Albon’s score of
35 at Sochi is his best weekend harvest to date this season. “Mathematically, there’s a possibility for Alex to take the championship,” admitted Russell. “He had a great weekend here. I feel we’re in a good position but anything can happen.”