George Russell took a step closer towards clinching the Formula 2 title by taking pole position in Abu Dhabi, as sole rival Alexander Albon wound up eighth.
Russell, who will race for Williams in Formula 1 in 2019, entered the weekend 37 points clear of Albon and by topping qualifying his advantage has now grown to 41, with only 44 up for grabs.
Russell’s time of 1:49.251 enabled him to jump both Nyck de Vries (Prema) and Nicholas Latifi (DAMS), who opted to run during the usual quiet spell in the middle of the 30-minute session.
It marked the fifth time that Russell has headed qualifying in 2018, and he held an advantage of almost three-tenths of a second over the chasing pack.
De Vries and Latifi wound up second and third respectively while Russian Time’s Artem Markelov showed strong one-lap pace in a difficult campaign to take fourth.
Russell’s ART Grand Prix team-mate Jack Aitken bounced back from a tricky run of events to qualify fifth, while Louis Deletraz was sixth for Charouz Racing System.
Lando Norris was a subdued seventh in his final Formula 2 qualifying session before graduating to Formula 1 with McLaren, while Russell’s only opponent for the crown – Albon – took eighth.
Tadasuke Makino and Sergio Sette Camara rounded out the top 10.
Red Bull protégé Dan Ticktum qualified 14th for his debut in the series.
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