Moscow FR3.5: McLaren protege Vandoorne takes another pole

The first delay was required to move 2012 Moscow winner Arthur Pic's AV Formula machine from its unsafe parking position on the inside verge of Turn 12.

The top of the classification was closely balanced at the time of the stoppage. McLaren Junior driver Vandoorne was 0.051 seconds ahead of Saturday podium finisher Nigel Melker, and 0.069s clear of P1 by Strakka racer Matias Laine.

When session was restarted with a little over five minutes remaining, a flurry of improvements arrived.

Laine's team-mate Will Stevens made the most dramatic improvement. The Briton had only completed five laps prior to the red flag, but jumped from last to second position.

Stevens then sealed his highest starting position of the season when Nikolay Martsenko's sickly Pons car expired.

The Russian had reportedly deposited fluid for a few laps before coming to a smoky halt. Both Norman Nato, who spun across the grass, and Oliver Webb, who beached his car in a gravel trap, were caught by a slick surface at Turn 3.

The session was abandoned with nine seconds left to run, denying Vandoorne's rivals an opportunity to challenge his 1m20.025s pole lap.

Behind the race one victor, who enjoyed a healthy 0.415s advantage over Stevens, second to sixth was covered by just 0.1s.

Championship leader Kevin Magnussen claimed third place, ahead of Monaco winner Nico Muller and Webb.

After the disappointment of stalling while taking up his grid position on Saturday, Sergey Sirotkin bounced back to take sixth and the honour of top Russian.

Of the regular 2013 frontrunners, Red Bull junior driver Antonio Felix da Costa was the notable absence from the sharp end.

The Portuguese racer ended the morning in 13th, ahead of the session's early pole protagonist Melker, feeling the red flags ruined his best laps.

Pos  Driver                  Team            Time       Gap
 1.  Stoffel Vandoorne       Fortec          1m20.025s
 2.  Will Stevens            P1/Strakka      1m20.440s  +0.415s
 3.  Kevin Magnussen         DAMS            1m20.472s  +0.447s
 4.  Nico Muller             Draco           1m20.475s  +0.450s
 5.  Oliver Webb             Fortec          1m20.490s  +0.465s
 6.  Sergey Sirotkin         ISR             1m20.528s  +0.503s
 7.  Andre Negrao            Draco           1m20.552s  +0.527s
 8.  Christopher Zanella     ISR             1m20.639s  +0.614s
 9.  Mikhail Aleshin         Tech 1          1m20.643s  +0.618s
10.  Daniil Move             SMP/Comtec      1m20.661s  +0.636s
11.  Pietro Fantin           Arden Caterham  1m20.713s  +0.688s
12.  Matias Laine            P1/Strakka      1m20.720s  +0.695s
13.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Arden Caterham  1m20.809s  +0.784s
14.  Nigel Melker            Tech 1          1m20.952s  +0.927s
15.  Will Buller             Zeta            1m21.109s  +1.084s
16.  Norman Nato             DAMS            1m21.177s  +1.152s
17.  Marco Sorensen          Lotus           1m21.326s  +1.301s
18.  Zoel Amberg             Pons            1m21.487s  +1.462s
19.  Marlon Stockinger       Lotus           1m21.496s  +1.471s
20.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin          1m21.691s  +1.666s
21.  Nikolay Martsenko       Pons            1m21.855s  +1.830s
22.  Mihai Marinescu         Zeta            1m21.996s  +1.971s
23.  Arthur Pic              AV              1m22.016s  +1.991s
24.  Carlos Huertas          Carlin          1m22.139s  +2.114s
25.  Yann Cunha              AV              1m22.381s  +2.356s