F2 Austria: Markelov wins sprint race ahead of charging Russell

ART Grand Prix driver Russell finished second ahead of Carlin's Sergio Sette Camara.

Markelov took care of his tyres brilliantly as he marched to victory, while his Russian Time team-mate Tadasuke Makino - who started second on the grid - fell back as his rubber degraded.

Renault Formula 1 junior Markelov pulled clear to win unchallenged by just under six seconds, his performance following his astounding late rise to pass four cars on the last lap of Saturday's feature race to set-up the sprint event pole.

Mercedes F1 junior Russell was a man possessed in the early stages, and overcame four drivers in as many laps, all at Turn 1.

The race again featured a rolling start to avoid any clutch issues with the new-for-2018 F2 car, and Russell immediately jumped former championship leader Lando Norris for sixth - with Roberto Merhi, who was supposed to line up there, starting from the pitlane - at Turn 1 with an opportunistic move.

In the following laps, Russell dispatched Alexander Albon, Antonio Fuoco and Sette Camara, then set about catching Makino, and usurped him at Turn 2 on lap seven of 28.

After that, Russell managed his tyres and could not close in on Markelov for the rest of the race.

Sette Camara came home a distant third, while his team-mate Norris had a tough time in the pack behind.

After being jumped by Russell, Norris was stuck behind Albon for most of the race, but in the closing stages his tyre degradation was so high that he dropped outside of the top 10.

Fuoco took fourth ahead of Albon, while Makino fell to sixth with his tyre problems.

Santino Ferrucci and Nicholas Latifi both pulled off late moves on Norris to take seventh and eighth, coming home ahead of Nirei Fukuzumi and Arjun Maini, who benefitted from a new engine being installed on his car after practice on Friday.

Norris eventually finished 11th, while the retirees from the feature race fared badly.

Prema Racing's Nyck de Vries managed 14th at the flag from 18th on the grid, while Jack Aitken (ART) appeared to have a problem and finished last on the road.

It is understood that a piece of rubber hitting an extinguisher pull cord cut off Aitken's car in the feature race.

Results - 28 laps

Drivers' championship