F2 France: Mercedes' Russell claims maiden F2 pole ahead of Albon

Mercedes junior Russell went 0.494s quicker than anyone after the field had set at least one flying lap, but it was clear he'd need to improve again once the drivers had regrouped in the pits as the track rubbered in.

Russell duly did, by 0.3s to a best time of 1m44.469s, as he headed Alexander Albon by a solitary tenth on the front row of the grid after the 30-minute session, where high temperatures mirrored the earlier practice session.

Albon suffered a throttle sensor issue in practice that limited his running, but was faultless in qualifying, his only complaint being heavy traffic while attempting his last flying lap.

But de Vries reported he had suffered a throttle issue towards the end of his final flying lap, where he had gone fastest in sector one, saying over the radio: "That was my pole, that was such a good lap."

The Prema Racing driver will therefore start eighth.

Practice pacesetter Lando Norris was only just clinging on to a top 10 spot after his first flying runs, but summoned a mighty effort to leap up to third at the end of the session.

Norris hasn't finished lower than sixth in the eight races so far this season and his starting spot gives him another chance to extend his points lead, as he qualified ahead of his closest championship rival Artem Markelov.

Sergio Sette Camara completed an impressive return from his qualifying crash in Monaco, which injured his right hand and left him needing an operation.

He delivered fourth place on the grid and will have a chance to end a poor spell of luck after opening the season strongly.

Luca Ghiotto rounded out the top five, with Jack Aitken and Markelov ending up ahead of de Vries.

Aitken's car looked lively in qualifying, and he ended the session 0.6s off his ART Grand Prix team-mate Russell, after being the first frontrunning driver to set a time in the second spell of fast laps.

Markelov recovered from the spin that ended his practice session earlier on Friday to give himself a chance of scoring points in tomorrow's race with seventh on the feature race grid.

Louis Deletraz and Nicholas Latifi rounded out the top 10 for Charouz Racing System and DAMS respectively.

Santino Ferrucci was the first of the runners out for the second instalment of quick laps, after his first runs were severely curtailed by what appeared to be engine trouble.

The issue looked to have been resolved, but when he subsequently returned to the pits he struggled to get going again after visiting the weighbridge.

But Ferrucci was able to return for a final run and took 13th.

Ralph Boschung also suffered an issue and did not get out for a second run, ending the session in last place.

Qualifying Results