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F2 Spa: McLaren junior de Vries tops practice to continue resurgence

McLaren Formula 1 junior Nyck de Vries continued his resurgent form by ending George Russell's spell of three fastest Formula 2 practice sessions in a row at Spa

With the track not yet rubbered-in, drivers scrambled for grip in the Ardennes mountains as oversteer afflicted most of the field.

Prema driver de Vries - who fought back and passed Lando Norris for victory in the Budapest feature race last month - set his fastest time of 1m58.125s early on.

None of the frontrunners improved on their later laps, with all of the leading times coming on the first set of flying runs.

Hungaroring polesitter Sergio Sette Camara was just 0.010 seconds down on De Vries' time, with Mercedes junior Russell third quickest and four tenths adrift.

Sette Camara' Carlin team-mate Norris had just 25 minutes to change his overalls, helmet and gloves after making his McLaren F1 practice debut on a grand prix weekend.

After beating Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren, he was fourth in the F2 session ahead of Ralph Boschung of MP Motorsport.

Italian drivers took the next two spots, with Luca Ghiotto (Campos) and Charouz Racing System's Antonio Fuoco both seven tenths off the leader.

Alexander Albon will need to improve in qualifying from eighth if he is to overall Russell and Norris in the championship from third, while Arden's Maxi Gunther and Russell's ART Grand Prix team-mate Jack Aitken rounded out the top 10.

Artem Markelov, last year's Spa feature race winner albeit after Charles Leclerc and Oliver Rowland had been disqualified, managed 11th.

The only newcomer in the field - GP3 graduate Dorian Boccolacci - took 15th in his first session with MP Motorsport after replacing Roberto Merhi.

Practice times

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Nyck de Vries Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing 1m58.125s - 13
2 Sergio Sette Camara Carlin 1m58.135s 0.010s 16
3 George Russell ART Grand Prix 1m58.600s 0.475s 17
4 Lando Norris Carlin 1m58.779s 0.654s 16
5 Ralph Boschung MP Motorsport 1m58.794s 0.669s 15
6 Luca Ghiotto Campos Vexatec Racing 1m58.840s 0.715s 17
7 Antonio Fuoco Charouz Racing System 1m58.873s 0.748s 16
8 Alexander Albon DAMS 1m59.104s 0.979s 15
9 Maximilian Guenther BWT Arden 1m59.147s 1.022s 16
10 Jack Aitken ART Grand Prix 1m59.186s 1.061s 17
11 Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1m59.241s 1.116s 15
12 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1m59.339s 1.214s 16
13 Louis Deletraz Charouz Racing System 1m59.448s 1.323s 16
14 Sean Gelael Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing 1m59.458s 1.333s 15
15 Dorian Boccolacci MP Motorsport 1m59.490s 1.365s 15
16 Arjun Maini Trident 1m59.643s 1.518s 16
17 Nirei Fukuzumi BWT Arden 1m59.757s 1.632s 15
18 Tadasuke Makino RUSSIAN TIME 2m00.360s 2.235s 13
19 Alessio Lorandi Trident 2m00.793s 2.668s 17
20 Roy Nissany Campos Vexatec Racing 2m00.816s 2.691s 15


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