Formula 2 Silverstone: Albon wins as pit woe leaves Russell second

ART Grand Prix driver Russell, on pole and the winner of the last two feature races in Paul Ricard and the Red Bull Ring, had the lead over Albon until the first stops on lap six, when both pitted.

The mechanic changing Russell's front-left wheel had to go for the replacement gun as the first didn't work, and that was enough to allow Albon to jump into the lead.

Russell and his team-mate Jack Aitken were then investigated for speeding in the pitlane, and both were given five second penalties.

Russell remained around two seconds behind Albon for the majority of the race until Russell fell back in the latter stages in a bid to set the fastest lap, which he did, scoring an extra two points.

That result was made all the more sweet by trouble for his closest rival Lando Norris, who stalled during his pitstop and could only recover to take 10th having started sixth.

Antonio Fuoco rounded out the podium for the Charouz Racing System team, his biggest rival, Sergio Sette Camara, ending the race in the gravel trap with his car on fire.

Carlin driver Sette Camara was harrying the back of Fuoco until the fire on lap 24, with yet more bad luck for the Brazilian dropping him further back in the points standings.

Louis Deletraz pulled off a last-lap overtake on Luca Ghiotto to take fourth place, after the latter had displeased Deletraz with his defensive antics.

Deletraz made the move with DRS at the entry to Stowe, as Ghiotto struggled with his tyres.

Artem Markelov and Nyck de Vries battled in the same train as Ghiotto and Deletraz but struggled to make inroads further forward.

Maxi Gunther built on strong pace from Austria to take eighth and the reversed-grid pole position, while his Arden team-mate Nirei Fukuzumi retired with technical issues having stuggled for top speed in qualifying one day previously.

Ralph Boschung took ninth ahead of Norris, having run the longest of all drivers, starting the race on the hard tyres.

Sean Gelael was the final retiree, as he clashed with Norris at Brooklands and then stalled.

Further back, Aitken finished 13th having had an additional five second penalty awarded for a safety car infringement.

Removing the 10 seconds of penalties, he could have taken eighth and the sprint race pole but instead he now has six consecutive finishes outside of the points.

Feature race result