Formula 2 testing: Mercedes F1 reserve Russell leads ART one-two

The ART Grand Prix pair set the fastest times of the day during the morning running, with Prema Racing's Nyck de Vries completing the top three.

McLaren junior Lando Norris finished the day in eighth place overall, but held onto the fastest overall time of the test, a 1m42.226 that he set on day two.

Russell and Aitken traded the top spot between them during the early running, before the 2017 GP3 champion put in a 1m42.396, which remained unbeaten as the teams switched to race simulations.

Aitken ended up 0.162s adrift, with de Vries 0.363 behind Russell, in a morning session that was interrupted by four red flags.

DAMS driver Alexander Albon set the fastest time in the afternoon session, during which the teams continued to focus on longer running.

Haas F1 development driver Arjun Maini wound up fifth fastest for Trident ahead of Louis Deletraz (Charouz Racing System) and Carlin's Sergio Sette Camara.

Dan Ticktum, the 2017 Macau Grand Prix and McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner who was experiencing his first taste of F2-level machinery in place of Nicholas Latifi at DAMS, set the ninth quickest time of the day.

Maximilian Gunther rounded out the top 10 for Arden International, setting his best time during the afternoon session after bringing out the red flags just after the lunchbreak.

Sean Gelael (Prema) also caused a stoppage late on in the afternoon, after Charouz's Fuoco, Russian Time driver Artem Markelov, Ralph Boschung (MP Motorsport) and Campos' Roy Nissany - 12th, 13th, 16th and 19th overall respectively - had done likewise during the morning running.

Gelael ended up 15th fastest, with Maini's team-mate and fellow Haas junior Santino Ferrucci 18th, while former Manor F1 driver Roberto Merhi brought up the rear of the field for MP.

The second and final F2 pre-season test takes place in Bahrain on March 21-23, with the 2018 season getting underway at the same venue on April 6-8 on the undercard of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Morning times

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	George Russell	ART Grand Prix	1m42.396s	-	47
2	Jack Aitken	ART Grand Prix	1m42.588s	0.192s	56
3	Nyck de Vries	Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing	1m42.759s	0.363s	32
4	Alexander Albon	DAMS	1m42.925s	0.529s	49
5	Louis Deletraz	Charouz Racing System	1m43.239s	0.843s	43
6	Sergio Sette Camara	Carlin	1m43.269s	0.873s	25
7	Lando Norris	Carlin	1m43.287s	0.891s	29
8	Maximilian Guenther	BWT Arden	1m43.350s	0.954s	35
9	Nirei Fukuzumi	BWT Arden	1m43.501s	1.105s	28
10	Dan Ticktum	DAMS	1m43.503s	1.107s	43
11	Artem Markelov	RUSSIAN TIME	1m43.575s	1.179s	41
12	Sean Gelael	Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing	1m43.731s	1.335s	31
13	Luca Ghiotto	Campos Vexatec Racing	1m43.755s	1.359s	30
14	Arjun Maini	Trident	1m43.851s	1.455s	40
15	Antonio Fuoco	Charouz Racing System	1m43.899s	1.503s	25
16	Ralph Boschung	MP Motorsport	1m43.948s	1.552s	26
17	Roy Nissany	Campos Vexatec Racing	1m44.048s	1.652s	35
18	Tadasuke Makino	RUSSIAN TIME	1m44.164s	1.768s	46
19	Santino Ferrucci	Trident	1m44.239s	1.843s	48
20	Roberto Merhi	MP Motorsport	1m44.377s	1.981s	49

Afternoon times

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Alexander Albon	DAMS	1m42.923s	-	35
2	Arjun Maini	Trident	1m43.061s	0.138s	36
3	Lando Norris	Carlin	1m43.276s	0.353s	39
4	Dan Ticktum	DAMS	1m43.310s	0.387s	40
5	Maximilian Guenther	BWT Arden	1m43.330s	0.407s	49
6	Louis Deletraz	Charouz Racing System	1m43.428s	0.505s	50
7	Antonio Fuoco	Charouz Racing System	1m43.572s	0.649s	48
8	Sergio Sette Camara	Carlin	1m43.597s	0.674s	36
9	Luca Ghiotto	Campos Vexatec Racing	1m43.610s	0.687s	35
10	Tadasuke Makino	RUSSIAN TIME	1m43.961s	1.038s	30
11	Santino Ferrucci	Trident	1m43.985s	1.062s	13
12	Sean Gelael	Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing	1m43.998s	1.075s	46
13	Ralph Boschung	MP Motorsport	1m44.163s	1.240s	15
14	Artem Markelov	RUSSIAN TIME	1m44.250s	1.327s	33
15	George Russell	ART Grand Prix	1m44.356s	1.433s	60
16	Nyck de Vries	Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing	1m44.742s	1.819s	48
17	Roy Nissany	Campos Vexatec Racing	1m44.782s	1.859s	46
18	Nirei Fukuzumi	BWT Arden	1m44.844s	1.921s	31
19	Roberto Merhi	MP Motorsport	1m44.909s	1.986s	31
20	Jack Aitken	ART Grand Prix	1m45.252s	2.329s	26