Rosberg Secures Istanbul Pole
Nico Rosberg has added Istanbul to his growing collection of pole positions after setting a time of 1:38.416, taking the top spot just ahead of Scott Speed and Jose Maria Lopez
Rosberg set his time just before a light sprinkling of rain dusted the track, which ensured that nobody would be able to better the time after a highly competitive qualifying session.
This morning's fastest man Speed was the early pacesetter, and the first man to break the 1:39 barrier on his first full lap, but thereafter the lap times tumbled.
Nelson Piquet Jr, Giorgio Pantano and then Speed headed the times before Rosberg made the top spot his own.
Pantano and Piquet rounded out the final top five places, with the Brazilian stopping on track in the dying minutes of the session while trying to reclaim the top spot.
With the track providing much more grip than this morning's practice session courtesy of the Formula One runners, off-track incidents were kept to a minimum - only Lopez, Olivier Pla and Can Artam spun, with the latter pair doing so on a slightly damp track at the end of qualifying.
The twelve teams were able to markedly improve their laptimes from this morning - Rosberg's qualifying lap was almost two seconds faster than Speed's fastest practice time, and the top seven drivers were split by just one second, with two seconds covering the first seventeen drivers.Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Rosberg ART 1:38:416 9 2. Speed iSport 1:38:531 + 0.115 11 3. Lopez DAMS 1:38:561 + 0.145 13 4. Pantano Super Nova 1:38:690 + 0.274 9 5. Piquet Hitech Piquet 1:38:820 + 0.611 11 6. Premat ART 1:38:897 + 0.481 9 7. Carroll Super Nova 1:39:335 + 0.919 11 8. Bruni Coloni 1:39:533 + 1.117 12 9. Garcia Racing Eng. 1:39:708 + 1.292 10 10. Yoshimoto BCN Comp. 1:39:737 + 1.321 14 11. Alvarez Campos Racing 1:39:830 + 1.414 10 12. Jani Racing Eng. 1:39:982 + 1.566 11 13. Kovalainen Arden 1:40:040 + 1.624 12 14. Hernandez Campos Racing 1:40:064 + 1.648 12 15. Fauzy DAMS 1:40:081 + 1.665 13 16. Monfardini Durango 1:40:205 + 1.789 12 17. Negrao Hitech Piquet 1:40:295 + 1.879 12 18. Lapierre Arden 1:40:629 + 2.213 12 19. Mondini DPR 1:40:749 + 2.333 12 20. Piccione Durango 1:40:770 + 2.354 13 21. Viso BCN Comp. 1:40:794 + 2.378 13 22. Artam iSport 1:40:952 + 2.536 14 23. Pla DPR 1:40:956 + 2.540 6 24. Lauda Coloni 1:41:184 + 2.768 11 All Timing Unofficial
About this article
| Series | FIA F2 |
| Author | David Cameron |
The 10 greatest F2 races contested by F1 drivers
Formula 2 used to be about more than providing a stepping stone to F1. For three decades it often provided another setting for the world’s best to fight it out. Autosport picks out the very best races
The F1 hopeful living two lives to keep his dream alive
Having lost his backing from Red Bull, Richard Verschoor has had to graft to continue his ascent up the single-seater ladder. An impressive Formula 2 debut in Bahrain, despite the lateness of his deal, shows his unorthodox approach is paying dividends
Was Formula 2’s radical format switch a success?
Going into the 2021 Formula 2 season the biggest talking point wasn’t about any drivers or teams, but the new race weekend format. Created partly out of financial necessity but also to spice up the action, the Bahrain opener provided a snapshot of the positives and negatives to come
Why 2021 is make-or-break for the driver F1 needs
He was tipped for glory in FIA Formula 2 last year, but was hampered by reliability woes at inopportune moments. Guanyu Zhou knows he won't get too many more chances if he is to become China's first F1 driver, with fierce competition within the ranks of Alpine's junior stable
How Schumacher Jr earned his Haas F1 chance
Michael Schumacher may have won seven Formula 1 titles, but he didn't even compete for a crown at the second tier. Son Mick put that right in 2020, and proved to Ferrari that he was deserving of a shot at motorsport's elite category in 2021
The quintet giving Ferrari a tough decision to make
The Ferrari Driver Academy earned a podium sweep in the first Formula 2 race of the new decade in Austria last weekend. The battle between 'the FDA five' is set to be one of the major subplots of the season, but who has the best F1 prospects for 2021?
The Williams junior determined to prove Red Bull wrong
Dropped by his team in Japan and by Red Bull, Dan Ticktum's single-seater career seemed to be over last summer. But now he's on the Formula 2 grid with the reigning champion team, and he's a new protege of Williams. How did that happen?
The controversial weekend that ended an American's dream in Europe
OPINION: In the latest in our series of features looking back the recently concluded 2010s, we recall one of the many sagas of the 2018 Formula 2 season, which featured unusual fines and an unsavoury clash between team-mates
