Spa F2: Latifi wins, Norris stars and reduces Russell's points lead
Nicholas Latifi scored his first win of the Formula 2 season from the sprint race pole at Spa, as McLaren Formula 1 junior Lando Norris starred

Feature race winner Nyck de Vries got a fantastic start, launching past his wheelspinning rivals to take third from eighth on the partially-reversed grid.
The Dutch driver - calling this weekend his home race - took five tours to despatch Luca Ghiotto for second.
But after that, Prema driver de Vries made no further progress and could only watch as Latifi disappeared into the distance for DAMS' fourth win of the season.
De Vries then began to fall back, and with two laps of the 18 remaining, his tyres were destroyed.
Norris honed in and, on the last lap, took second on the Kemmel Straight with the assistance of DRS.
Alexander Albon, whose tyres were in far better condition, followed Norris passed de Vries and began attacking Norris instantly.
But Norris defended brilliantly and held off Albon for second in a tense half-a-lap, as de Vries beat the closing Artem Markelov to the line for fourth.

Norris had been the prime early mover. He passed Markelov at the start but immediately lost the spot at the end of the Kemmel Straight on lap one.
Norris had another go at Markelov on lap four, with the two side by side for three corners, before Markelov eased back away at the exit of Malmedy.
But Norris's move was completed a lap later and he took Luca Ghiotto two laps after that to set up a podium spot, made all the more valuable by points leader George Russell's inability to move forwards.
Having lost and then retaken seventh from Roy Nissany in the opening laps, Mercedes junior Russell was unable to move forward.
He'd already struggled with set-up the day before and finished behind Ghiotto in seventh on Sunday.
It means Russell's championship lead is reduced to five points with six races remaining.
Sergio Sette Camara really struggled on the medium tyres, after taking second in the previous day's feature race. He lost eighth late-on to a charging Arjun Maini who took the final point, with Russell's ART team-mate Jack Aitken rounding out the top 10 behind Sette Camara.
Sprint race result
Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 18 | 37m13.659s |
2 | Lando Norris | Carlin | 18 | 10.402s |
3 | Alexander Albon | DAMS | 18 | 10.766s |
4 | Nyck de Vries | Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing | 18 | 13.210s |
5 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 18 | 13.448s |
6 | Luca Ghiotto | Campos Vexatec Racing | 18 | 22.179s |
7 | George Russell | ART Grand Prix | 18 | 23.357s |
8 | Arjun Maini | Trident | 18 | 31.864s |
9 | Sergio Sette Camara | Carlin | 18 | 33.578s |
10 | Jack Aitken | ART Grand Prix | 18 | 34.567s |
11 | Tadasuke Makino | RUSSIAN TIME | 18 | 40.032s |
12 | Ralph Boschung | MP Motorsport | 18 | 40.100s |
13 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz Racing System | 18 | 42.899s |
14 | Roy Nissany | Campos Vexatec Racing | 18 | 44.631s |
15 | Alessio Lorandi | Trident | 18 | 52.568s |
16 | Maximilian Guenther | BWT Arden | 18 | 55.305s |
17 | Nirei Fukuzumi | BWT Arden | 18 | 59.007s |
18 | Dorian Boccolacci | MP Motorsport | 18 | 1m00.115s |
19 | Antonio Fuoco | Charouz Racing System | 18 | 1m06.936s |
- | Sean Gelael | Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing | 2 | Retirement |
Drivers' standings
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | George Russell | 188 |
2 | Lando Norris | 183 |
3 | Alexander Albon | 161 |
4 | Nyck de Vries | 153 |
5 | Artem Markelov | 128 |
6 | Sergio Sette Camara | 124 |
7 | Antonio Fuoco | 112 |
8 | Luca Ghiotto | 89 |
9 | Louis Deletraz | 62 |
10 | Jack Aitken | 61 |
11 | Nicholas Latifi | 55 |
12 | Maximilian Guenther | 41 |
13 | Roberto Merhi | 41 |
14 | Sean Gelael | 29 |
15 | Arjun Maini | 24 |
16 | Tadasuke Makino | 20 |
17 | Ralph Boschung | 13 |
18 | Nirei Fukuzumi | 11 |
19 | Santino Ferrucci | 7 |
20 | Roy Nissany | 1 |
21 | Alessio Lorandi | 0 |
22 | Dorian Boccolacci | 0 |

F2 Spa: McLaren's de Vries dominates, Russell extends points lead
Norris: McLaren still wants F2 title focus despite F1 FP1 outings

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