ROAD TO F1: Ferrari junior Ilott bags third F2 pole as Sargeant takes top spot on the grid in F3

Ferrari junior Callum Ilott strengthened his grip on the Formula 2 Championship with his second pole position in as many rounds and third of the season while Logan Sargeant completed a hat-trick of pole positions in Formula 3 as he looks to cement his lead at the top of the standings.

UNI-Virtuosi’s Ilott finished one tenth ahead of his title rival, and fellow FDA member, Robert Shwartzman, while taking the four points that come with pole position.

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Shwartzman hadn’t qualified higher than fifth in F2 leading up to Round 6 and had finished outside of the top 10 in each of the previous three rounds, but was the fastest man on track in the first stint. Less than 0.1s separated the top three, with the Russian narrowly beating out Ilott, as well as his PREMA team mate, Mick Schumacher.

A clever strategic move from UNI-Virtuosi handed Ilott the track entirely to himself, as they got his tyre change completed quickly and let him return early for his second run. The Briton didn’t disappoint, smashing the second and third sectors to take provisional pole by half a second.

Shwartzman and Guanyu Zhou both found more time around the track when they eventually returned, but couldn’t match Ilott for pace, finishing 0.1s, and 0.2s off the F2 pole time. The trio will fight for the win in the Feature Race on Saturday at 1645 local time.

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In F3, Sargeant spent the first half of the session dealing with two of his main title rivals, and initially came out second-best, as Oscar Piastri was in provisional pole, Liam Lawson in third.

But the American was in a league of his own in the second run, beating out the both of them for first, ahead of Jake Hughes. Lawson managed to climb to third, while Piastri could only find the speed for P4. Sargeant will look to further extend his lead at the top of the table in Race 1 tomorrow, at 0925 local time.

For more on the Road to F1, visit www.fiaformula2.com and www.fiaformula3.com