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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


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