Artem Markelov finished the final Sprint race of the 2018 F2 season where he started it – seventh, after a tricky afternoon without the use of DRS around the Yas Marina lap with its two long back straights.

Russian Time team mate Tadasuke Makino was unable to finish the race after an early lap coming-tother with Pertamina Prema driver Sean Gelael.  

Artem Markelov finished the F2 season’s final Feature race with a battling second place in Abu Dhabi, behind newly-crowned champion and 2019 Williams F1 driver George Russell. Tadasuke Makino backed him up with another fighting, point-scoring drive to ninth after losing four places on a chaotic opening lap.

After an almost two-month break since Sochi, the F2 field assembled at the impressive Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi for the final round of the 2018 Championship. This was the scene of Artem Markelov’s first pole position last year and once again Russian Time looks to be in strong shape with Artem (1m49.647s) lining up fourth for tomorrow’s Feature race and team make Tadasuke Makino (1m50.180s) ninth quickest.

Artem Markelov finished a fighting fifth in the Sochi F2 Sprint race, gaining six places from his 11th position on the grid, after radio problems compromised his result in Saturday’s Feature race. Team mate Tadasuke Makino had to be content with 11th place after the Japanese F2 rookie scored a hard-earned point on Saturday despite a first lap collision that damaged his car.
Artem took advantage of any overtaking opportunity that came his way, including a fine double-pass of Roberto Merhi and Nyck De Vries to put himself into the top five. At that stage he was within 7s of championship and race leader George Russell, but rain just after half distance in the 21-lap race sent most of the field into the pits for wet tyres. Artem then passed Antonio Fuoco, who stayed out longer on slicks, but just lost out on fourth place after a close battle with De Vries.

Tenth and 11th places for Tadasuke Makino and Artem Markelov do not reflect strong performances by both drivers at Sochi. Tada scored a point despite an incident at the start that saw him forced into the barrier on the left of the main straight. He then had to cope with misaligned steering throughout the race.

Artem, meanwhile, drove brilliantly to lead by lap 7 having started 19th on the prime Pirelli tyre after qualifying without the benefit of DRS! He outpaced those cars on the same starting tyre but was compromised by a radio problem that saw him pit too soon and suffer heavy deagradation on the option Pirelli.

Tadasuke Makino (1m47.732s) produced his best qualifying performance of the season when he grabbed seventh place on the grid for tomorrow’s Sochi feature race, the penultimate round of the 2018 F2 season.

Team mate Artem Markelov (1m48.568s) had a mixed day. First, was the excitement of his first F1 free practice session for the Renault F1 Team, in which he acquitted himself well. But, after rushing back to the F2 paddock he suffered electrical issues which ruined both practice and qualifying,