Albon beats Ghiotto to victory in F2 Hungary sprint race 

Alexander Albon passed Lucas Ghiotto on his way to winning the Formula 2 sprint race at the Hungaroring. 

The DAMS driver jumped up to second thanks to a great start from the second row as he avoided Sergio Sette Camara’s sluggish Carlin off the line, before pulling off a bold pass on reverse grid polesitter Artem Markelov at Turn 1. 

Albon then set about chasing down new race leader Ghiotto - who made the slightly better getaway to surge into the lead on the first lap - and completed the race-winning move on Lap 24, sweeping around the outside of the Campos racer at Turn 1. 

He stretched out a 9.4s advantage over Ghiotto by the time he crossed the line, marking his third win of the season to strengthen the British-Thai driver’s grasp over third place in the championship standings and keep him firmly in title contention. 

Despite bogging down as the lights went out and taking a hit to the rear of his car from Antonio Fuoco, Camara recovered to pass Markelov in the early stages as he claimed the final podium spot. 

McLaren Formula 1 protege and championship hopeful Lando Norris rounded out his strong weekend by adding a fourth-place finish to his earlier podium. 

The Briton, who impressed with a stunning performance in wet weather during Saturday’s race, made a sublime move stick around the outside of feature race winner Nyck de Vries and Markelov at Turn 2 to gain fourth.

That result sees Norris further reduce championship leader George Russell’s advantage, after the ART Grand Prix driver endured a nightmare weekend, retiring from the opening race of the weekend with mechanical issues, though he recovered from the back of the grid on Sunday to claim the final point in eighth place.

Roberto Merhi charged through the field to secure a strong fifth place for MP Motorsport, while Arden’s Nirei Fukuzumi took his best result of the season in sixth as he pipped de Vries and Russell. 

Click here for full F2 Hungary Sprint Race Results.