The first qualifying session of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 season didn’t disappoint as Guanyu Zhou took pole in the dying embers of the session, sneaking ahead of Christian Lundgaard.
The Chinese driver was fastest heading into the final runs after running in the gap at the start of the session and was last to cross the line when the chequered flag fell. He finished his lap 0.003s ahead of Lundgaard who had previously beaten Zhou’s time by four tenths.
Zhou’s teammate, and practice pace-setter, Felipe Drugovich was quickest after the first laps of qualifying but couldn’t improve to the same extent as the two ahead of him and he had to settle for third.
Dan Ticktum was fourth fastest for Carlin ahead of Juri Vips and Richard Verschoor who in particular was very impressive in his first F2 qualifying.
Jehan Daruvala was seventh ahead of Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson, while David Beckmann qualified tenth for Charouz which sees him start on pole for the first sprint race of the season tomorrow morning, thanks to the reverse grid.
Championship favourite Robert Shwartzman caused a late red flag as his PREMA ground to a halt on the exit of the final corner and he was pushed down to twelfth behind young French hotshot Théo Pourchaire.
| Pos. | Name | Team | Lap Time |
| 1 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:42:848 |
| 2 | Christian Lundgaard | ART | 1:42:851 |
| 3 | Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:43:211 |
| 4 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | 1:43:338 |
| 5 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 1:43:441 |
| 6 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:43:443 |
| 7 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | 1:43:475 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA | 1:43:478 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | 1:43:519 |
| 10 | David Beckmann | Charouz | 1:43:559 |
| 11 | Théo Pourchaire | ART | 1:43:585 |
| 12 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA | 1:43:694 |
| 13 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 1:43:704 |
| 14 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | 1:43:729 |
| 15 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 1:43:768 |
| 16 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | 1:43:839 |
| 17 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | 1:43:955 |
| 18 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | 1:44:227 |
| 19 | Marino Sato | Trident | 1:44:654 |
| 20 | Matteo Nannini | HWA Racelab | 1:44:825 |
| 21 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos | 1:45:053 |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA Racelab | 1:46:712 |
