Posted on 30th April 2016
In Qualifying yesterday for the Russian GP in Sochi, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg took Pole Position ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas where his team mate and Championship rival Lewis Hamilton suffered MGU-UK problems which affected his qualifying performance.
During Q1, we saw Lewis Hamilton under investigations by the stewards for failing to follow Race Director Charlie Whiting's instructions going into Turn 2 where he took too much speed into the corner and didn't rejoin the track where he should have. But within Q2, we saw both McLaren-Honda drivers (especially Jenson Button) on the brink of getting into Q3 for the first time since rejoining the sport, but sadly it wasn't to be even though they are making small steps forward to achieve this.
With Hamilton looking very strong within Q1 and Q2, things then started to get worse for Hamilton. Before the start of Q3, it was announced by the Mercedes team that Hamilton would not take part in the session due to engine problems which turned out to be an MGU-UK problem that was the same problem that happened in Shanghai two weeks previously.
But it was Nico Rosberg who took Pole Position with a lap time of 1.35.417 ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second place who was 0.706 seconds behind him but has to take a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after stopping in FP2 on Friday afternnon. But he was ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place who was 1.119 seconds behind Rosberg.
Kimi Raikkonen finished the session in fourth place ahead of Felipe Massa in fifth place, Daniel Ricciardo in sixth place, Sergio Perez in seventh place, Daniil Kvyat in eighth place, Max Verstappen in ninth place and Lewis Hamilton who rounded off the top ten finishers but will also have to take a five place grid penalty for changing his engine.
Carlos Sainz Jr ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Jenson Button in twelfth place, Nico Hulkenberg in thirteenth place, Fernando Alonso in fourteenth place, Romain Grosjean in fifteenth place and Esteban Gutierrez in sixteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Kevin Magnussen qualified in seventeenth place ahead of Jolyon Palmer in eighteenth place, Felipe Nasr in nineteenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in twenieth place, Rio Haryanto in twenty-first place and Marcus Ericsson in twenty second place.
The classification of Qualifying for the Russian GP is as follows:–
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.35.417
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.706s*
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.119s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.246s
5. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.599s
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1.708s
7. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.795s
8. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 2.042s
9. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 2.166s
10. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, No Time **
11. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.37.652
12. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.37.701
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.37.771
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.37.807
15. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.38.055
16. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 1.38.115
17. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1.38.914
18. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1.38.914
19. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.39.009
20. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 1.39.399
21. Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 1.39.463
22. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.39.519
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
