Sebastian Vettel claims Pole Position for the Russian GP

In qualifying at the Sochi Autodrome circuit on Saturday, Sebastian Vettel claimed Pole Position for the Russian GP ahead of his team mate Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas in a session that saw Ferrari have their first-two finish in Qualifying since the 2008 French GP.

The Ferrari team had led the way throughout free practice, but trailed Mercedes through Q1 and Q2, when both Vettel and Raikkonen made an extra run compared to Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the latter segment.

During Q2, Renault’s Jolyon Palmer missed the cut by less than a tenth, but had already failed to improve on his final run before crashing heavily at Turn 4 after clipping the inside kerb and ended the session early.

Hamilton’s first run in Q3 was compromised by a track position squabble with Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault. Hamilton improved on his final run, but dropped a lot of time in the final sector and ended up almost half a second slower than his team mate.

But Ferrari turned things around in Q3, when Raikkonen sat on provisional pole after the initial runs, just ahead of Bottas and Vettel, with Hamilton trailing in fourth after twice snatching the inside front brake on his hot lap.

Raikkonen looked set to claim his first pole since the French GP of 2008, which was also the last race Ferrari locked out the front row, but went wide at the final corner on his last lap so failed to improve.

But it was Sebastian Vettel who claimed Pole Position for the Russian GP with a lap time of 1:33.194 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in second place who was 0.059 seconds behind him and ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place who was 0.095 seconds behind Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton qualified in fourth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place, Felipe Massa in sixth place, Max Verstappen in seventh place, Nico Hulkenberg in eighth place, Sergio Perez in ninth place and Esteban Ocon who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Lance Stroll qualifed in eleventh place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in twelfth place, Kevin Magnussen in thirteenth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in fourteenth place and Fernando Alonso in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Jolyon Palmer ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Pascal Wehrlein in seventeenth place, Marcus Ericsson in eighteenth place, Romain Grosjean in nineteenth place and Stoffel Vandoorne in twentieth place.

The classification of Qualifying for the Russian GP is as follows:-

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.33.194
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.059s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 0.095s
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.573s
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.711s
6. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.916s
7. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.967s
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 2.091s
9. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.143s
10. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 2.236s
11. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, 1.35.964s
12. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.35.968
13. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, 1.36.017
14. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.35.948
15. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.36.660
16. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1.36.462
17. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.37.332
18. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.37.507
19. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.37.620
20. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 1.37.070

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa