Valtteri Bottas won the pole position for the Russian Grand prix. The Finnish Mercedes driver was fastest on his first try in Q3 and gave an even better time on his second run. His teammate Lewis Hamilton was only 0.004sec slower at first. But on his last try the Englishman made a couple of mistakes, gave up his lap and went back to the pits. He still was second so it will a Mercedes front row at the Sochi circuit.
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION: A second pole of 2018 for @ValtteriBottas ? #RussianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/3mGByLUYXl
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 29, 2018
The Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth in the Q3 order. They were consistently slower than their Mercedes rivals.
Both the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers managed to clear Q2 on ultrasoft tyres so they will start with them tomorrow.
Q2 was the least interesting qualifying segment for quite some time as the running was extremely limited. The Red Bull and Renault drivers as well as Pierre Gasly never left their boxes because of already known penalties that will send most of them at the back of the grid.
Nothing to see here!
Both @redbullracing‘s are not taking part in Q2 as they have engine penalties and will start the race from the back ?#RussianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/NZk61GUq1P
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 29, 2018
Eliminated in Q1 were Brendon Hartley and the drivers of McLaren and Williams. Sergey Sirotkin spun at the end of the segment but did not crash.
