Russia – Qualifying: Vettel and Ferrari on the front row in red!
After a hard-fought battle, Sebastian Vettel made his grand return to pole position! Kimi Räikkönen completes the feat and locks up the first 100% Ferrari row in almost nine years. The two Mercedes drivers start on the next line, Bottas ahead of Hamilton.
Despite three consecutive pole positions for Mercedes in as many meetings, this qualifying session begins with a realization: Ferrari is more than in the game! The last free practice session saw Sebastian Vettel outpace the German cars by more than three-tenths.
Q1
Carlos Sainz is the first driver to take to the track, who will be pushed back three places on the grid after his penalty received in Sakhir. The Spanish driver is on ultra-soft tires, like the vast majority of his competitors on track, and sets a 1:36:575. At Ferrari, they opt for super-soft tires, unlike Mercedes, who choose to do two warm-up laps to benefit from an ideal temperature at the time of the attack lap. Valtteri Bottas sets the best time at 1:34:177, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. Lewis Hamilton, for his part, is forced to abandon his lap following the loss of his rear end in the second sector.
At mid-session, the two Ferrari drivers are more than seven-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen, who is nonetheless using ultra-soft tires. The prancing horse team is the only team on super-soft tires. The gap between Mercedes, Ferrari, and the rest of the pack is immense.
The main drivers improve while Lewis Hamilton sets the second-fastest time, within the same tenth as Sebastian Vettel’s lap, on different tires. At the back of the grid, Romain Grosjean is still struggling, with the 19th time between the two Sauber drivers. The Frenchman clearly seems to be having difficulties with his Haas, trailing more than a second behind his teammate.
The two McLarens come out at the end of the session, and Fernando Alonso gains half a second on his attempt, while Pascal Wehrlein spins out. A few seconds later, Jolyon Palmer makes a mistake, climbing onto a curb and sending his car into the wall. The session is then abruptly halted.
BREAKING: ELIMINATED, Q1
16 PAL 📸
17 VAN
18 WEH
19 ERI
20 GRO#Quali #RussianGP 🇷🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6Hf2KpE3n1— Formula 1 (@F1) 29 avril 2017
Q2
The session is resumed while the Renault has not yet been cleared, so the track is still under double yellow flag conditions at that spot. Felipe Massa sets his first time at 1:35.677, ahead of his teammate by more than half a second. Kimi Räikkönen, using ultra-soft tires for the first time during his qualifying rounds, sets a 1:34.053, while the Toro Rosso drivers and Magnussen slot in between the Williams.
Valtteri Bottas finally shows the true performance of the Mercedes by setting a huge time of 1:33:264, ahead of a struggling Lewis Hamilton in the final sector. Between Bottas and Räikkönen, there is only a 0.7 second gap. The closest pursuer is Max Verstappen…1.957 seconds off Valtteri Bottas’s best time. The Dutchman is ahead of Nico Hülkenberg.
In the second part of this Q2, both Ferrari drivers set out to conquer the clock again, like all the drivers except the Mercedes and Max Verstappen. In the final moments, Sergio Perez takes ninth place ahead of Esteban Ocon. Felipe Massa sets the fifth-fastest time ahead of the Red Bull cars. Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll finish in 11th and 12th places, respectively, allowing both Force India drivers to enter Q3: a first for the French driver.
Third quarter (Q3)
Small skirmish at the start of this session between Nico Hülkenberg and Lewis Hamilton, who overtake each other successively to get clear air. The Brit complains at the start of the second lap, while the Renault driver attacks with a 1:35:412 lap time: the Mercedes will use two laps to warm up their tires.
Kimi Räikkönen sets an initial time of 1:33.253, which is a new record for the circuit! Sebastian Vettel finishes two-tenths behind his teammate. The two Red Bull drivers take the 3rd and 4th fastest times, until Valterri Bottas positions himself between the two Ferrari drivers, just 36 thousandths behind Räikkönen! Lewis Hamilton, sliding around, ends up in fourth place, a full second behind. For Williams, Felipe Massa takes seventh position, ahead of Sergio Perez, Nico Hülkenberg, and Esteban Ocon.
The Ferrari and Mercedes drivers are the first to return to the track, ahead of the rest of the qualifiers in Q3. Kimi Räikkönen makes a mistake at the last corner and doesn’t improve, while Sebastian Vettel sets a 1:33:194. Valterri Bottas also falters, while Lewis Hamilton falls half a second short of the German!
Sebastian Vettel: “YES….YES….YES….YES !” 👀🔥😅👌 #Ferrari
Les meilleurs moments du week-end #RussianGP ➡️ https://t.co/78kxbMD9dU pic.twitter.com/0WrQBVtQYs— La F1® sur CANAL (@LaF1SurCanal) 29 avril 2017
It’s an all-Ferrari front row, marking a thunderous return to the forefront. In fact, you’d have to go back to the French Grand Prix in June 2008 to find such a performance. There will be no Mercedes at the front tomorrow in Sochi, something that hasn’t happened since the modest weekend in Singapore in September 2015! At that time, Vettel dominated the race with ease… What will happen tomorrow on the shores of the Black Sea?
🏁 END OF QUALIFYING 🏁
TOP 10
VET 📸
RAI
BOT
HAM
RIC
MAS
VER
HUL
PER
OCO#Quali #RussianGP 🇷🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/DnEE1ymozZ— Formula 1 (@F1) 29 avril 2017
