Sebastian Vettel scored pole position at Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix, leading the first Ferrari front row lock-out since 2008. Vettel beat teammate Kimi Raikkonen by 0.059s with his final run of the top-10 shootout with a laptime of 1m33.194s. Raikkonen managed a 1m33.253s on his first attempt, which was fastest after the first runs, but couldn’t beat it with his second – so his personal pole drought extends back to France 2008.
Valtteri Bottas will start third for Mercedes, his 1m33.289s half a second clear of a troubled Lewis Hamilton – with both Silver Arrows missing the front row since Singapore 2015. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo starts fifth, ahead of the Williams of Felipe Massa and the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg qualified eighth, ahead of the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.
FINAL RESULT
1 Vettel 1m33.194s
2 Raikkonen 1m33.253s
3 Bottas 1m33.289s
4 Hamilton 1m33.767s
5 Ricciardo 1m34.905s
6 Massa 1m35.110s
7 Verstappen 1m35.161s
8 Hulkenberg 1m35.285s
9 Perez 1m35.337s
10 Ocon 1m35.430s
Source : PTI