Lewis
Hamilton continued his domination of the inaugural Russian Grand Prix to
claim the 38th pole position of his Formula One career, but only after a
major error from Williams' Valtteri Bottas.
After
finishing comfortably quickest in the second and third practice runs
around Formula One's newest venue, the Sochi Autodrom, Hamilton topped
the timesheet in all three qualifying sessions. and will lead away the
field on Sunday.
There
was a scare, though, as Bottas was fastest in the first two sectors of
the track on his final flying lap, only to make errors over the final
third to finish third behind Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Nico
Rosberg.
Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and
Nico Rosberg wave after taking the top three positions in the qualifying
session of the inaugural Russian Grand Prix
Hamilton shakes Rosberg's hand after pipping him to take pole at the Russian Grand Prix qualifying
The British driver was all smiles after claiming the 38th pole position of his Formula One career
After
winning the last three races to open up a 10-point lead over Rosberg,
Hamilton now starts favourite to make it four in a row for the second
time this season as he did earlier in the year with victories in
Malaysia, Bahrain, China and Spain.
Showing
a return to form, Jenson Button will start fourth in his McLaren, the
veteran Briton's second best grid slot of the campaign.
As
for home hope Daniil Kvyat, the young Russian secured his best position
of his fledgling career with fifth in his Toro Rosso to the delight of
his fans.
The second McLaren of Kevin Magnussen qualified sixth, but with a five-place penalty for a gearbox change will now drop to 11th.
Hamilton was in imperious form at the Sochi Autodrom as he claimed pole position
Rosberg will hope to get the better of his Mercedes team-mate at Sochi on Sunday
Williams driver Bottas (left) made errors over the final third to finish behind Hamilton and Rosberg
That
promotes Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso
and Kimi Raikkonen and Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne, along with the
second Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel,
who will be leaving Red Bull for Ferrari at the end of the season,
missed out on the top-10 shoot-out as he struggled with rear grip on his
car.
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was 12th, but in also serving a five-place penalty for a gearbox change will drop to 17th.
For
the start that elevates team-mate Sergio Perez, with the Mexican
followed by the Saubers of Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil, along
with Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson in his Caterham.
Hamilton removes a part of his car as he sets the pace at the Russian Grand Prix qualifying
The 29-year-old is chasing a fourth straight win after claiming victory in Italy, Singapore and Japan
Ericsson
initially dropped out at the end of Q1, finishing ahead of a
disgruntled Felipe Massa whose Williams encountered a fuel-pressure
issue that robbed him of speed.
With
Bottas starting third, it underlined to Massa just what his car was
capable of, but the Brazilian will now have to fight his way through
from 18th.
Kamui
Kobayashi in his Caterham will start 19th, and although Pastor
Maldonado qualified 20th, he will drop to the back behind Marussia's Max
Chilton.
Maldonado
collected a 10-place penalty in Japan for a sixth change of his Lotus'
internal combustion engine, but only served five of those positions,
resulting in a carry over for this race.
Jenson Button will start fourth in his McLaren, the Briton's second best grid slot of the campaign
The
Venezuelan will now line up 21st, with Marussia running only one car
this weekend out of respect for Jules Bianchi who is fighting for his
life following a crash into a recovery vehicle at Suzuka.
Following
his seventh pole of the season, and the 15th in 16 races for Mercedes,
Hamilton said: 'Pole is always a great place to start.
'That's
thanks again to the amazing job done by the team who have been
constantly improving and moving forwards, so thanks to them we have been
able to be on the front row quite often.
'It
wasn't the easiest of qualifyings, but I've been able to hook the car
up this weekend and I'm really grateful I've the first pole at this
track.'
Home hope Daniil Kvyat secured the best position of his fledgling career with fifth in his Toro Rosso
It
was a case of the one that got away, though, for Bottas who said:
'Maybe I got too much out of the tyres at the start of the lap, so the
end was a bit more tricky.
'I risked it a bit too much in the last two corners, went a bit wide in the last one, and that was it.
'I'm upset. It's not nice to make a mistake which I think cost me one place maximum.'
Despite Bottas' error deputy team principal Claire Williams was able to forgive the Finn.
'He was amazing today,' said Williams.
Sebastian Vettel had a very disappointing day and finished 11th in qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix
'He's had a glint in his eye all weekend, and he has clearly got to grips with this track quite quickly.
'He just lost it going into the final corner, but we don't mind. We like a trier at Williams.'
As Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff remarked: 'We were lucky he (Bottas) made a mistake, maybe he just overdrove the car.'
Given
the flowing nature of the track, that winds its way through the Olympic
park that was at the heart of the winter Games earlier this year,
Hamilton is expecting an entertaining race.
The
29-year-old added: 'I really think the race is going to be good to
watch, with long straights and being able to follow. It could be one of
the better races for a long time.'
No comments:
Post a Comment