Bottas beats Hamilton for Russian GP pole

Valtteri Bottas claimed his second pole of the season by beating teammate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Russian GP in Sochi.

Published on 29/09/2018 à 15:12

⁰ View comments)

Bottas beats Hamilton to Russian GP pole

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) won pole at the Russian GP at the Sochi circuit. With a time of 1’31”387, the Finn was more than a tenth ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton who made a slight error in his last flying lap. The Nordic driver claimed his 6th pole in F1, his first on the Caucasian circuit where he won last year.

The Ferrari have to settle for second place on the grid. Sebastian Vettel is in 3rd place, more than half a second from pole, while Kimi Räikkönen follows more than 8 tenths behind.

Kevin Magnussen (Haas) was the fastest behind the top teams, still almost 2 seconds behind. The Dane was ahead Esteban Ocon (Force India), Charles Leclerc (Haas), Sergio Pérez (Force India) and Romain Grosjean (Haas). For the first time this season, Sauber places its two cars in the Top 10 as Marcus Ericsson took 10th position.

Because of penalties imposed on various drivers, none of the cars eliminated in Q2 achieved a time. Sentenced to the back of the grid, the drivers Red Bull Max Verstappen et Daniel Ricciardo, as well as Toro Rosso de Pierre Gasly did not take the track. The same goes for the Renault de Carlos Sainz Jr and Nico Hulkenberg who preferred to save tires and mechanics.

The McLaren did not manage to get past Q1. Fernando Alonso failed in 17th place while his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne finished penultimate in front Lance stroll (Williams).

Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso) was the first eliminated with around 4 tenths behind the Renault of Nico Hülkenberg, but the New Zealander will also have to start from the last positions. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) ranked among the McLaren drivers after finishing in a spin on his final flying lap.