Vettel on pole in Sochi, Ferrari front row

Scuderia Ferrari defeated Mercedes in qualifying for the Russian GP. Sebastian Vettel took pole ahead of his teammate Kimi Räikkönen. Lewis Hamilton is only 4th.

Published on 29/04/2017 à 15:14

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Vettel on pole in Sochi, Ferrari front row

Sebastian Vettel took pole at the Russian GP in Sochi, beating the W08s in qualifying for the first time this year. The Championship leader set the new lap record by completing the Russian track in 1'33''194 during the last attempt, which allows him to win his first pole since the 2015 Singapore GP and the 47th of his career .

La Team Ferrari monopolized the front row with Kimi Räikkönen. THE Mercedes have to settle for the second line with Valtteri Bottas preceding his teammate Lewis Hamilton by almost half a second.

Felipe Massa (Williams) took 6th place and finds himself between the Red Bull de Daniel Ricciardo et Max Verstappen. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) follows in 8th place, preceding the Force India of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon.

Esteban Ocon (Force India) narrowly qualified for Q3 of the Russian GP by taking 10th place with 2 tenths ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. (Toro Rosso), first eliminated from the second session. The Spaniard preceded by two hundredths Lance stroll (Williams) and Daniil Kvyat separated in just 4 thousandths. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren) completed the list of those eliminated.

Romain Grosjean (Haas) was the slowest in Q1 of the Russian GP in Sochi. The Frenchman will start from the last row with Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren), 17th in the session, who received a 15-place penalty for changing elements on his Power Unit. The Belgian finished ahead of the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson.

Jolyon Palmer (Renault) tried everything to qualify in Q2, but the Briton ended up in the wall while his team had just changed its engine for the start of qualifying. The former GP2 champion failed half a tenth behind Kevin Magnussen (Haas), last qualified for the second session.