#RussianGP Qualifying: @LewisHamilton survives Q2 scare to claim 96th-career pole. #F1

Lewis Hamilton clinched his 96th-career pole position in qualifying at the Russian GP despite not nearly posting a lap-time in Q2 after Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel crashed, while Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen beat Valtteri Bottas to second.

Hamilton is also currently under investigation due to a track limits violation – along with Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Haas F1 pairing Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen – in Q1, and is the sole driver in the top three who will start on the red-branded softer rubber as a result of his Q2 scare.

In a session, which saw spots of rain reported in the earlier stages, Mercedes sent both F1 W11 EQ Power+ racers out on the medium rubber, as Red Bull did with Verstappen, but Hamilton and Bottas were forced to do another hot-lap after the former had his effort invalidated for a track limits infringement at the last corner and the latter’s first effort was disappointing.

The Finn was able to set a good enough time to reach the final segment, but Hamilton had to abandon his second flyer due to Vettel’s crash at turn four, which suspended the session.

The Ferrari driver clipped the kerb of the inside right-hander and the rear of his SF1000 racer got away from him, spinning into the wall on the outside and knocking off his front wing – which was struck by closely following team-mate Charles Leclerc – and his front-right tyre.

When the session resumed, Mercedes sent Hamilton out on the softs, which meant Bottas will begin the Grand Prix on the alternate strategy running the mediums along with Verstappen, who lead the pack crucially with two minutes and fifteen seconds remaining after Vettel’s incident.

Verstappen was also using the softs and looked to be improving on his previous middle stage effort on the medium compounds, but the Dutchman aborted his run so he will start on the more durable tyre, which is expected to be the better race rubber in the predicted one-stop event.

Hamilton, who slid wide at the second corner on his out-lap as he ran down the train of cars desperately attempting to make it into Q3, crossed the line in the narrowest of margins with less than a second remaining on the clock.

But the Briton was able to charge around made it through taking the fourth quickest time to progress into the final segment, which was topped by Ricciardo, with the last lap posted and eliminated a frustrated Leclerc in the process.

In Q3, Hamilton got provisional pole with a 1:31.391, whilst team-mate Bottas had to close the 0.793 gap after the initial hot-laps.

The Finn made an improvement on his final flyer, despite clipping the kerb at the second corner exit, but was still 0.5 seconds down on Hamilton even before the championship leader completed his last effort – a 1:31.304, which was the new track record and gave the Briton his first pole in Sochi since the inaugural event in 2014.

Verstappen posted his final flyer much later than the Mercedes duo and was running marginally behind Bottas in the first two sectors, before moving ahead with a blitzing third sector to take second place on the grid, ahead of Bottas and was 0.563 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s Russian GP qualifying benchmark.

BWT Racing Point’s Sergio Perez qualified fourth and in-front of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who took fifth, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz who was sixth.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon completed the top ten.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat was 12th and ahead of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, who was shoved out of the queue before the final crucial Q2 flyers with a suspected problem, and Williams Racing’s George Russell and Ferrari’s Vettel

Russell set his only effort in Q2 when he had the track to himself before Vettel’s crash and he went 0.5 seconds than his Q1 time to progress to the second stage for the first time in three races.

In the first qualifying stage, Russell’s late final improvement to reach the middle segment eliminated Grosjean, who will start 16th on the grid, as both Ferrari’s scraped through to Q2 in 14th and 15th respectively.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi qualified 17th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Magnussen and Williams’ Latifi, who along with Grosjean, went into the final Q1 runs without a lap-time posted after being among a group of drivers – including Hamilton, Gasly and Magnussen – who had their initial efforts invalidated for cutting the kerbs at the second corner.

The other Alfa Romeo Racing entry of Kimi Raikkonen will start at the rear for the Grand Prix where he will equal Rubens Barrichello’s record for most race starts.

The Finn suffered a full 360 spin after striking the orange sausage kerbs at the apex of turn two, which looped his C39 racer around and traveled slowly along the inside of the long turn three to avoid impeding other rival cars following the Alfa Romeo.

The Top Three

Pole Position – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+:

“The session was hard work, it was horrible, heart in your mouth. I got the time taken away, the first time I’ve gone wide there all weekend. Ultimately I’m starting on the soft tyre which is not good. I’m starting on pole and here is the worst pole with the drag with the cars…”

2nd – Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16:

“We were struggling to find the right balance, I wasn’t happy. In Q3 on the final run, it was not mad. To be second on the grid I did not expect.”

3rd – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+:

“Actually a pretty good place to start, and I’m on the right tyres. I really think I have an advantage with the medium tyres so still all to play for.”

You can see the full Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1054/russia/qualifying.html

In the earlier FP3 session it was Hamilton on top of the time-sheets ahead of Mercedes team-mate Bottas, with McLaren’s Sainz third, Renault’s Ocon fourth and Racing Point’s Perez rounding out the top five.

You can catch up on yesterday’s Free Practice 1 and 2 sessions at the following links:

#RussianGP FP1 Report: @ValtteriBottas tops incident-filled session. #F1

#RussianGP FP2: @ValtteriBottas leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

Catch up on this weekend’s race preview here:

#Formula1 VTB #RussianGrandPrix 2020 Race Preview. #F1 #RussianGP