Leclerc wins 4th straight pole for Russian GP

Charles Leclerc wins 4th straight pole

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc turned a lap of 1m31.628s to win the pole for the Russian GP at Sochi.

Leclerc held off a strong challenge from Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton who sandbagged until the final two runs but when Mercedes turned up the wick he came up 0.402s short and push the 2nd Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel off the front row. However, Hamilton will start on the medium tires having set his fast time in Q2 on the harder rubber. Most of the drivers, including the two Ferraris will start on the soft tires and will be forced to finish on the mediums.

The last time a Ferrari driver took four successive poles was when Michael Schumacher achieved the feat across the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Incidentally, Leclerc – in only his second season in F1 – was just three years old at that time.

Sebastian Vettel failed to improve on his second lap and was jumped by Hamilton, meaning he’ll start his second successive Grand Prix from third on the grid.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]"It felt amazing, it definitely feels great to back on pole but I don’t know if it’s the best track to start on pole. The straight is very long after the start so tomorrow the start will be very important as always but here probably even more because of the straight length."

"These guys have crazy speeds on the straights," said Hamilton.

"I gave it everything, I am so glad it came together," he says. "I wasn't expecting to get on the front row, that's for sure!"

"I'm not entirely happy, I didn't extract the absolute maximum from the car. The speed is there," said Vettel

Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top-5.

Valtteri Bottas was scrappy throughout Q3 and aborted his final run, the 2017 winner ending up fifth fastest with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. delivering a stunning final run to end up best of the rest in sixth.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was seventh, a fraction behind, with Lando Norris eighth in the other McLaren McLaren. Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Renault's Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10.

Quotes

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport

Hamilton snatches outside pole

Lewis Hamilton (2nd, 1:32.030): "It feels like a really positive weekend so far and I'm very happy with the job that we've done collectively. We've worked so hard until late last night and again today and it all came together in the end. The ultimate goal is always to get as close to 100 percent as possible and I don't think there was much left in the car today. Sochi has always been a track that I struggled at, but today every lap was just getting better and better, there were no real mistakes and particularly the last lap felt good. The Ferraris have some crazy speeds on the straights, so to split them is a very good scenario for us. Now we have to try and convert that split into something even better. It's a long run into Turn 1, so it's not always the best for a start on the harder tyre, but we've got to try something and it's good that we're able to go for a different strategy tomorrow. The team has done a really good job to put us in that position and I look forward to the fight."

Valtteri Bottas (5th, 1:32.632): "It was tricky qualifying for me today. I was struggling in the last sector, particularly in Turn 13 where I had rear snaps mid-corner in pretty much every qualifying lap. Those snaps made the rear tires overheat which made the rest of Sector 3 really tricky and I didn't really find a way to drive around the issue. In my second run in Q3, the snap was pretty big and I lost multiple tenths there, so I aborted the final lap. The Ferraris are quite a bit faster than us on the straights, our race pace looked decent yesterday and we're starting on a different tire to everyone around us, so we can hopefully create some opportunities. It's still all to play for."

Toto Wolff, Team Principal: "We extracted everything from our package today, so I'm really happy with our performance, but we're losing seven or eight tenths to the Ferraris on the straights and there's only so much you can do against that. We have a big challenge on our hands, but we will give it everything to try and take the fight to them. Lewis put in a very strong lap and did a great job to claim P2 and split the Ferraris. It's a shame for Valtteri because he was on a good lap too before he aborted. Tomorrow, we'll be on a harder tire to everyone around us which will make the start a little bit tricky but will hopefully create some opportunities later in the race."

James Allison, Technical Director: "Mixed feelings after today. On one level we're really pleased with us having made a solid recovery from the day yesterday, with both our drivers now being able to put in their first laps pretty consistently. At the same time, we're sad that we didn't have the pace to beat Leclerc today, but congratulations to him for a very good series of laps. Looking ahead to tomorrow, with the Medium tire, offset against everyone else starting on the Soft, it's going to be a very interesting race and hopefully some of the good race pace we saw on Friday will allow us to take the fight to the Ferraris."

Scuderia Ferrari

Leclerc heads out for his pole run

Charles Leclerc (1st, 1:31.628): "The car was amazing to drive and the team did a great job anticipating the track evolution and setting up the car in the best way. We are just focusing on ourselves and the work we are doing seems to be slowly paying off. On my side, I continue focusing on the negative and working to improve and learn as much as I can. The lap in Q3 was great, apart from when I lost the rear a bit in turns 16 and 17. I’m still happy to end the day with a result like this, but I am already fully focused on the race now. Our race pace was good in FP2, which is a positive sign. We will start the race on different tires to our competitors, but I don’t think that there is a huge difference between the soft and medium compounds in terms of their degradation. It will be difficult and crucial to keep everyone behind at the start, because it’s a long way to turn two. I will give it all I’ve got."

Sebastian Vettel (3rd, 1:32.053): "Overall I was reasonably happy with the car, but not entirely satisfied. Q1 was a bit complex as I made a mistake on my first attempt and then I was slowed by two yellow flags. I found it difficult to get into a clean rhythm, especially towards the end of Quali, when it was vital to extract the absolute maximum out of the car. However the race is tomorrow and I am confident. We need a good start and then we can think about the rest of it. We start on the clean side, on the Softs while the Mercedes are on Mediums and being on different tire strategies will make for an interesting fight. I believe we have made the right tire choice for the start and I think we have an advantage over our rivals down the straight, so a tow might come into play."

Vettel congratulates Leclerc

Mattia Binotto, Team Principal: "We are very happy with the way qualifying went. Already yesterday we realized that our car was quick and today we delivered the result. Once again, Charles produced a good lap, even though he made a couple of small mistakes, which means he had the potential to do even better. It has to be said that the track surface here is very smooth, so it’s easy to make a mistake. Seb qualified third, which might actually be better than second when it comes to tomorrow’s start, even if it would have been nice to have locked out the front row. The SF90 has improved and we have accelerated our development to have more drag and aero downforce. Also, thanks to the new package, we now lose out less in the corners and the overall balance is good. As for the race, the key moment will probably be the start and another important aspect will be the fact we are starting on a different tire compound to our competitors."

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (4th, 1:32.310): "I always knew qualifying would be tricky on such a power sensitive circuit but the lap was good and there wasn't much more in it. The wind picked up and it seemed to hurt us in the last sector which is normally our strongest point so I couldn't really use the full potential of the car. Yesterday looked positive but Ferrari didn't have their engines turned up and they always open it up in qualifying as we could see today. The corners around here are mostly ninety degrees and very short, so you can't gain a lot of lap time out of them but to be P4 and splitting the Mercedes is pretty good. With the penalty and starting ninth we need to make a clean start, stay alert and hope the people around us do the same. I think the realistic target is probably fifth but we will of course try to do better and it will be interesting to see what happens with Mercedes on a different strategy."

Alexander Albon (19th, 1:39.197): "There's nothing really to say other than I went in a bit hot like Max did in FP3 and I lost the rear. There's a tailwind in that corner and it just caught me out. When these cars go, they go quick. It was a silly mistake – that's pretty much it and it's just frustrating. I haven't really had the confidence during the weekend and I've struggled since FP1 but it was starting to come together and I was feeling more comfortable and getting into a rhythm coming into qualifying. I think this is one of those tracks where if you're not confident in one corner, you're not confident in any corner and that's kind of how I felt up to qualifying. We're starting out of place but I'm optimistic as the car feels good in the long runs and you can also overtake here. We've seen before when starting at the back that we can progress through the field so we'll give it everything tomorrow."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "It was a shame for Alex today. He came across a yellow flag on his first lap in Q1 and unfortunately a spin on his second resulted in him touching the barrier which took him out of qualifying. For Max, he comfortably progressed through to Q3 and after a really strong last run he managed to get on the second row of the grid but unfortunately the Ferraris were just too fast today. With our penalty, that means he will be starting the race from P9 tomorrow and hopefully we can be in good shape for the race. It's a track you can overtake at so it should be an exciting Grand Prix."

Renault Sport Formula One Team

Nico Hulkenberg (7th, 1:33.289): "I'm pleased with that today; my laps were clean and tidy, we progressed through the sessions well and deservedly qualified well inside the top ten. I've felt comfortable in the car since the beginning of the weekend and I've been driving well. It would have been nice to be ahead of Carlos [Sainz]. It was tight in the midfield again, but we'll take it and fight tomorrow for some strong points. It was a decent day's work."

Daniel Ricciardo (10th, 1:33.661): "I've not been that fast all weekend, so to get into Q3 was pretty good. That was our target and we got there. I had to use an extra set in Q1 and that meant I only had one new tire run at the end of Q3 and it wasn't quick enough to be higher than tenth. We'll do better tomorrow; we're in a position to take points and we'll be working hard to do that. Credit to Nico for his qualifying, he's been fast this weekend."

Alan Permane, Sporting Director: "That was an exciting qualifying session and we're happy to come away with both cars in the top ten. It's very close in the midfield with a tenth here or there making a huge difference. The key thing was Nico progressing through Q1 on one set of tires, meaning he had two new sets for Q3, which helped. Tomorrow should be a one-stop race and we'll be aiming for it to be straightforward with both drivers scoring well."

Haas F1 Team

Romain Grosjean (9th, 1:33.517): "It was a good qualifying session today. It was very difficult as the wind picked up a lot from FP3, that really put the balance off initially in the session. I was happy that we managed to finally get back into Q3. The balance was very different between some corners, maybe I need an adjustable front wing, that would help. But seriously, we know the hybrid car we're running doesn't really like the wind, it was always going to be a bit of a challenge. We're just happy that we were competitive today. Race pace was encouraging, so I hope we get a good one tomorrow."

Kevin Magnussen (14th, 1:34.082): "It was a strong Q1, but then just messed it up in Q2 on my side, I lost it in seven and eight. I had very good pace in the car, so it's a real bummer. I don't know how the race will go. It looked good yesterday in terms of race pace, so we'll see what we can do tomorrow."

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "Not bad starting positions. We didn't expect this, but we never expect anything. We're pretty happy with these positions. We were happy to get into Q3 with Romain (Grosjean), who'll start eighth now, and unfortunately Kevin (Magnussen) had a gust of wind at Turn 10 on his Q2 run otherwise I think he'd have made it into Q3 as well. At the moment we're content with what we've got. We'll try to have a good race tomorrow and hopefully we can bring some points home."

McLaren F1 Team

Carlos Sainz (6th, 1:33.222): "Good day today! Improving every time we went on track and adapting to the circumstances. I couldn't have done that lap without the help of the whole team. Thank you. To line up fifth tomorrow on the grid feels great after our initial struggles from yesterday. We managed to adapt, progress and find a way to recover from that, which shows we're also doing a great job this year in understanding the car. I look forward to starting P5 tomorrow. I'm confident we're capable of putting together a strong result. Congratulations to everyone today."

Lando Norris (8th, 1:33.301): "A good qualifying and a good starting position for tomorrow. I had a positive feeling throughout qualifying – the track was improving, as was my car. It was pretty good but I didn't nail the lap as well as I did in Singapore because I wasn't able to put it all together. But I'm still happy, despite making a small mistake on my final push lap in Q3 – starting P7 due to Max's penalty is a good position. Big thanks to the team, here at the track and back in Woking, for giving me a really good car today after yesterday's frustrations."

Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "Congratulations to the entire team for another very well-executed qualifying session today. Great drives from Carlos and Lando – they confirmed today what really great qualifiers they are, going through the whole session ending up no more than a tenth apart. We really struggled for pace on Friday, but the team here at the track, together with support from the factory, did a thorough analysis overnight and drew the right conclusions to get us back into the right window today. Thanks to their hard work we start P5 and P7 tomorrow, with an excellent opportunity to score good points in our Constructors' Championship battle. I'm looking forward to an exciting race."

Racing Point F1 Team

Sergio Perez (12th, 1:33.958): "We all expected a bit more today, especially with how tight the margins are here. We should have been in Q3, but when going into Turn 7 I hit the curb harder than I should and lost some time there. It was very, very close and it's a shame, but I'm very optimistic for tomorrow. We have a quick car and I think we have a good opportunity to score points."

Lance Stroll (15th, 1:34.233): "It started off well: I had the balance I was looking for in the first sector, through the medium-speed corners, and it was looking quite promising. Then, when I got to the high-speed Turn 7, I just turned in and lost the rear, I ran wide and it was really just downhill from there. You have a bad corner and that leads to two or three bad corners. That's where the lap time was lost. It's a shame because I wanted more today – the whole team did. It is going to sting a little, but I think we can bounce back tomorrow and use the strategy to challenge for points."

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer: "Ultimately a disappointing session where we didn't deliver on the promise we have shown in the lead up to qualifying. Both drivers made small errors on their final Q2 laps and missed the cut for Q3 as a result. The margins were incredibly close today in the middle of the pack and dropping a tenth of a second here and there proved costly. It means we've got a bit more work to do tomorrow to score points. The car has solid race pace – we've seen that during the long runs yesterday – but at the same time it's tough to overtake here. We will think through the strategy options tonight and fight hard tomorrow to score points"

Alfa Romeo Racing

Antonio Giovinazzi (13th, 1:34.037): "I tried my best today but in the end we fell just a bit short of the top ten. Starting from P12 tomorrow [because of Gasly's penalty] with the possibility to choose the tires can be a small advantage. It's hard to tell where we stand when it comes to race pace, but I hope we can be competitive tomorrow. Of course we wanted more coming into the session, but if we have a good start and a good strategy we can be in the fight for points. Nobody can predict what weather we'll have tomorrow and if it starts to rain anything can happen. Having both cars in the top ten is the objective but the key is to continue improving."

Kimi Raikkonen (16th, 1:34.840): "It's been a difficult weekend so far but I felt a lot better in qualifying. We made some big changes for this afternoon and improved the car quite a bit. I was improving my time, but unfortunately I made a small mistake, went wide in turn ten and lost all the speed on the back straight. That was it – I would have easily been in Q2 without that."

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "It's always a shame when you lose a car in Q1. It was a small mistake by Kimi, but that was enough to miss the cut, which shows how close the spread is in the midfield. In the end, we have to take the positives from the session: we were just 0.2s off P7 at the end of Q2, so we can expect a good battle in tomorrow's race. Our long run pace looked ok in practice: if we keep our noses clean in the opening laps, we can be in the fight for points."

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda

Pierre Gasly (11th, 1:33.50): "It was so close today! I'm really happy with the lap I did, we knew it would be difficult to make it into the top 10 and we tried everything we could. I think it was one of my best laps for Toro Rosso in Q2 on my first run. I knew that on the second run I really needed to risk it if I wanted to improve, but I couldn't manage to do it. Every weekend we're making a step and I think it was a positive Qualifying. We will line up P16 with the engine penalty, but we still have free tire choice, so we will see what we can do with the strategy. We'll push flat out and hopefully we can come back through the field."

Daniil Kvyat (20th, No Time): "It hasn't been a very smooth weekend so far, but the most important day is tomorrow. We knew we were going to start from the back but it's still a shame to miss Qualifying in my home race. These things happen, we just need to accept it and try to do our best tomorrow for a strong race. I never give in, there's still a chance to save this weekend. I'm a bit short on mileage because of the issues I've had, but I know the track, so I'll try and find a good rhythm in the race."

Claudio Balestri (Chief Engineer, Vehicle Performance: "Mixed feelings today. On Dany's side of the garage, we had an issue on the PU at the start of FP3 and we were forced to change it. As the process requires quite a lot of time and having to start already from the back of the grid due to a previous engine change penalty, we decided not to rush the job and skip Qualifying – it wouldn't have worsened our grid situation for tomorrow. As for Pierre, we were able to produce a good level of performance both in FP3 and Qualifying, especially in the first run of Q2. Unfortunately, that was not enough to progress to Q3. Due to the grid penalties, the race will not be an easy one, but the car showed some good pace during the long runs on Friday, so we will still try to do our best to score points tomorrow."

Toyoharu Tanabe, Honda F1 Technical Director: "Verstappen starts ninth tomorrow and our other three will be further down the back of the grid. However, we still feel they can move up the order and have a good race. Kvyat, suffered a PU failure in FP3, so that we have had to change his PU again and he took no part in qualifying. We will now carry out a full investigation as to the cause."

ROKiT Williams Racing

George Russell (17th, 1:35.356): "I think that was a good session. In Singapore we had a load of traffic on the out-lap. We planned to get out there ahead of the pack this time, but as soon as everyone else comes out of the pitlane it was a little bit too late for us, but it didn't end up compromising us. It was just a bit frustrating, fighting guys ahead of us, fighting guys trying to overtake behind me. It was just a bit scrappy. Nevertheless, the lap was really good, and our pace was closer than we anticipated. We're slowly making steps and we're heading in the right direction. "

Robert Kubica (18th, 1:36.474): "It's always nice to drive new circuits. Most of the corners are quite similar to each other, they are very short so you must carry speed with good stability. Overall it is a challenging track, especially when you struggle with entry balance. It has been a difficult weekend so far, and I expect tomorrow to be the same."

Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: "By the start of FP3 the track had dried following overnight rain and the morning rain, which had been forecast earlier in the weekend, simply didn't arrive. This allowed us to complete a normal FP3 program during which we finalized our preparations for qualifying. The small changes to the car set-up and tire preparation, which we implemented overnight, were effective and both drivers were happier than on Friday. Qualifying was slightly disrupted by a red flag, which caused us to alter our plans for the second runs. Robert was able to leave early when the session restarted and gave himself the chance to complete a run of three laps whilst George opted to wait in the garage and complete only a single lap. Both were able to set their best qualifying times on these runs. The starting grid will get a little reshuffled as grid penalties are applied but we are under no illusion that tomorrow will be difficult. However, it is a long race and it easy to make mistakes at this circuit and so we will look to have clean races, quick pitstops and a strong strategy."

Qualifying Results

POS	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	+ 0.581s	1m32.434s	1m31.628s
2	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Motorsport	+ 0.198s	+ 0.700s	+ 0.402s
3	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Scuderia Ferrari	1m33.032s	+ 0.102s	+ 0.425s
4	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing Honda	+ 0.336s	+ 0.200s	+ 0.682s
5	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Motorsport	+ 0.381s	+ 0.847s	+ 1.004s
6	Carlos Sainz	ESP	McLaren F1 Team	+ 1.152s	+ 1.373s	+ 1.594s
7	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Renault F1 Team	+ 1.204s	+ 1.464s	+ 1.661s
8	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	+ 1.169s	+ 1.291s	+ 1.673s
9	Romain Grosjean	FRA	Haas F1 Team	+ 1.251s	+ 1.209s	+ 1.889s
10	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Renault F1 Team	+ 1.106s	+ 1.428s	+ 2.033s
11	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	+ 1.424s	+ 1.516s	–
12	Sergio Perez	MEX	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	+ 1.304s	+ 1.524s	–
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing	+ 1.723s	+ 1.603s	–
14	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	+ 0.857s	+ 1.648s	–
15	Lance Stroll	CAN	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	+ 1.255s	+ 1.799s	–
16	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	+ 1.808s	–	–
17	George Russell	GBR	ROKiT Williams Racing	+ 2.324s	–	–
18	Robert Kubica	POL	ROKiT Williams Racing	+ 3.442s	–	–
19	Alexander Albon	THA	Red Bull Racing Honda	+ 6.165s	–	–
20	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	no time	–	–

Starting Grid after Grid Penalties

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1m31.628s	0.000s
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m32.030s	0.402s
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m32.053s	0.425s
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m32.632s	1.004s
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren/Renault	1m33.222s	1.594s
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m33.289s	1.661s
7	Lando Norris	McLaren/Renault	1m33.301s	1.673s
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m33.517s	1.889s
9	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda	1m32.310s	0.682s
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1m33.661s	2.033s
11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point/Mercedes	1m33.958s	2.330s
12	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1m34.037s	2.409s
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1m34.082s	2.454s
14	Lance Stroll	Racing Point/Mercedes	1m34.233s	2.605s
15	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1m34.840s	3.212s
16	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso/Honda	1m33.950s	2.322s
17	George Russell	Williams/Mercedes	1m35.356s	3.728s
18	Alexander Albon	Red Bull/Honda	1m39.197s	7.569s
19	Robert Kubica	Williams/Mercedes	1m36.474s	4.846s
20	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Honda	–	–