Norris earns surprise pole at Sochi in wet conditions; Sainz takes P2, Russell P3; Hamilton falls to P4 after late crash entering pits

With Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton’s chief rival, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, doomed to start last or nearly last in tomorrow’s Russian Grand Prix due to not only the Dutchman’s penalty for crashing into Hamilton two weeks ago at Monza but also his team’s decision to swap out Verstappen’s engine at track that doesn’t really suit them, Hamilton was looking to grab pole at the Sochi Autodrom and set himself up for maximum points for the race. However, the weather and a rare unforced error by the seven-time World Champion put paid to that plan. Somewhat stunningly, Hamilton found himself with only the fourth best time on the day, a fast lap he had set early in the final quali session while on the Intermediate wet weather Pirelli tires after a day of rain here on the shores of the Black Sea. But the rain had stopped for long enough and the track had dried to such an extent by the start of Q3 that other team’s gambled on switching to slick tires in an effort to achieve a superior time to the one Hamilton set on the Inters. Williams’  George Russell was the first to commit, followed very shortly by all the other non-Mercedes drivers. And while at first it did not appear the risk was worth the reward, the circuit continued to improve and a true dry line had formed as the time wound down in Q3. That saw the Mercedes pit wall make a somewhat tardy call to bring their boys in and match the others’ strategies by throwing on some Soft Pirellis, too. However, Hamilton badly botched his pit entrance for the change, smacking the wall at pit in hard and essentially snapping his front wing in half. Not only did the team have to take much longer time than anticipated to give Hamilton a new wing but it also backed up his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who had to wait until those repairs to the team leader were made. By the time the Mercedes duo reemerged, the other runners had been able to get their tires heated up properly with several consecutive laps, something the two Silver Arrows no longer had the time to do.

This redounded to the benefit of several drivers not named Hamilton, as the normally superlative English hot shoe spun off track when trying to get something out of his cold tires and his earlier time on the treaded wet weather tires would have to be the one that stood. It only ended up being good enough for P4 on the grid, as first Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and then McLaren’s Lando Norris and Russell overhauled him. Norris claimed the pole, showing once again he is a talent to watch and is particularly good in the rain and wet. Sainz settled for the second fastest time, somewhat saving the Scuderia on a day where their other excellent pilot, Charles Leclerc, did not run any laps in Q2 because he too will be penalized for a new engine. And the elated Russell took P3 for Williams. It should be mighty interesting to see just how far Russell will push Hamilton, his future teammate at the factory Mercedes team next year, when they get off the line and down to Turn 1 after starting together side-by-side on row two.

After being really good in the practice sessions, Bottas could do no better than a P7 lap in these tricky conditions without enough time to properly get his Pirellis up to temp. That saw both Norris’ McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who won the last race in Italy two weeks ago, and Alpine’s savvy vet Fernando Alonso slot in ahead of the Finn on the grid in P5 and P6 respectively. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll also showed fine qualities in the damp, earning P8, but Red Bull’s Sergio Perez would have been hoping for better than the lowly P9 position he earned, especially knowing how much work Verstappen is going to have to do to pull himself back up into the points tomorrow. A really missed opportunity on the day for the Mexican veteran when he was hoping to remixing it up at the front and it could potentially put him into bad positions with the other midfield runners, as he has had his fair share of collisions this season. The second Alpine of Esteban Ocon qualified in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Russian GP:

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With Verstappen fighting to keep his championship lead from the back of the pack and a dejected Hamilton starting on the second row of the grid when he was expecting pole, as well as several other drivers out of position, look for a fierce and chaotic battle as the championship race enters its final third. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!