Leclerc and Ferrari keep rolling with pole in Sochi, Vettel P3; Hamilton P2
Ferrari’s stunning second half turnaround continued as their ascendent young star driver scored his fourth consecutive pole position at Sochi Autdrom during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Russian Grand Prix. A week after the rapidly improving Monegasque was left seething after he felt denied a win in Singapore due to fortuitous pit strategy by his senior teammate, Sebastian Vettel, Leclerc gave his best effort to try and get back to the winner’s circle for the third time this season with a blistering 1:32.613 lap time, over 4-tenths ahead of Vettel. Vettel could do no better than the third fastest time of the day and the confidence boost after his much-needed if somewhat lucky Singapore victory could be short lived under the onslaught of his stablemate’s consistent excellence. With their superior straight-line speed now married to improved downforce aerodynamics the Prancing Horses have definitively relegated mighty Mercedes to the second best team on the track and this time at a venue where Mercedes have always dominated previously. Lewis Hamilton, the Silver Arrows’ ace, did manage to split the Ferraris with the second fastest time and the reigning world champion and current points leader will be looking to slipstream himself in front of Leclerc when the lights go out and the cars take off down the long, fast first straightaway.
Mercedes themselves were also temporarily split when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen bettered Valtteri Bottas P4 to P5. But, while they proved that they can fly faster than Mercedes at certain circuits, Verstappen will have to take a 5-spot grid penalty come Sunday. Additionally, their second driver, Alexander Albon, crashed heavily in Q1, most likely also necessitating a gearbox change, and so and will start from the rear of the grid. The two McLarens of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris showed well and qualified P6 and P8 respectively and the two Renault’s of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo were P7 and P10 on the timing sheets respectively. Romain Grosjean came home ninth fastest and Haas will be desperate to score some points tomorrow in a season that has come apart rather badly for them.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Russian GP:
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:33.613 | 1:32.434 | 1:31.628 | 18 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:33.230 | 1:33.134 | 1:32.030 | 19 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 1:33.032 | 1:32.536 | 1:32.053 | 22 |
| 4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:33.368 | 1:32.634 | 1:32.310 | 15 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 1:33.413 | 1:33.281 | 1:32.632 | 18 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:34.184 | 1:33.807 | 1:33.222 | 20 |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | RENAULT | 1:34.236 | 1:33.898 | 1:33.289 | 15 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:34.201 | 1:33.725 | 1:33.301 | 20 |
| 9 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | HAAS FERRARI | 1:34.283 | 1:33.643 | 1:33.517 | 19 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RENAULT | 1:34.138 | 1:33.862 | 1:33.661 | 18 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on EPSN2 starting at 7AM here in the States. Can Hamilton out-drag Leclerc to take the lead on Lap 1? And even if he does can his Mercedes hold off the ultra-rapid Ferraris for the rest of the race? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out in Sochi!