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Crazy qualification in the 2014 Olympic city in front of quite crowded grandstands: Hamilton achieves his fifth consecutive pole position, his 96 in total. However, the World Cup leader says: “That was the worst qualifying of my career.” What happened?
Vettel accident causes turmoil
The German’s rear wing breaks in Q2. It’s coming back, red flag! That is why the return of Lewis Hamilton, who had had a good time, is canceled. Because the Brit had already canceled the previous round because he strayed too far, things get hectic.
Classification in Sotschi: Here Vettel crashes(00:31)
Hamilton definitely needs a little more time. And it starts from the box when it reboots behind everyone else. Despite a driving error, he still manages to cross the line by two tenths for the last chance in Q2. Hamilton makes it to Q1, taking a deep breath in Mercedes.
Hamilton dominates after the great tremor
In Q3 Lewis Hamilton pushes his opponents to the ground. In Saturday’s third training session at lunchtime, Hamilton left teammate Valtteri Bottas 0.7 seconds behind. Now it’s 0.652 seconds. In the middle, Verstappen leads the Red Bull Honda 0.563 seconds behind.
Hamilton explains the horror of qualifying with a happy ending: “At first my best time was gone, then again with a new set of tires. Then with a great moment, the interruption and the red flag due to the Vettel accident. At the last second, I crossed the finish line for a few tenths of a second. But the Polish might not be an advantage here. “
Still, Hamilton has a good chance of his seventh win of the season and 91st win overall. He would catch up with record holder Michael Schumacher (51)!
The important start in Sochi
It runs 844 meters from the exit of the first corner, more than on any other track in the World Championship. Verstappen starts behind Hamilton in the front row and therefore says: “The start is important because I am in Hamilton’s wake.”
Hamilton sees it this way too: “I have to be careful at the start so that Max or Valtteri don’t overtake me in the wake going into the first corner!”
Unlike Hamilton, who has to start the race on the soft red tires he needed for his shaky game in Q2, Bottas and Verstappen start in yellow. Bottas: “It’s a long way to the first corner, I’ll wait to see what happens, but I have the medium tires.”
Ferrari continues to suffer
Vettel’s accident and the start in Q2 as 15 is not the only blow to the neck for Ferrari. His teammate Charles Leclerc also fails in Q2. A year ago, the Monegasse took pole here. He is now eleventh after qualifying.
Already in Q1 it becomes clear that Ferrari engines are not competitive in Russia either. After Q1, with the exception of Williams driver Nicholas Latifi, the last places were occupied exclusively by the drivers of Alfa-Sauber, Haas-Ferrari and Ferrari.
Lackluster Alpha-Sauber ahead of Kimi’s record run
“We come with a lot of confidence in ourselves,” said Alpha-Sauber team boss Frédéric Vasseur in front of Sochi. Now there is the next shock for the Hinwil racing team. After Kimi Räikkönen scored two points a week ago at Mugello (It), both Alpha-Sauber failed in the first qualifying round.
Former world champion Raikkonen (2007 in a Ferrari) has car trouble, starts from last place! And that of all things in his career record: the Finn tied Rubens Barrichello’s record of 323 GP starts.
Raikkonen doesn’t blame the car: “I blocked the front wheels, jumped the curbs, that was it!” Raikkonen’s teammate Antonio Giovinazzi is not in the top 15 on the starting grid this season, as has always been the case this season.
Russell on the prowl again
Williams driver George Russell (GB) reaches Q2 for the sixth time. However, there was still not a single world point for his performance. A week ago at Mugello, he missed out on eleventh place.
Formula 1 fans recall the words of Vettel, ranked 10th: “I really felt sorry for the Williams driver. He’s fighting so hard for his first point. But if I had let it pass, the Italians would have hung me from the nearest tree. “
Now the 22-year-old Briton is 14th on the grid and is 10: 0 in Williams’ internal standings against Latifi. Will he be rewarded with his first World Cup point in Sochi?
Look at Formula 2
Mick Schumacher (21) wins the main race on Saturday morning and thus extends his overall lead to almost 20 points over Britain’s Callum Ilott (21).
This was intercepted in the final by Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (20) and finished third. Tsunoda will replace Daniil Kwjat at Alpha-Tauri in Formula 1 next year.
So it goes
With the 10th GP of the season, which starts earlier than usual. That is, already at 1:10 pm Swiss time.
Kimi Räikkönen (twentieth): “We have been happy with the car this weekend so far and therefore we expected a good qualifying, but things did not go well. We had a car that could have made it to Q2, but if you don’t put a lap on the scoreboard, you start from behind. “
Antonio Giovinazzi (17 years old): “The track changed a lot from the third free practice session to qualifying. But we improved with every attempt and I could have gotten a better position if I hadn’t had to lift the car a bit at turn two on my last lap. We have good speed so we are out of the race for points. “
Teamchef Frédéric Vasseur: “Unlike the previous weeks, we now have cars that can reach the second quarter. But that was not worth it here. We knew from training that the gaps would be minimal, and they did. But sadly, we are not doing our job properly today. “
