© Getty ImagesBulls Aiming For A Russian RecoveryQualifying sees Bulls qualify P9 and P20 in Sochi.
SergioPérezandMaxVerstappenarefacingatoughbattlebacktowardsthefrontofthepackintomorrow’sRussianGrandPrixafteratrickyqualifyingsessioninunpredictablewet/dryconditionsatSochiAutodromthatsawChecoqualifyinP9,whileMaxwillstartfromthebackofthegridfollowinghisenginechange.
Heavy rain throughout Saturday morning and into the early afternoon meant that final practice was cancelled, but in the hour before the scheduled start of qualifying, the sun began to appear and conditions improved enough to allow the session to go ahead.
The first session began on a damp but rapidly improving track and after AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly got things underway with a lap of 1:51.519, the time rapidly began to fall as the track improved and drivers found confidence.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton soon got down to 1:46.937 with teammate Valtteri Bottas in second place. Max, though, was steering into the pit lane. After opting to take a fourth engine for the season on Friday, Max went out on track in Q1 knowing that he will start the race from the back of the grid.
The team therefore elected to meet the minimum requirement of exiting the pit lane to take part in Q1 and after two laps, and no time posted, the Dutch driver headed back to the garage to sit out the rest of the session.
On track, Checo’s opening lap was compromised by a small lock-up in the conditions and as better times came in it left him in P11. He went for another attempt and jumped to P5, though this time he was held up by the slower Haas of Nikita Mazepin. On the next tour, however, he at last got a clean run and with quickest times in every sector he vaulted to P1 with a lap of 1:46.455.
At the end of the opening segment Hamilton went through in P1 thanks to a time of 1:45.992 ahead of Bottas and Checo progressed in P3.
Eliminated at the end of the session were Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in P16, followed by Haas’ Mick Schumacher, the second Alfa of Antonio Giovinazzi, the second Haas of Nikita Mazepin and Max who saved both his PU and tyres.
Max Ready To Unleash The Lion On Sunday© Getty Images
Hamilton was to the fore again in the second segment and he took top spot with a lap of 1:45.129. Bottas slotted into P2, but this time Checo couldn’t match his third place from Q1. The Mexican steadily improved during the session but in the end, his 1:45.834 was only good enough for P5 as McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed fourth place by just 0.007s. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso put in a good lap late on to take third place with a lap of 1:45.514.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel didn’t find the time he needed, however, and he missed out on a Q3 berth by just five hundredths of a second. Eliminated behind Vettel were Gasly and AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, both of whom will also take an engine penalty tomorrow.
Full Charge On Inters At Sochi© Getty Images
As the drivers went out at the beginning of Q3 on inters it quickly became clear that the crossover point to slicks was close. The field opted to put in banker laps on intermediate tyres and after the first runs Hamilton led the way from Bottas.
However, rivals were already pulling into the pit lane to take on slick tyres, including Checo, to take advantage of the steadily improving surface. Hamilton, too, went in for slicks but in the pit entry he momentarily lost control and clipped the wall, damaging his front wing. The delay to fit the new wing meant he would be one of the last to take to the track and that he would only get one opportunity.
Early in the final flying lap and with no significant improvement appearing it looked like the move to slicks was the wrong one, but in the final moments green and then purple sector times began to dot the timing screens.
And in the end, it was Lando Norris who made the most of the conditions to claim his first pole position. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Williams’ George Russell also made their moves at the right time to take P2 and P3 respectively ahead of Hamilton who claimed fourth place with his opening lap.
Checo, though, couldn’t find the required improvement and as rivals found more time the Mexican slid to ninth place. He will start on row five alongside Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Russian Grand Prix 2021: Qualifying
Plenty Of Spray At Sochi© Getty Images
Max Ready For Showdown At Sochi© Getty Images
Checo On Inters Through Corner At Sochi© Getty Images
Checo On A Mission At Sochi© Getty Images
Garage Primed For Race Day© Getty Images
We decided not to do too many laps in qualifying as the risk of having a moment or an accident would not be worth it, especially as I’m starting from the back of the grid tomorrow
“We decided not to do too many laps in qualifying as the risk of having a moment or an accident would not be worth it, especially as I’m starting from the back of the grid tomorrow. The track conditions were fine and there was good grip, I think it will be similar conditions during the race. The Team did a great job and I’m confident that we made a good decision about how we set up the car. Looking ahead to tomorrow, it’s always tricky as naturally the midfield will be a bit closer but it will be important to go out there and score as many points as possible, we’ll do our very best. Hopefully we can have a fun race!”
“Things were looking really promising and we had a strong Q1 and Q2. But in the changing weather and track conditions, timing is important and in hindsight we probably could have tried slick tyres one lap earlier. As we know anything can happen in the race and a positive to take from today is that the car was performing very well in the wet. We are going to move positively into Sunday and the main target will be to get a strong start and then put together the best possible race.”
Obviously we knew Max was going to be starting from the back of the grid and with today’s tricky qualifying conditions, the reward wasn’t worth the risk.
“Obviously we knew Max was going to be starting from the back of the grid and with today’s tricky qualifying conditions, the reward wasn’t worth the risk. So it was just about making sure everything was ready for him tomorrow. Checo will be disappointed to be starting from 9th position, a small mistake on his warmup lap on the slicks in Q3 meant he struggled to generate heat in the tyres and unfortunately missed out on being further up the field. The grid isn’t one anyone would have predicted coming into this weekend, and with dry weather forecast for tomorrow on a track where you can overtake, we could see even more overtaking and a very interesting race.”
RussianGrandPrixQualifyingTop10
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | … | 20 |
| Lando Norris | Carlos Sainz | George Russell | Lewis Hamilton | Daniel Ricciardo | Fernando Alonso | Valtteri Bottas | Lance Stroll | Sergio Pérez | Esteban Ocon | … | Max Verstappen |
| McLaren | Ferrari | Williams | Mercedes | McLaren | Alpine | Mercedes | Aston Martin | Red Bull Racing Honda | Alpine | … | Red Bull Racing Honda |
| 1.41.993 | 1.42.510 | 1.42.983 | 1.44.050 | 1.44.156 | 1.44.204 | 1.44.710 | 1.44.956 | 1.45.337 | 1.45.337 | … | No Time |
