Russian GP: Norris takes pole in qualifying with Sainz second, Russell third; Hamilton error proves costly

As expected from a sport like Formula One, the end to the qualifying session of the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi on Saturday was filled with unexpected twists and tons of excitement. The front three on the starting grid for Sunday are three unlikely names. McLaren seems to have hit a purple patch as Lando Norris took pole in qualifying. It is the Brit’s first pole position in his career and also McLaren’s first pole since Lewis Hamilton in 2012. The constructor earned a 1-2 finish at Monza a couple of weeks back and will look for another podium on Sunday. Starting alongside the Brit will be Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. He became only the second Spaniard to start on the front row for Ferrari after Fernando Alonso. Third place was taken by Mercedes-bound Williams driver George Russell. All three employed a similar strategy of switching to the slick tyres for the last flying lap and it worked out pretty well for them.

THINGS NOT GOING TO PLAN FOR MERCEDES

For Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, however, it was a lost opportunity. Hamilton’s title challenger, Max Verstappen, will start the race from the back of the grid after his team, Red Bull, decided on a power unit change on Friday during practice. Hamilton will still start the race from fourth on the grid, a long way ahead of his rival, but he certainly would have relished pole position.

Things, however, did not go as planned as far as the seven-time world champion is concerned. He jeopardised his own chances when he had a flick of oversteer coming into the pit lane, forcing him to change to untreated slick tyres with five minutes remaining in the final session. The car collided with the left wall, breaking his front wing and causing chaos in the Mercedes pit. While the mechanics struggled to change Hamilton’s wing, his newly fitted slick tyres were losing temperature in the cool, damp conditions, teammate Valtteri Bottas was queued behind him. 

Mercedes eventually wheeled Hamilton out of the way to service Bottas first, before repairing Hamilton’s car. Due to the delay, Hamilton’s tyres had lost temperature, and when he returned to the track, he complained of a lack of grip and lost control at Turn 16, failing to improve on his time set earlier in the session on intermediate tyres.

LANDO NORRIS’ REDEMPTION

Lando Norris’ pole was redemption for his crash in wet qualifying in Belgium last month when he was in contention for first place. Norris, who was already one of the year’s most impressive McLaren drivers, produced a final lap 0.517 seconds faster than Sainz to take a hugely impressive maiden pole. “It feels amazing. I don’t know what to say. Quite a manic session. You never think you’re going to get a pole until you get it. I’m extremely happy,” the McLaren driver said.

Second-placed Sainz lamented being one of the first to finish his lap on a track that was drying out by the second. “It was a very tricky qualifying right from the beginning, but right after Q2, I could see there was a chance the slick was going coming into play. We did a good job getting the slicks up to temperature. Unfortunately, I was one of the first across the line and I wasn’t able to fully exploit the conditions,” the Spaniard said.

RUSSELL, ALONSO IMPRESS

Russell’s stellar third-place finish for Williams comes on the heels of a stunning performance in Belgium, where he finished second behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the wet. Fernando Alonso was also impressive, finishing fourth fastest in the wetter second part of qualifying. The Alpine couldn’t quite match the faster cars in front as the track dried, but the veteran Spaniard maintained a comfortable lead over teammate Esteban Ocon throughout and finished sixth. 

Bottas finished seventh, ahead of Lance Stroll of Aston Martin, Sergio Perez of Red Bull, and Esteban Ocon of Alpine.