Verstappen (second) and Bottas (third) join Hamilton in the front row for Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix.
SOCHI, Russia—Saturday, September 26th—It looked as though Lewis Hamilton would be eliminated in Saturday’s second qualifying session for Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix. But he survived…barely…just making it over the line to advance. Then, he broke the track record with a 1:31:304 and took yet another pole position. Max Verstappen took second ahead of Valtteri Bottas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blmb71B2SAM
Hamilton had a scare in the second session when Sebastian Vettel crashed his car at turn four, which brought out a red flag session. Hamilton, who was completing a flying lap, was halted, and that ruined his run. However, with still 2:15 left, Hamilton made it over the line to start a final lap after qualifying resumed–just before time ran out to begin a qualifying lap.
Hamilton took fourth in that session and moved on, clocking his best lap of the weekend and also breaking a track record doing it. Verstappen, who had struggled nearly all weekend, finally found his rhythm and managed to take second. That performance disabled another Mercedes 1-2 front-row lockout.
For the rest of the top ten, Sergio Perez had an excellent performance, taking fourth, while Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) ended up fifth. Carlos Sainz Jr. was sixth in his McLaren, while Esteban Ocon in the second Renault was seventh. Lando Norris of McLaren, Pierre Gasly in the Alpha Tauri, and Alex Albon in the second Red Bull completed the top-ten list.
As for others, Nicholas Latifi–along with Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi–was knocked out of the opening round. Vettel, Charles Leclerc in their Ferrari’s, as well as Dani Kvyat, Lance Stroll, and George Russell, exited in the second session. Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean of the American Haas F1 Team, who were eliminated in the first session, will start from 18th and 16th, respectively.
Hamilton might be happy on the pole, but he’s not excited about starting the race on soft tires. “I’m starting on the soft tire, which is not good,” he said. “The worst place to be is on the pole and, undoubtedly, I’m going to get drafted by the cars behind me that are starting on the medium. That is the better tire.”
