Hamilton secures pole for Russian GP

F1 Grand Prix, GP Russia, Sochi International Street Circuit

Lewis Hamilton secured his seventh pole position of the season, outperforming his team mate Nico Rosberg and Williams' Valtteri Bottas, even though the latter came very close to a better grid slot.

Qualifying kicked off under sunny skies and ambient temperatures at around 20°C. Nothing to worry about there, but the ever improving surface of a new track was set to be the major point of focus as teams were unable to comfortably predict the cut-off time for Q2. Proof of the different expectations were the different tyres being used on the first runs. McLaren notable went out on the medium while Hamilton and most others opted for the soft immediately.

5 minutes into the session, Maldonado already coasted back to the pits with the engine switched off. The Lotus driver came in similarly during FP3, following which the team started changing the battery pack on the E22.

By the halfway mark, everybody was out on track to complete more laps on the same tyres, knowing they take a while to get into the ideal operating window. Rosberg and Hamilton comfortably led the pack, more than a second ahead of closest competitor Fernando Alonso.

Towards the end of Q1, it became apparent that Massa was in trouble, failing to set competitive top speeds. An obvious engine problem made it difficult for him to get through, and with the team telling him to go on due to not having enough time to look into it, Massa lapped until the closing seconds, only to find out he got 18th, even behind Caterham's Marcus Ericsson. Behind him are Kobayashi, Maldonado and Chilton.

In Q2, Perez and Hulkenberg were the first men out, but it was Button who set the first competitive time, only to see Magnussen and Bottas improve on him, until of course the Mercedes works cars came to the track and shot to the top of the timesheet once again.

Ferrari were in trouble towards the end, but both drivers narrowly managed to qualify for the top 10, along with both Toro Rosso drivers, Ricciardo, the McLaren's, Bottas and the two Mercedes. Eliminated were Vettel, Hulkenberg, Perez, Gutierrez, Sutil, Grosjean.

The final session proved sensational, especially thanks to Valtteri Bottas who came so close to pole position. Two blistering sectors though were followed by some scrappy corners, losing out in the final corner. The Finn however still qualified third, a solid position behind the two Mercedes AMG cars.

Button became an excellent fourth, ahead of home driver Kvyat and followed by Magnussen.