Sparks fly at Sochi

Lewis Hamilton , got his 8th pole of the 2020 F1 season at the Russian grand Prix , after nearly missing out in Q2.  He has a big task ahead of him tomorrow, as he would try to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 wins. However he would also be facing an investigation for running wide at turn two.

After 2 strong practice sessions and an equally strong Q1, Hamilton’s team-mate Bottas qualified P3. The Finnish racer had his  lap time deleted for crossing the track limits in Q3, the Silver arrows were denied a front row lockout by Red-Bull’s Max Verstappen who was behind Hamilton by five hundred’s of a second. His teammate Alex Albon who was on the podium in Mugello qualified tenth. It would be interesting to see Verstappen to duel with the two Silver arrows tomorrow.

Following Bottas, Racing Point’s Sergio Perez qualified 4th fastest, this being despite his team mate Lance Stroll getting all the new upgrades . Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth , after strong performances in the practice sessions as well in Q2. He was followed by the Mclaren of Carlos Sainz in sixth and his own teammate Esteban Ocon in seventh. Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly qualifying respectively in eighth and ninth.

Ferrari continues to struggle

Similar to their previous week’s performance Ferrari once again was seen struggling , with four time World Champion Sebastian Vettel crashing in Q2 and red flagging the session , his teammate Charles Leclerc just missed out the top ten finishing eleventh, he was followed by Daniil Kvyat taking 12th for AlphaTauri and Lance Stroll in 13th. George Russell continued his record of out qualifying his team mate after qualifying 14th, with Vettel in 15th.

Russell’s last lap improvement knocked out Romain Grosjean to 16th, being followed by Antonio Giovinazzi in 17th. The grid was finished by Kimi Raikkonen who will start last tomorrow, as he would be looking forward to equal Rubens Barrichello’s record for most F1 starts.

The Qualifying results are as follows :

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Max Verstappen
3. Valtteri Bottas
4. Sergio Perez
5. Daniel Ricciardo
6. Carlos Sainz Jr.
7. Esteban Ocon
8. Lando Norris
9. Pierre Gasly
10. Alexander Albon
11. Charles Leclerc
12. Daniil Kvyat
13. Lance Stroll
14. George Russell
15. Sebastian Vettel
16. Romain Grosjean
17. Antonio Giovinazzi
18. Kevin Magnussen
19. Nicholas Latifi
20. Kimi Raikkonen

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