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Formula 1 Russian GP
Grand Prix qualifying results: Norris takes Sochi F1 pole
McLaren's Lando Norris took pole position for the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi, the 15th round of the 2021 F1 World Championship, after a dramatic wet but drying qualifying session.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Sep 25, 2021, 3:31 PM
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Norris will start ahead of Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and George Russell (Williams) after the one-hour qualifying session, which came down to a final-lap shootout for cars on slick tyres as the track dried enough to allow the dry rubber to be faster.
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton will start fourth, but his slick-tyre run was ruined when he hit the wall entering the pits.
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Russian Grand Prix qualifying results: Norris on pole from Sainz
Cla Driver Time Gap km/h 1 Lando Norris
1'41.993 206.414 2 Carlos Sainz Jr.
1'42.510 0.517 205.373 3 George Russell
1'42.983 0.990 204.429 4 Lewis Hamilton
1'44.050 2.057 202.333 5 Daniel Ricciardo
1'44.156 2.163 202.127 6 Fernando Alonso
1'44.204 2.211 202.034 7 Valtteri Bottas
1'44.710 2.717 201.058 8 Lance Stroll
1'44.956 2.963 200.586 9 Sergio Perez
1'45.337 3.344 199.861 10 Esteban Ocon
1'45.865 3.872 198.864 11 Sebastian Vettel
1'46.573 4.580 197.543 12 Pierre Gasly
1'46.641 4.648 197.417 13 Yuki Tsunoda
1'46.751 4.758 197.214 14 Kimi Raikkonen
1'49.586 7.593 192.112 15 Mick Schumacher
1'49.830 7.837 191.685 16 Antonio Giovinazzi
1'51.023 9.030 189.625 17 Nikita Mazepin
1'53.764 11.771 185.056 18 Charles Leclerc
19 Max Verstappen
20 Nicholas Latifi
View full results
What happened in Q1?
Despite fears that qualifying would be washed out after heavy rain in Sochi, the session started on time as planned. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who will start the race from the rear of the grid after an engine change, set the early pace at 1m50.292s on intermediate tyres. Moments later he was almost taken out by the spinning Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi.
The Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton took over at the top, before Red Bull’s Sergio Perez took P1 with a laptime of 1m46.455s. Bottas regained top spot with 1m46.396s, before Hamilton beat everyone with 1m45.992s.
Falling at the first hurdle were Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, Mick Schumacher (Haas), Giovinazzi (Alfa), Nikita Mazepin (Haas) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) who, like Leclerc, will start from the back of the grid after changing his power unit. He did take to the track in qualifying but didn’t set a laptime.
Russian Grand Prix Q1 results: Hamilton fastest from Bottas
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h 1 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 10 1'45.992 198.626 2 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 9 1'46.396 0.404 0.404 197.872 3 Sergio Perez
Red Bull 9 1'46.455 0.463 0.059 197.762 4 Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 10 1'47.205 1.213 0.750 196.378 5 Lando Norris
McLaren 9 1'47.238 1.246 0.033 196.318 6 Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 9 1'47.828 1.836 0.590 195.244 7 Fernando Alonso
Alpine 10 1'47.877 1.885 0.049 195.155 8 Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 10 1'47.924 1.932 0.047 195.070 9 Esteban Ocon
Alpine 10 1'48.099 2.107 0.175 194.754 10 Nicholas Latifi
Williams 10 1'48.252 2.260 0.153 194.479 11 George Russell
Williams 10 1'48.303 2.311 0.051 194.387 12 Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 9 1'48.322 2.330 0.019 194.353 13 Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 8 1'48.345 2.353 0.023 194.312 14 Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 10 1'48.470 2.478 0.125 194.088 15 Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 11 1'48.854 2.862 0.384 193.404 16 Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 10 1'49.586 3.594 0.732 192.112 17 Mick Schumacher
Haas 10 1'49.830 3.838 0.244 191.685 18 Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 9 1'51.023 5.031 1.193 189.625 19 Nikita Mazepin
Haas 10 1'53.764 7.772 2.741 185.056 20 Max Verstappen
Red Bull 2 View full results
What happened in Q2?
In Q2 the track was drying, with Hamilton setting the early pace on 1m46.096s before Bottas beat it with 1m45.506s and then improved by a further tenth of a second on his next tour. Hamilton eventually worked down to 1m45.129s on his final lap to keep P1.
Knocked out at this point were Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin, by five hundredths of a second), the AlphaTauris of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, along with Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and Leclerc, both of whom didn’t set a laptime due to grid penalties for power unit changes.
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Russian Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest from Bottas
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h 1 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 8 1'45.129 200.256 2 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 8 1'45.306 0.177 0.177 199.920 3 Fernando Alonso
Alpine 8 1'45.514 0.385 0.208 199.526 4 Lando Norris
McLaren 7 1'45.827 0.698 0.313 198.935 5 Sergio Perez
Red Bull 8 1'45.834 0.705 0.007 198.922 6 Esteban Ocon
Alpine 8 1'46.070 0.941 0.236 198.480 7 Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 7 1'46.360 1.231 0.290 197.939 8 Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 8 1'46.361 1.232 0.001 197.937 9 George Russell
Williams 9 1'46.435 1.306 0.074 197.799 10 Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 8 1'46.521 1.392 0.086 197.639 11 Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 8 1'46.573 1.444 0.052 197.543 12 Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 9 1'46.641 1.512 0.068 197.417 13 Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 9 1'46.751 1.622 0.110 197.214 14 Nicholas Latifi
Williams 2 15 Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 0 View full results
What happened in Q3?
With the track now greasy rather than wet, cars ran initially on intermediates. Bottas set the early pace but Hamilton immediately beat him with 1m44.050s. Norris jumped up to P2 in his McLaren, 0.656s off the pace and ahead of Bottas by 0.006s.
Williams’s George Russell was the first to commit to slicks and was followed a lap later by all the others. Hamilton hit the wall as he pitted, breaking his front wing and delaying Bottas’s pitstop too.
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Sainz was the first to grab pole on slicks, with a lap of 1m42.510s, before Norris beat him with 1m41.993s. Russell jumped up to P3 and will start ahead of Hamilton, who spun on his only slicks lap and had to rely on his intermediate time.
Daniel Ricciardo will start fifth for McLaren, ahead of Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Bottas, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Perez and Esteban Ocon (Alpine).
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Russian Grand Prix Q3 results: Norris takes pole
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h 1 Lando Norris
McLaren 7 1'41.993 206.414 2 Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 7 1'42.510 0.517 0.517 205.373 3 George Russell
Williams 7 1'42.983 0.990 0.473 204.429 4 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 6 1'44.050 2.057 1.067 202.333 5 Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 7 1'44.156 2.163 0.106 202.127 6 Fernando Alonso
Alpine 7 1'44.204 2.211 0.048 202.034 7 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 7 1'44.710 2.717 0.506 201.058 8 Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 7 1'44.956 2.963 0.246 200.586 9 Sergio Perez
Red Bull 7 1'45.337 3.344 0.381 199.861 10 Esteban Ocon
Alpine 7 1'45.865 3.872 0.528 198.864 View full results
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