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Lando Norris set an impressive lap at the end of Q3 to claim his first-ever F1 pole position at the Sochi Autodrom.
The McLaren man will be joined on the front row by his ex-McLaren teammate Carlos Sainz with Williams’ George Russell behind him his fellow compatriot in third.
Q1
The AlphaTauri’s of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda came out onto the track first as the rest of the grid were out on the soggy Sochi Autodrom moments later.
Gasly was the first driver over the line as he set a 1:51.519, over three seconds quicker than his teammate Tsunoda.
With a new engine, Charles Leclerc was the first driver to set a lap in the 1:50’s as the Ferrari went to the top of the timing charts. However, that didn’t last for long as Gasly went quickest once more with a 1:49.218.
Antonio Giovinazzi spun on the exit of turn 16 as his Alfa Romeo car went sideways. Leclerc was close to colliding with the Italian but dodged him in the nick of time as the duo continued to circulate the track.
As the track started to dry up, quicker times were being set with the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas moving up to first and second.
With five minutes to go, the Red Bull of Sergio Perez went quickest and jumped ahead of the Mercedes pair as the drivers’ lap times continued to improve.
At the end of the session, Hamilton and Bottas returned back to the top as they finished Q1 in first and second with Perez in third.
The drivers eliminated were: Kimi Raikkonen, Mick Schumacher, Antonio Giovinazzi, Nikita Mazepin and Max Verstappen.
Q2
Gasly and Tsunoda were the first onto the track once more as the AlphaTauri duo looked to secure their spots in Q3.
The Frenchman set the first lap with a 1:46.671 as his teammate went two seconds slower which put him in second for the time being.
Lando Norris outpaced Gasly by four-tenths to move up to first but he was quickly displaced by Hamilton. The seven-time world champion’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, set a lap time in the 1:45’s to move to the top and continue his strong qualifying.
With five minutes to go, Hamilton went a tenth quicker than his Mercedes teammate as he jumped back to first ahead of Bottas in second and Norris in third.
Hamilton set another quick lap to extend his advantage out in front with George Russell moving inside the top 10 to secure his place in Q3.
The drivers eliminated were: Sebastian Vettel, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Nicholas Latifi and Charles Leclerc.
Q3
The Mercedes duo of Bottas and Hamilton were out on the track first as the pole position shootout got underway.
Bottas set the first lap of the session with a 1:44.710 with Hamilton claiming provisional pole moments later as he went almost seven-tenths quicker than his teammate.
Norris split the two Mercedes as he moved into second with Alonso setting a time that moved him up to fourth.
Russell was the first driver to make the gamble for slick tyres as the rest of the top 10 joined him moments later.
On his way into the pit lane, Hamilton hit the wall and sustained damage to the front wing as his Mercedes crew had to make a rapid change.
The session went down to the wire as the drivers improved on the soft. Carlos Sainz went quickest but that didn’t last long as Norris secured pole position.
Russell moved up to third with Hamilton in fourth, Daniel Ricciardo in fifth, Fernando Alonso in sixth, Valtteri Bottas in seventh, Lance Stroll in eighth, Sergio Perez in ninth and Esteban Ocon in 10th.
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