Russian Grand Prix Qualifying Results

Russian Grand Prix Qualifying saw Hamilton again on top but in much different circumstances while mistakes dominated the session.

Hamilton is on pole in a weekend where it’s crucial in his hunt to match Michael Schumacher’s total win count of 91 races. The glitch comes in the form of a Q2 shunt at the hands of Sebastian Vettel that caught much of the grid out including his teammate in Charles Leclerc. The incident red flagged the session which left Lewis who had his previous lap time deleted just one second and change to spare to get through to Q2. The issue is he must start the race the tyres he advances through to Q3 on which was the C5 soft boots. In typical fashion, the top shootout Q3 saw the top runners swap to red tipped rubber but fellow front row man Max Verstappen will be sporting yellows as well as teammate Valtteri Bottas in P3. 

The run into T2 is normally a slip stream nightmare (or heaven depending on your POV) for the pole starter- this was the source of the controversary Ferrari had in Sochi in 2019. You can bet your final dollar Bottas won’t be agreeing to anything with Hamilton. If they were on identical compounds, I would say it’s a done deal – Valtteri would be through by T2. But Hamilton will surely get off the line better than the yellow tyred chasers and I anticipate him being able to hold off Max but not Valtteri. Similar to Vettel last year, the double slip stream will be impossible barring a holy start from Hamilton to keep the car in the same tech at bay despite the harder step rubber.

Ricciardo was optimistic about his grid placement eager to get the jump on the odd side of the track as his P5 performance in Saturday’s qualifying was mighty impressive. Perez would sneak his car in the P4 slot despite missing out the scheduled upgrades thanks to Stroll’s Mugello shunt tying up the resources. Despite this Checo strung together solid sectors while his teammate flailed his way to P13. 

Sainz continues to improve his form and pace over the weekend – he just needs it to link up on race day while doing his best to avoid bad luck – catch 22, I know. He’ll start next to Ricciardo on the 4th row in P8.

Esteban Ocon may surprise some people at this grand prix and I expect him to challenge for some points on merit. Lando Norris will have to run a smart race to pick some scraps as Charles Leclerc will be eager to spoil the fun just outside the top 10 with choice of tyres AND aero upgrades. Don’t be surprised if he muscles his way into scoring position.

RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX STARTING GRID

Below you can find the starting grid with higher positions on the left and decsending by row for just the top 10. Following the starting grid represented by image, you can access the results table for all session details and data summary of Saturday’s Russian Grand Prix Qualifying Session. 

Russian Grand Prix Outlook

The major split at The Russian Grand Prix is two fold:

1. Verstappen and Bottas both are likely to start on C4 medium compounds to Hamilton’s C5 red boots.

2. Bottas is not going to be keen on team orders as he was in 2018. Given they will be on vastly different programs due to tyre selections, there will be some tough choices ahead for Mercedes and Toto Wolff. But none more simple for both Hamilton and Bottas from their perspectives.

The increased loads will make the election of a step softer compound at the 2020 Russian Grand Prix a nice treat for race fans. The midfield cars will feel the majority of the pain here but it won’t just be limited to them. As the season progresses, I anticipate the battle in the midfield to intensify and more habitual contact – tomorrow will be no different.

The drag race to the start won’t be the only one to fix your eyes to. Watch the Turn 2 entry between Ricciardo and Checo as well as Ocon and Norris. Lando has a habit of avoiding early contact thus far but Carlos does not. Daniel and Carlos will likely be smart enough to know there’s a heap of points available to both of them if they can get back Checo while hoping Albon doesn’t find confidence in his Red Bull.

Check out the Official Russian Grand Prix predictions report here.

And if you haven’t already, click the button above to make your predictions for Sochi and play along with the community.

Keep up to date on The Russian Grand Prix at the Cranky Yankee Motorsport News Hub for all your Formula 1 coverage.