McLaren’s fortunes continue to get better as Lando Norris secured his first pole position in Formula 1 after a manic final session which saw drivers switch to the soft tyres with minutes remaining after the intermediates were the preferred choice for the majority of the session.
In what became a chaotic Q3 session, Norris managed to set a time of 1:41.993s which enabled the Brit to achieve his first pole position by half a second. All drivers had to take two to three laps to warm their soft tyres up to a sufficient temperature to push for a lap, with the last runners improving the most.
For a moment, it looked like the gamble would not pay off but the final laps changed everything.
Unfortunately for Norris however, Russia is potentially the worst place to start the race from pole as the long run to turn two leaves them extremely vulnerable.
Norris is joined on the front row by the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz who also secured his best grid position in Formula 1. Sainz improved to provisional pole after picking up time in the middle and final sector, before being demoted a place by his former teammate.
The first runner to try the soft tyres was William’s George Russell who had a tough time keeping his machine facing the correct way for the first lap out. Setting the example for everyone else, Russell kept at it before ultimately slotting his name into the third slot on the grid – his second top three start this season.
All three drivers performed to the best of their abilities in tricky conditions, whilst the more experienced drivers made the mistakes.
It feels as if we have travelled back two or three era’s with a McLaren, Ferrari and Williams leading from the front.
Lewis Hamilton looked to have pole position under his control in the wet conditions. With multiple drivers switching compounds, Mercedes had to follow suit however Hamilton made a poor error as he made contact with the pit wall on his return, damaging his front wing and costing him crucial time to warm the soft tyres up. Adding insult to injury, Hamilton’s Mercedes had to be rolled forward to make room for Valtteri Bottas who was queued behind – also losing time.
Hamilton had little time to get his tyres up to the needed temperature, and was unable to maintain his position. Russell’s time would knock Hamilton down to fourth, as the British man would suffer a spin on his final lap – bringing a disappointing end to his qualifying. Things did not improve for Bottas who also struggled to improve his time to a sufficient standard and slipped down the order to seventh on the grid.
Not what Mercedes had in mind. Yet, Hamilton will still be provided a very strong slipstream on the run to turn two. Sainz will be feeling a tad uneasy with three Mercedes powered cars around him..
In-between the two Mercedes cars see’s Daniel Ricciardo who was able to make it two McLaren cars in the top five on the grid – two seconds away from his teammate’s strong lap. Just a tenth behind is Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who managed to put half a second between himself and Bottas.
Alonso, however, remains realistic in his chances and expects to see Max Verstappen sail past at some point.
Normally, Lance Stroll is a strong runner in the wet conditions. Despite running well, Stroll was unable to adapt to the drying conditions as well as his rivals but was still able to place his Aston Martin in eighth.
Now, on a weekend where Sergio Perez needed to perform for Red Bull – it has not gone quite to plan. Perez finds himself disappointingly down in ninth and 3.3s away from pole after severely struggling to get his car to find traction. The only one to fall behind Perez in the Q3 was Esteban Ocon who found himself struggling the most, lapping 3.8s away from pole in the drying conditions.
Q1 and Q2 saw no introduction of the slick tyres, but drivers were managing to find more and more grip in the wet conditions as the laps ticked on.
Sebastian Vettel was agonisingly close to securing a Q3 slot, but fell short by less then a half a tenth. But, the German was not the most frustrated driver to find himself eliminated from qualifying. Pierre Gasly has usually reserved his spot in Q3 for the majority of the 2021 season, but today was different.
Gasly found himself experiencing similar problems to his teammate throughout the session, before placing himself in 12th – failing to hide his emotions after the session. One frustrated Frenchman. The other AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda managed to get himself closer to his teammate then what he has been in previous rounds, losing out on 12th but just over a tenth.
Nicholas Latifi was close to matching his teammate, Russell, in the opening stages before progressing to Q2. However, Latifi did not set a lap in the second session and will line up in 14th.
On his return after illness, Kimi Raikkonen led for the Alfa Romeo team but still found himself eliminated in Q1. However, the Finn will take advantages of others misfortunes and will start the race from the 15th slot, with Haas Mick Schumacher putting in a strong performance by setting a time just three tenths away from Raikkonen.
Antonio Giovinazzi and Nikita Mazepin had a day to forget. Giovinazzi found himself in 18th and 1.5s away from his teammate and behind a Haas. But it was worse for Mazepin, as the home Russian set his best time a whooping 7.7s away from the leading time in Q1, and a shameful four seconds behind his own teammate. But, he is not last…technically.
Charles Leclerc went through to Q2 but would leave it as that after taking a fourth engine meaning he will take a grid penalty, joining Verstappen. Unlike Leclerc, Verstappen opted against doing any laps as he prepares to start from the very back of the field. Expected to make his way through, Verstappen and Leclerc will be looking to work together to carve their way up the order in the opening laps.
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