• Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen second and third
Perhaps it was inevitable that Lewis Hamilton would finally prove fallible at some point this season and in qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix the very tiniest chink in his armour was revealed. In the grand scheme of the championship battle, though, he goes into the race barely inconvenienced. He was second to the pole position of his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, while, crucially, his title rival Sebastian Vettel was off the pace in third.
Bottas’s two hot runs in Q3 to claim pole were superlative. The Sochi Autodrom suits his driving style, especially on maximising the exit from the medium-speed corners that dominate here. He scored his debut F1 win last season in Russia, where he has never been out-qualified by a teammate.
Written by Giles Richards
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/29/valtteri-bottas-pole-russian-gp-lewis-hamilton under the title “Valtteri Bottas takes pole for Russian GP after Lewis Hamilton mistake”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
