Sebastian Vettel lowered the Sochi track record again as Ferrari stayed ahead of Mercedes in final practice.
It was a one-two for the red cars as Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in second place, three-tenths of a second behind his team mate.
Mercedes narrowed the gap compared to yesterday. Valtteri Bottas was only a few hundredths slower than Raikkonen, while a scruffy final sector for Hamilton on one lap and traffic on another confined him to fourth place.
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull fourth but was almost a second and a half slower than Vettel. The Red Bulls also appear to have competition from Williams, as Felipe Massa separated their two cars.
There was a brief scare for Daniel Ricciardo when his car stopped five minutes before the chequered flag. He was able to re-fire his engine using the MGU-K and return to the pits.
Nico Hulkenberg’s final lap moved his Renault up to seventh at Ricciardo’s expense. Team mate Jolyon Palmer was unable to set a time due to technical trouble. Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Toro Rosso and Kevin Magnussen’s Haas completed the top ten.
Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’34.001 | 17 | |
2 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’34.338 | 0.337 | 16 |
3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’34.364 | 0.363 | 20 |
4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’34.542 | 0.541 | 19 |
5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’35.452 | 1.451 | 21 |
6 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’35.471 | 1.470 | 17 |
7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’35.662 | 1.661 | 15 |
8 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’35.830 | 1.829 | 24 |
9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’36.164 | 2.163 | 20 |
10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’36.556 | 2.555 | 19 |
11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’36.649 | 2.648 | 19 |
12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’36.676 | 2.675 | 22 |
13 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’36.846 | 2.845 | 18 |
14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’36.869 | 2.868 | 12 |
15 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’36.962 | 2.961 | 21 |
16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’37.164 | 3.163 | 20 |
17 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’37.182 | 3.181 | 15 |
18 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’37.503 | 3.502 | 21 |
19 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’37.657 | 3.656 | 17 |
20 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 4 |
Third practice visual gaps
Sebastian Vettel – 1’34.001
+0.337 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’34.338
+0.363 Valtteri Bottas – 1’34.364
+0.541 Lewis Hamilton – 1’34.542
+1.451 Max Verstappen – 1’35.452
+1.470 Felipe Massa – 1’35.471
+1.661 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’35.662
+1.829 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’35.830
+2.163 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’36.164
+2.555 Kevin Magnussen – 1’36.556
+2.648 Lance Stroll – 1’36.649
+2.675 Esteban Ocon – 1’36.676
+2.845 Daniil Kvyat – 1’36.846
+2.868 Fernando Alonso – 1’36.869
+2.961 Sergio Perez – 1’36.962
+3.163 Romain Grosjean – 1’37.164
+3.181 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’37.182
+3.502 Marcus Ericsson – 1’37.503
+3.656 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’37.657
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Combined practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’37.230 | 1’34.120 | 1’34.001 | -0.119 | 72 |
2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’36.074 | 1’34.383 | 1’34.338 | -0.045 | 71 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’36.119 | 1’34.790 | 1’34.364 | -0.426 | 80 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’36.681 | 1’34.829 | 1’34.542 | -0.287 | 76 |
5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’37.174 | 1’35.540 | 1’35.452 | -0.088 | 55 |
6 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.900 | 1’36.261 | 1’35.471 | -0.79 | 85 |
7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’36.329 | 1’35.662 | -0.667 | 53 | |
8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’37.290 | 1’35.910 | 1’35.830 | -0.08 | 69 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’38.976 | 1’37.083 | 1’36.164 | -0.919 | 73 |
10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’38.747 | 1’36.506 | 1’36.556 | +0.05 | 73 |
11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.457 | 1’36.600 | 1’36.962 | +0.362 | 88 |
12 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.944 | 1’37.747 | 1’36.649 | -1.098 | 85 |
13 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’38.065 | 1’36.654 | 1’36.676 | +0.022 | 89 |
14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’38.813 | 1’36.765 | 1’36.869 | +0.104 | 55 |
15 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’39.158 | 1’36.771 | 42 | ||
16 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’38.496 | 1’37.300 | 1’36.846 | -0.454 | 70 |
17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’39.533 | 1’37.039 | 1’37.164 | +0.125 | 68 |
18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’39.541 | 1’37.125 | 1’37.182 | +0.057 | 59 |
19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’39.731 | 1’37.441 | 1’37.657 | +0.216 | 68 |
20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.079 | 1’37.819 | 1’37.503 | -0.316 | 70 |
Combined practice times by tyre
Use column headings to sort.
Driver | Team | Ultra-soft best | Super-soft best | Soft best |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’34.542 | 1’35.710 | 1’39.252 |
Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’34.364 | 1’36.119 | 1’39.589 |
Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’35.830 | 1’36.224 | 1’38.381 |
Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’35.452 | 1’37.007 | 1’38.872 |
Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’34.001 | 1’36.524 | 1’37.726 |
Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’34.338 | 1’35.980 | 1’37.754 |
Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’36.600 | 1’37.174 | 1’38.388 |
Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1’36.654 | 1’37.541 | 1’38.997 |
Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’35.471 | 1’36.837 | 1’38.645 |
Lance Stroll | Williams | 1’36.649 | 1’37.861 | 1’40.034 |
Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’36.765 | 1’37.704 | 1’40.054 |
Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1’37.125 | 1’37.945 | 1’40.774 |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 1’36.164 | 1’37.269 | 1’38.214 |
Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’36.846 | 1’37.437 | 1’39.956 |
Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1’37.039 | 1’37.566 | 1’41.166 |
Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1’36.506 | 1’37.776 | 1’40.155 |
Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’35.662 | 1’37.355 | None |
Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’36.771 | 1’38.521 | 1’40.052 |
Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’37.503 | 1’38.633 | 1’41.939 |
Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1’37.441 | 1’38.739 | 1’40.921 |
Sergey Sirotkin | Renault | None | None | 4’42.096 |
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2017 Russian Grand Prix
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luigismen (@luigismen)
29th April 2017, 10:55
Expect a Mercedes pole.
The fact that Bottas is equally matched with Kimi and Lewis went out on his hot lap makes me think that Mercedes can still grab pole here.
HK (@me4me)
29th April 2017, 11:10
I agree. Mercedes can still overcome those 3 tenths with the power advantage they hold in qualifying. Things will be close.
paul smith
29th April 2017, 11:33
only because Mercedes use a special qualy engine mode, come the race and Ferrari will be far to fast in normal race conditions, its not where you start a race its where you finish
liongalahad (@liongalahad)
29th April 2017, 11:36
Except this year is overtaking is so hard that pole has much more significance than the past few years.
Gabriel (@rethla)
29th April 2017, 12:04
Exept this year there are cars on the track with the performance to overtake a Mercedes car.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
29th April 2017, 12:09
Maybe, but Mercedes will likely find a way to lose the race through strategy.
Joao (@johnmilk)
29th April 2017, 12:36
And yet they started 3 on pole amd lost 2
ACx
29th April 2017, 12:02
I think the gap is too big. It will be closer, but I think Vettel will get pole.
sumedh
29th April 2017, 10:57
Ferrari are mighty here. I don’t think they have been this strong since the start of 2013 season. That was also a time where you felt they could win every weekend, like it does now!
PaulK (@paulk)
29th April 2017, 11:04
Let’s just hope we don’t have a repeat of 2013’s second half of the season with one driver winning 9 races in a row.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
29th April 2017, 11:25
In 2013 Ferrari’s only advantage was tyre management, Fernando won the Chinese GP from 3rd place and the Spanish GP from 5th place. The F2013 wasn’t the best car pace-wise, the W04 and especially the RB9 were the fastest cars but they were not able to deploy all the downforce they generate on track due to the tyres. Once Pirelli switched from steel to Kevlar belts tyres in the Nurburgring, it was case closed…
Understeer (@abdelilah)
29th April 2017, 11:53
I doubt Mercedes will get pole this time, none of their drivers appeared at ease in their qualification runs, Lewis even got a slide, plus Sochi is a very low grip tarmac which suit more the better Ferrari chassis than the Mercedes.