SOCHI, Russia, CMC – Mercedes secured the top two spots for today’s Russian Grand Prix, with Valterri Bottas edging teammate Lewis Hamilton to take pole position.
Bottas edged Hamilton by 0.145 seconds after the world champion made mistakes in the middle sector on both his laps in the final top 10 shootout.
Hamilton’s title rival Sebastian Vettel will start third but the Ferrari was 0.556 seconds off the pace.
The result was only Bottas’ second pole of the season.
“For sure it feels good. It has been a long time [since Austria this year]. I knew this had been a good track for me and I managed to get some good laps together in qualifying. The car felt really good,” Bottas said.
Hamilton, 33, the four-time world champions whose paternal grandparents are from Grenada, admitted that his teammate had been the better driver on the day.
“Big congratulations to Valtteri. He has been really quick all weekend. My laps were not special at all, but you can’t always get it right.
The team are doing an amazing job and I’m really happy with a one-two.
“My Q2 run two lap was really good. That was a premature pole lap basically – that would have been pole if I had used it for the end one, but it is what it is and I will still be pushing hard tomorrow,” Hamilton said.
