F1 - Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg Claim Constructors Championship For Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton continued his domination of the inaugural Russian Grand Prix to claim the 38th pole position of his Formula One career, but only after a major error from Valtteri Bottas. After finishing comfortably quickest in the second and third practice runs around F1’s newest venue, the Sochi Autodrom, Hamilton’s Mercedes topped the timesheet in all three qualifying sessions and will lead away the field on Sunday.
There was a scare for Hamilton, though, with Williams’ Bottas fastest in the first two sectors of the track on a final flying lap, only to make errors over the final third to finish behind the Englishman and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Following his seventh pole of the season and the 15th in 16 races for Mercedes, Hamilton said: “Pole is always a great place to start. That’s thanks again to the amazing job done by the team, who have been constantly improving and moving forwards, so thanks to them we have been able to be on the front row quite often.

“It wasn’t the easiest of qualifyings, but I’ve been able to hook the car up this weekend and I’m really grateful I’ve the first pole at this track.” It was a case of the one that got away for Bottas, who said: “Maybe I got too much out of the tyres at the start of the lap, so the end was a bit more tricky. I risked it a bit too much in the last two corners, went a bit wide in the last one, and that was it. “I’m upset. It’s not nice to make a mistake which I think cost me one place maximum.”

The Finn was forgiven, however, by Williams’ deputy team principal, Claire Williams. “He was amazing today,” said Williams. “He’s had a glint in his eye all weekend, and he has clearly got to grips with this track quite quickly. “He just lost it going into the final corner, but we don’t mind. We like a trier at Williams.”

After winning the last three races to open up a 10-point lead over Rosberg, Hamilton now starts as favourite to make it four in a row for the second time this season, following his successive victories in Malaysia, Bahrain, China and Spain earlier this year. Showing a return to form, Jenson Button will start fourth in his McLaren, the veteran Briton’s second best grid slot of the campaign. Daniil Kvyat, the young Russian, secured the best position of his fledgling career with fifth in his Toro Rosso.

In the second McLaren, Kevin Magnussen qualified sixth, but a five-place penalty for a gearbox change means he will drop to 11th. That promotes Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne, and Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull.

Vettel, who will leave Red Bull for Ferrari at the season’s end, missed out on the top 10 shootout after struggling with rear grip on his car. Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg was 12th, but also received a five-place penalty for a gearbox change and will drop to 17th.

That elevates his team-mate Sergio Pérez, and the Mexican will be followed by the Saubers of Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrian Sutil, along with Lotus’s Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson in his Caterham. Ericsson initially dropped out at the end of Q1, finishing ahead of a disgruntled Felipe Massa, whose Williams encountered a fuel-pressure issue that robbed him of speed.

With Bottas starting third, it underlined to Massa just what his car was capable of, but the Brazilian will now have to fight his way through from 18th.

Kamui Kobayashi in his Caterham will start 19th, while Pastor Maldonado, who qualified in 20th, will drop to the back behind Marussia’s Max Chilton.

Maldonado collected a 10-place penalty in Japan for a sixth change of his Lotus’s internal combustion engine, but served only five of those positions, resulting in a carry-over for this race.

The Venezuelan will now line up 21st, with Marussia running only one car this weekend out of respect for Jules Bianchi, who is fighting for his life following a crash into a recovery vehicle during the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Following Hamilton’s successful drive, the Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff said: “We were lucky [Bottas] made a mistake, maybe he just overdrove the car.”

The flowing nature of the track, which winds its way through the Olympic park that was at the heart of the Winter Games earlier this year, means Hamilton is expecting an entertaining race.

“I really think the race is going to be good to watch, with long straights and being able to follow,” he said. “It could be one of the better races for a long time.”