SOCHI, Russia -- Sebastian Vettel claimed Ferrari's first pole position since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix as Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid ahead of Mercedes.
After seeing Ferrari dominate all three practice sessions it looked like Mercedes' qualifying engine mode would tip the scales back in the world champions' favour, with Valtteri Bottas leading Q1 and Q2 by 0.4s on both occasions. However, Mercedes' pace seemed to disappear in the top-ten shootout as Kimi Raikkonen claimed provisional pole ahead of Bottas. In the final runs, it was Raikkonen leading Bottas, Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, but Vettel was the only man to improve on his final run, pipping his teammate by 0.059s to take pole position.
It is Ferrari's first front row lock out since 2008 and puts the Italian team, whose long run pace has looked impressive all weekend, in a fantastic position for a grand prix many had expected Mercedes to be favourites in the cooler temperatures. For Mercedes, it marked a rare session with neither car on the front row -- a streak also stretching back to 2015 in Singapore -- as Bottas fell an agonising 0.095s of taking back-to-back pole positions.
Lewis Hamilton's puzzling weekend continued, with the three-time world champion finishing a huge 0.5s off the lead trio. Hamilton has struggled to get the most from his ultra-soft tyres all weekend and lost most of his time in the final sector, but it still looked like a scruffy lap. The result of qualifying leaves Mercedes with a big task ahead if it wants to turn the tables on a Ferrari team which is increasingly looking like the quickest race car on the current grid.
Behind the lead pair of teams, Daniel Ricciardo finished a massive 1.7s behind. Felipe Massa split the Red Bull drivers by claiming sixth position. Nico Hulkenberg continued his highly impressive Saturday form for Renault by taking eighth position on an afternoon which saw Renault teammate Jolyon Palmer drop out in Q1. Force India pair Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten to continue the team's encouraging pace through the weekend.
Q2
There was an entertaining finish to the second session, which saw the first four eliminated cars split by just 0.069s. Carlos Sainz dropped out in 11th, marginally ahead of Lance Stroll, who appeared to make an error through the middle sector -- despite extensive running on the ultra-soft tyre in FP3, the Canadian rookie was almost a second off teammate Felipe Massa, who finished best of the rest in the session. Daniil Kvyat was disappointed with 13th -- giving the FOM world feed a censored message when told he was just 0.002s behind Stroll -- ahead of Kevin Magnussen's Haas in 14th. That order will be reshuffled once Sainz's penalty for hitting Stroll in Bahrain is factored in, with the Toro Rosso driver set to drop three places.
Finishing 15th was Fernando Alonso, who had already managed to drag the underpowered McLaren-Honda through to the middle session. On crossing the line at the end of the session, Alonso simply said "unbelievable" over the radio -- his prospects do not look any better for Sunday, with McLaren still suffering down Sochi's long straights.
Q1
Q1 finished with doubled-waved yellows after Palmer's Renault ended up in the wall at Turn 4. The Renault driver, on a final flying lap to escape the drop zone, clobbered the kerb on the inside of the corner and spun out into the fence, meaning he failed to improve on 16th. The British driver had a chassis change overnight and completed just 4 laps in FP3 but his final time was nearly a whole second behind Renault teammate Hulkenberg, who eased through the session in seventh.
Stoffel Vandoorne once again dropped out of Q1, with the 0.7s separating him from teammate Fernando Alonso also the difference between elimination and a place in the next session. Vandoorne will drop to the back of the grid in time for the race when he serves his 15-place penalty for an engine change Honda made yesterday. Pascal Wehrlein also spun out on his final flying attempt, meaning he had to settle for 18th, 0.3s quicker than Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson.
Romain Grosjean, who has struggled to tame his Haas VF-17 all weekend, was an unlucky victim of the double-waved yellows in the final sectors, as it prevented him from advancing into Q2 as he was rooted to the bottom of the timing screen.