Nico Rosberg stormed to his 24th F1 pole position after Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton suffered another engine issue at the end of Q2 which meant he could not take part in Q3.
Sebastian Vettel qualified second but will start seventh after picking up a five-place grid penalty due to a gearbox change. Valtteri Bottas was an impressive third ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Williams teammate Felipe Massa.
Daniel Ricciardo was sixth fastest ahead of Sergio Perez and home-hero Daniil Kvyat.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top 10 positions.
Here’s a selection of the best images from qualifying at the Sochi Autodrom
