Nico Rosberg will start on pole position for the Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom after Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was unable to take part in qualifying due to an engine problem.
Mercedes announced going into Q3 that Hamilton was unable to take part due to another technical glitch, the same which he suffered in China last time out.
Sebastian Vettel qualified second but will start five places lower due to a gearbox penalty. Valtteri Bottas qualified third ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and teammate Felipe Massa.
Bottas will start on the front row alongside Rosberg thanks to Vettel’s five-place grid penalty.
Daniel Ricciardo is ahead of Sergio Perez in sixth and seventh respectively. Daniil Kvyat, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton round out the top 10.
The first part of qualifying was fairly uneventful with the usual suspects failing to progress into Q2.
Both Renault drivers failed to progress with Kevin Magnussen ahead of Jolyon Palmer. Felipe Nasr will be encouraged with 19th on the grid, half a second clear of teammate Marcus Ericsson. Pascal Wehrlein is 20th ahead of Manor teammate Rio Haryanto. Ericsson will start last.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton will have to see the stewards after failing to go around the orange bollard placed at Turn 2.
The second segment of qualifying was another session dominated by Mercedes. Rosberg set the benchmark, 0.4s clear of teammate Hamilton. The two Ferraris progressed in third and fourth whilst Massa and Bottas left it late to progress. Verstappen and Perez progressed whilst their two teammates both were knocked out. Both Red Bulls made it into the top 10 shootout.
Carlos Sainz, Jenson Button, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez also failed to progress from Q2.
With Hamilton’s absence in Q3, Rosberg was assured of another pole position if he replicated his Q2 lap time.
After the initial runs were completed, Rosberg led Vettel, Bottas, Raikkonen and Massa. The top five remained the same after the quintet failed to improve on their second runs.
