Valtteri Bottas had never been out qualified by his teammate at Sochi and the Finn ensured that that record was intact , as he dished out two supreme laps towards the end of Q3 to surprise Hamilton and all the onlookers.
Bottas was able to clinch pole position with a 1:31:387, out qualifying Hamilton for the first time this season.
Vettel and Raikkonen were way off pace all through qualifying, and while a lot of Ferrari fans had hoped that Ferrari were sandbagging during free practice, they were proven wrong, as Ferrari just couldn’t find the pace that they had had for the past few weeks.
With Mercedes starting on the front row, Ferrari would be hoping they could use the slipstream into Turn 1, and somehow get past the Mercedes duo.
But all said and done, Bottas would be extremely pleased with how things have panned out today and would be hoping he is allowed to clinch the win, if he is in a position to.
However, if Mercedes decide to use team orders towards the end of the race, we could see Hamilton build a massive lead on Vettel, and almost knock him out of the WDC race.
This is how Twitter reacted:
YES! 👊 #RussianGP 🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/91E0A2Gp7R
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 29, 2018
BOTTAS: "It was a nice lap, it feels good. It's only the first step in this weekend" #RussianGP 🇷🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/06UQjCAGIc
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 29, 2018
This GP is as boring as Bottas, fitting he’s on pole 🙊🤣
— Aya (@Aya_Shaker) September 29, 2018
Bottas for the title.
— Grand Prix Diary (@GrandPrixDiary) September 29, 2018
Bottas' fightback to a very distant third in the championship begins today.
— Pablo Elizalde (@EliGP) September 29, 2018
If you think about it, 2nd row is more ideal than 1st row. Mega slipstream into turn 1. Bottas did it last year, maybe Seb and Kimi can do the same
— Ianzo •w• (@CaptainSlyian) September 29, 2018
When Bottas outqualifies you but Vettel is still behind you pic.twitter.com/P7trgilM5A
— F1 Banter (@banterf1) September 29, 2018
Bottas will let Ham by. 😆😆 #RussianGP
— Rebecca 💕 (@4SebandCharles) September 29, 2018
Ayyyyyyyyy BOTTAS 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/vxilRjbxsW
— Miss. Crooked Smile 🇰🇪 (@Jackquita) September 29, 2018
So Hamilton makes a mistake on both his runs in Q3 & Bottas grabs pole at #Sochi. Vettel starts tomorrow's race in P3 followed by Raikkonen in P4. Will be interesting to see if Ferrari have the race pace and if Bottas is asked to move over for Hamilton. #F1 #Formula1 #RussianGP
— Harjot Singh (@harjotmankoo) September 29, 2018
Vettel: They have been very quick but tomorrow is a long race. I made a tiny mistake in the final sector but l had to try. I'm quite happy. The car felt alright which makes me positive for Sunday.
— Sebastian Vettel #5 (@sebvettelnews) September 29, 2018
Vettel asked on the team radio how the gap to Mercedes is
Kimi asked his team if they have a plan…#RussianGP
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) September 29, 2018
If that‘s the kind of performance gap between Ferrari and Mercedes now (0.5s), I don‘t think the mistakes in Germany and Monza will matter at all. So there goes the argument that Vettel threw it away
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) September 29, 2018
Tomorrow #Seb5 will start P3 and #Kimi7 P4, maximum attack! #RussianGP #Quali pic.twitter.com/CG5IsfVn91
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 29, 2018
