F1: With the rumors of the qualifying being delayed, it did start at the notified time. Max Verstappen did not come out of his pit as he has been given the grid penalty to start at the back no matter what because of the new engine he have to take.
Qualifying 1 started with water still on the track. All the cars were equipped with inter. Lewis Hamilton takes the top spot with the timing of 1:46.937s.
Raikkonen, Schumacher, Giovinazzi, Mazepin, and Verstappen are the driver to get eliminated form Q1.
Qualifying 2 gets interesting as Latifi was taken out by Williams and will also join Leclerc and Verstappen starting at the back of the grid. Leclerc also decided to end their qualifying run before the start of Q2.
Hamilton with the timing of 1:46.096s tops the first lap of Q2, being ahead of Norris in p2 with only a half a tenth. However, Bottas with no error this time around tops his teammate with a whopping half a second clear.
Ocon goes fifth – but can he stay there? Norris from third aborts and heads to the pit lane, he is confident he is through. Ricciardo though can only go seventh.
Vettel of Aston Martin eliminated into Q2 with Gasly, Tsunoda, Latifi, and Leclerc joining him. So into the top 10 were the Mercedes pair which is not a surprise. They are joined by the McLaren boys, both Alpine cars, Sainz, Russell, Stroll, and Perez.
F1: Qualifying 3.
It is a 1m 44.710s for the rest to chase, set by Bottas. But here comes Hamilton, and he immediately wipes seven-tenths from that time. The track is drying out fast now.
Norris with his 0.004s faster than Bottas splits the silver arrows apart into P2. There was a radio message from Russell he wants the Softer compound tires. It takes him 3 laps but it was worth it as he beats Hamilton to take the 3rd position.
Outcomes everyone with Softer tires. Silver arrows try to cover it but Hamilton into the pit entry hits the wall and damages his front wing. Bottas comes running behind and has to wait because of Hamilton’s damage. Mercedes somehow manages to send Bottas ahead and then quickly send Hamilton out as well.
The track was drying up quickly and the timing was improving for everyone. Carlos Sainz comes lurking from behind to take a pole but wait Norris comes right behind him to snatch the first position.
Hamilton with his last try but he spins around before the finish line and that was it for Sochi Qualifying.
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