Russian Grand Prix qualifying: Bottas pips Hamilton to pole in Sochi

It was Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes who led for three-quarters of the session, before being outdone by a tenth of a second courtesy of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, setting a new track record.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were a touch off the pace - about half a second, to be exact.

Both Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo already knew they'd be starting the race from the back of the grid so there was really no point doing too much - but that didn't stop them from clocking better times than the Ferraris.

Sergey Sirotkin ruined the last half-minute of the session by flying off the track in Sector 2, creating an obstacle in his home race.

The Red Bulls stepped out of the ring at this point, leaving the field wide open.

Toro Rosso didn't send Pierre Gasly out either, meaning there were just two spots left in the dropzone. With three minutes to go, neither Renault driver had made it out to clock a time, and both climbed out of their respective cockpits.

So none of the five eliminated drivers had actually gone out at all during Q2 - somewhat unorthodox.

It left Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel and Raikkonen on top of the pile - and shout-out to Sauber's Marcus Ericsson, in the top ten for the first time since 2015.

Q3

Bottas lapped four milliseconds quicker than Hamilton on the first run, breaking the track record once more.

Vettel found himself going slowest of the leading quartet and Hamilton decided to abandon his flying lap as Bottas extended his advantage to hold on to pole position.

A very strange qualifying session, with those five withdrawals in Q2 meaning a mixed-up top ten. Bottas has still never been outqualified by a team-mate in Sochi; it's no wonder that he told his team, "I enjoyed that."

Two Saubers in the top ten? On a track that's caused them problems in qualifying for the past four years? What an odd thing to see.

Ricciardo loves to overtake, and starting at the back of the grid he'll have plenty to be getting on with.

Hamilton - Bottas - Vettel