2017 Russian Grand Prix grid

2017 Russian Grand Prix

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Row 11. Sebastian Vettel 1’33.194
Ferrari
2. Kimi Raikkonen 1’33.253
Ferrari
Row 23. Valtteri Bottas 1’33.289
Mercedes
4. Lewis Hamilton 1’33.767
Mercedes
Row 35. Daniel Ricciardo 1’34.905
Red Bull
6. Felipe Massa 1’35.110
Williams
Row 47. Max Verstappen 1’35.161
Red Bull
8. Nico Hulkenberg 1’35.285
Renault
Row 59. Sergio Perez 1’35.337
Force India
10. Esteban Ocon 1’35.430
Force India
Row 611. Lance Stroll 1’35.964
Williams
12. Daniil Kvyat 1’35.968
Toro Rosso
Row 713. Kevin Magnussen 1’36.017
Haas
14. Carlos Sainz Jnr* 1’35.948
Toro Rosso
Row 815. Fernando Alonso 1’36.660
McLaren
16. Jolyon Palmer 1’36.462
Renault
Row 917. Pascal Wehrlein 1’37.332
Sauber
18. Marcus Ericsson 1’37.507
Sauber
Row 1019. Romain Grosjean 1’37.620
Haas
20. Stoffel Vandoorne** 1’37.070
McLaren

*Three-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Lance Stroll.
**15-place grid penalty for power unit component change

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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76 comments on “2017 Russian Grand Prix grid”

  1. Interesting that, totally against the grain of the pre-weekend narrative. But some wonderful results. Kimi showing he’s hardly done. Bottas again trouncing Hamilton. No car apart from Vettel improved on their final lap, so maybe the Red Bull getting in his was lucky?

    I thought before the season that the biggest gulf in ability and quality would be Massa and Stroll. But it’s not, it’s Hulkenburg and Palmer. Hulk driving that car to wonderful places, Palmer totally failing. Shame.

    Another thing, very disappointing, is Verstappen. Faster (marginally) all weekend, and never really managed to put it together in Q3. As good as racer as you can be, that’s not good enough. He needs to start watching that, because it’s not the first time this season.

    1. Sums it all up very well.

    2. I dont really see what Stroll did better than Palmer. The way hes handling that car it looks like its the first time hes driving it.

      1. Because Stroll, for all his faults, has inexperience on his side. Palmer spent four years driving in GP2, the closest you can get to these cars, and is in his second year of F1. Palmer should be getting much closer, and crashing in desperation didn’t do him any good.

        1. @hahostolze It doesnt matter if you are “inexperienced”. If you fasttrack into F1 and are 1sec behind your teammate which himself is consideres past due then you really cant pull that card, you simply aint F1 material.

          1. I don’t consider Stroll F1 material. I just said Palmer is doing a worse job. Neither is F1 material to me. But Stroll at least has extenuating circumstances in the fact he’s a rookie and a ridiculously young one. I didn’t choose for him to go to F1 but I will judge him on experience, as I think that’s fair.

          2. Judging on experience are fine for junior series. For a driver in a topcar in F1 you are judged by performance alone.

          3. @rethla Maybe by you. Rookie is still a rookie in my book(and probably most of people). And Williams is not really a “topcar”. Furthemore he is compared against Massa who people say is waay past his time in F1, yet as far as i remember, over 3 years of racing as teammates he wasn’t too far off Bottas, who just beat 3-time WDC for the 2nd time in a row. Just because Massa was nowhere near compared to Alonso, doesn’t really say much, knowing how much more support Alonso got on that team. Still, i agree that Stroll doesn’t really look like F1 material, but compared to Palmer this season…well all i can say, people i was watching with said – “wow! Palmer is only 1s behind Hulk” in q1…before he crashed

    3. That’s a great summary and the followups are even better. COTD.

    4. Hulk driving that car to wonderful places

      Yes, the Hulk has been good these days. I wonder, if Ferrari will look at him as a replacement for Raikkonen in 2018?

    5. @hahostolze

      ‘Bottas again trouncing Hamilton’

      Big margin today, but at Bahrain it was 2 hundredths, which is a very long way from a ‘trouncing’. Hd then was a lot slower in the race.

      1. Yeah sorry it’s a bit OTT but considering how he was written off beforehand this has been very impressive.

        1. @hahostolze

          Yes, I am pleased to see him doing well, I am not surprised though, I always thought he would be quick in quali. Let’s see how tomorrow goes, it should be interesting…:)

  2. Hamilton – “it will be a good fight with Vettel for the Championship”… yeah good luck with that one. Find half a second to your team mate first !

    1. No need to as long as Bottas doesnt find any race pace.

      1. Watch this space.

      2. He finished just a couple of seconds behind Hamilton in Australia, and then spun in China and had problems in Bahrain. We haven’t yet seen his true race pace in a Mercedes.

        1. I’m confused, by your own account, Bottas is a couple of seconds off (as of now).

        2. He finished just a couple of seconds behind Hamilton in Australia, and then spun in China and had problems in Bahrain. We haven’t yet seen his true race pace in a Mercedes.

          True. Bottas is a newbie at Merc and it would have taken him a few races to come to grips with it, especially with the new spec also intruding. He is now beginning to show that he can keep Hamilton honest at the very least but methinks he’ll do better than just that as the season goes on.

  3. Bwoah… A rather effective way of shutting your critics up there, Kimi

    1. @sravan-pe Just when it looked like it was gonna be his moment, he bwoahttled it.

      1. Well, being less than a tenth off its still better than being three or so tenths off a teammate who’s a bit of a dynamite in quali… :)

    2. It’s the same for everybody so…

    3. Kimi lost out to his teammate in the fastest car on the grid, what are u ralking about Sravan???

      1. I’d have thought you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t, then its fine. 0.059s is a much smaller margin than let’s say 0.300s, against Sebastian Vettel.

        1. He come last in the fastest car

          1. Really? Okay.

    4. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      29th April 2017, 21:05

      @sravan-pe
      I’m actually surprised that so many people call Kimi’s sound a “Bwoah”. I’d say it much more often is more like a “mmmwoah”! :D

      1. @thegianthogweed
        Sometimes bwoah sometimes mwoah from what I’ve seen :p

  4. Well… This seems interesting. Neither car filled their full potential either – Vettel lost a couple of tenths in the final sector, as did Raikkonen, Bottas locked up at Turn 13 and Hamilton… Well he had a terrible qualifying.
    Hulkenberg in 8th instead of 7th this week, but still making Palmer look like he should be in GP3. Hopefully the supposed race pace upgrades can help him keep that position, or maybe even improve it.
    Grosjean actually complains a lot more about his car than Alonso does, but Alonso’s are much funnier, hence why he gets the publicity – Grosjean just seems whiny. Interesting how it’s alternated one of the Haas cars not being good each weekend, Magnussen in Australia and Bahrain, and Grosjean in China and Russia.

  5. Verstappen is just not a good qualifier is he? The only time he beat RIC was n Melbourne when RIC had an engine faillure and didn’t participate….

    Last year he was beaten by RIC very handily as well during their time together (something like 12-5 I think it was).

    Stroll, Palmer and Vandoorne also look poor relative to their teammates.

    1. Ricciardo crashed in Melbourne, the engine failure was in the race. But yes, your point is well taken. Verstappen seems to have the upper hand more often than not in FP and Q1 and Q2, but more often than not gets beaten when it matters most. Last year it looked like the trend was reversing (Verstappen had a string of better Q3s towards the end of the season), but this season it has started out in Ricciardo’s favour again. It’s unusual. Is it maturity, experience, focus? It’s not pace, but it is slightly worrying.

      1. Yeah…..its pace.

        1. Weird then that Verstappen’s pace deficit somehow doesn’t stop him beating Ricciardo in races constantly.

          1. @hahostolze Not really to be honest. VES got beaten in points by RIC during their time together last year as well as outqualified. He’s ahead now, but its still early.

      2. Who cares? It takes Verstappen 2 or 3 corners to be in front of Danny usually…

    2. Well Stroll and Stoff are rookies, they need a bit more time

      1. Still, more than 1sec off MAS and HUL laps is a lot… even for rookies.

      2. @johnmilk Yes but knowing how far Massa was off Alonso at Ferrari and Bottas at Williams, Stroll’s pace seems even more pathetic imho

        1. Massa wasn’t so far from Bottas in 2014-2015 (many times he was ahead), only in 2016 he was consistently behind. We’re seeing Bottas very close to Hamilton and Massa is clearly faster this year in this new car, so it puts Massa close to the top drivers I think.

    3. @jeffreyj I don’t know what you’re expecting from Vandoorne? It’s his fifth GP against a driver many see as the best of the current grid. I don’t think there’s any shame in the time difference, especially not if you see the differences between as you say Palmer and Hulkenberg.

      1. I get that, but I just expected more from him. I mean if he really is a potential great of the future, as I thought after his record in jr series, then I expected him to be really close to Alonso and ocasionally outshine him (like HAM did as a teammate to ALO in his rookie year)

        1. @jeffreyj Those situations are hardly comparable for two reasons, Alonso back then was maybe half the driver Alonso is today, and Hamilton had done millions of testing miles before his debut, on top of that they had a car that was drivable, this one is utter junk.

          1. What do you mean ” Alonso back then was maybe half the driver Alonso is today”?! He was the raining double world champion at that point…

    4. Ricciardo crashed in Melbourne in Q2…..still owns Verstappen in Q.

    5. Yeah too bad Max couldn’t get the lap together. His combined fastest sectors were quicker than RICs so it should’ve been possible.

      It must be said that RIC seems to be a real 1lap wonder. So max might never be able to beat him over a season.

      Let’s see what the race brings tomorrow

    6. Good thing points are awarded during the race, wouldn’t you agree.

      And as far as I know, Vandoorne hasn’t had the same car as Alonso yet this year. Alonso always is one step ahead of him in car upgrades. http://www.f1i.com/infos/vandoorne-na-meme-voiture-qualonso/
      He doesn’t talk about it in the media because he doesn’t want to create tensions in the team.

  6. Kimi and Bottas bottled pole, but anyways, it was such a tense session! Bottas annihilated Hamilton today, not sure if he had a problem. Hope that Bottas can beat Hamilton on pure pace tomorrow so that Mercedes don’t end up with a number 1 driver. Makes it so much more exciting. And speaking of number 1 and 2, Raikkonen was flying today. I’m hoping the “no. 2 drivers” will come out on top tomorrow.

    1. Not sure if Bottas did bottle pole so much – he definitely lost a bit of time at Turn 13, but the Ferrari has always been quicker through the 3rd sector through practise and qualy, so despite him being 2 tenths up at the 2nd sector split, the Ferrari was about that much quicker through the 3rd sector anyway. Although pole was definitely possible with him today, as Vettel and Raikkonen both lost time on their final laps through the 3rd sector too.

      1. @hugh11 Without the lock up and Bottas’ mistake at the exit of the final corner, I’m certain he would be on pole, or the front row at least.

        1. Andre Furtado
          29th April 2017, 14:39

          If French fries could be used as bricks. Houses would be made out of French fries.

          1. What exactly is your point? Because I doubt it relates to what I said.

          2. @mashiat
            I think what he means is that there are no IFs in history. What happened has happened and we will never know whether he made a mistake on his own or whether the car was not capable of taking pole through its use of tyres. And thus saying “he would have taken pole if not for a mistake” is purely hypothetical and means nothing.

      2. Toto himself said pole was possible for BOT and that he didn’t get the cleanest of laps. If you compare best overall sector times, Bottas add up to the fastest lap of all, faster than Vettel and Kimis cumulative laptime.

        Having said that, the track seemed to be constantly changing and everyone had scruffy moments at some point.
        It’s not unrealistic to say all drivers were fighting with the conditions and tyres at the end and might have done better if the temps hadn’t dropped of compared to FP3.
        The only driver to actually improve his time on the last run was VET. I’m pretty sure the top 3 were all similarly close to the limit.

  7. Palmer’s days must be numbered, l get so tired of hearing about his rotten luck from the brit media..NO he is out of his league pure and simple.

    1. I think Palmer got lucky with kmag as a teammate last year. This year, the hulk is going to show hoe rubbish Joylon really is

    2. Michael Brown (@)
      29th April 2017, 15:46

      “Bad luck” they say. Look at Vandoorne who has a penalty already. Palmer has gone nowhere and is going nowhere.

  8. I never realized that Ferrari haven’t had a quali one-two since Franch GP 2008. What a drought that was.

    1. Is it that surprising considering they’ve had Massa and Raikkonen in one of the cars (in the case of 2009, both, but the car was a dog) who are mostly bad qualifiers?

      1. @mashiat
        Massa pre-accident was a terrific one lap driver

      2. Yeah right how many poles did Alonso get there?

        1. @rockie 4. How many front row starts did Massa and Raikkonen manage?

      3. During 2007 and 2008 seasons, Ferrari managed 4 front row starts, while individually Raikkonen had 11 and Massa 17 front row starts. So, after 2008 anyone who would’ve said that Ferrari won’t be getting front row lock-out in the next 8 seasons would be considered fools.

  9. Sweating bullets, eh Merc?

  10. AWESOME!

    Maaan, RBR is soooo bad! The gap between the top 4 and the rest is huuuge. If nothing “bad” happens for the front runners, I expect only the top 8 to be in the same lap as the winner at the end of the race.

  11. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    29th April 2017, 14:01

    I start to wonder that if it weren’t for that SC in China, maybe Ferrari would have won all the first three races and now tomorrow looks promising too. But I won’t count this chicken before i hatches tomorrow. Absolutely nail-bitting qualifying and the race promises to be an exciting one of course… or as Seb says, “obviously”!!!

    1. @omarr-pepper I think Mercedes would’ve won in Melbourne had they been a little smarter, and Ferrari would’ve won in China had they had better luck with the SC. Either way it makes races more fun if the ‘expected’ party doesn’t win.

      1. Either team could of won all the races, tiny things have put it one way or the other. Ferrari have earnt their luck in my opinion as its down to good strategy. China was pure luck for Merc as without the safety car Vettel was on course to come out well in front after all the pit stops. Ferrari have done nothing wrong but Merc have on strategy but only in hindsight and they are under pressure as the Ferrari seems slightly quicker if we discount whatever Merc have in Q3.

        1. Either team could of won all the races, tiny things have put it one way or the other

          The first two races perhaps, although it is hard t see how one could take credit away from Vettel for Australia.
          But there is no way Hamilton could have won in Bahrain going by relative performances. If anything, Vettel won despite being held-up by the Safety Car, without which he would have been far ahead of Bottas and Hamilton when they came out of their first tyre stops.

    2. @omarr-pepper They almost certainly would have won China.

    3. @omarr-pepper
      I think you’ll have to adapt to the fact that you’re going to change your avatar after every GP !!!

      1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        29th April 2017, 18:56

        Hopefully at this time tomorrow my avatar pic will show another winner’s trophy for either Ferrari guy.

  12. HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! Forza Ferrari
    The run down to turn 2 could be brilliant. Exhilarating Qualifying session, Massa splitting the Red Bulls and Hulkenberg with another top 10 both did sterling jobs. Cant wait for tomorrow

  13. To all of those people who said a Mercedes 1-2 was guaranteed from p1…

    1. Mercedes is just Sandbagging.

      1. Mercedes is just Sandbagging

        Yeah, for 2018.

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