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54 THE Ferraris of Sebastian Vet- tel and Kimi Raikkonen took fourth and fifth, followed by the Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Lotus's Romain Grosjean, Toro Rosso's Max Ver- stappen and Red Bull's Daniel Ric- ciardo completed the top ten. Rosberg was in electric form from the off, heading the times in Q1 with 1m 38.343s on the soft tyres. Bottas jumped ahead of Hamilton right at the end of the opening segment, but the Finn was on supersofts; the English- man on softs. On supersofts, Vet- tel was fourth, but further back, Fernando Alonso and McLaren opted to save his new Honda en- gine given his upcoming grid pen- alty, so his best lap of 1m 40.144s left him 16th. Behind the Spaniard, Marcus Ericsson could only manage 1m 40.660s for Sauber, as Will Stevens narrowly beat Marussia team mate Roberto Merhi, 1m 43.693s to 1m 43.804s. Carlos Sainz, of course, did not participate for Toro Rosso following his crash in FP3, but it was confirmed during the session that he sustained no injuries and hopes to compete in Sunday's race. Should he be allowed, he'll have to start from the pit lane. Hamilton's car lost telemetry at the start of Q2, but Rosberg had to use a new set of supersofts to pip him to fastest time of 1m 37.500s, as Bottas headed the Ferraris in third place. To the home crowd's disappoint- ment, Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat just failed to dislodge stablemate Ver- stappen from 10th place as his 1m 39.214s left him 11th ahead of Felipe Nasr's Sauber on 1m 39.323s, Jenson Button's McLaren on 1m 39.763s, Pastor Maldo- nado's Lotus on 1m 39.811s, and Felipe Massa on 1m 39.895s. The session was a disaster for the Wil- liams driver, who spoiled one lap with a mistake at Turn 8, then had another ruined by traffic. By the time he got back into his rhythm, his tyres were done. Once Sergio Perez had set the initial pace for Force India on used supersofts in Q3 with 1m 38.691s, Raikkonen (1m 38.348s), Vet- tel (1m 38.160s) and Bottas (1m 37.912s) all had turns at the top on new rubber before Rosberg's 1m 37.113s lap put him ahead. Ham- ilton's response was 1m 37.433s, leaving him a relatively distant second. With track temperatures dwin- dling, both Mercedes drivers opt- ed to stay out rather than pitting for fresh rubber, but neither could improve, with Hamilton making a mistake in the middle sector be- fore diving straight back into the pits. The battle for pole thus ended in something of an anti-climax. A wild lap from Raikkonen failed to generate improvement, and Bottas couldn't go quicker either, but Vettel did manage to trim his time to 1m 37.965s. That, however, kept him in fourth. Behind the top five, Hulkenberg took sixth for Force India with 1m 38.659s ahead of team mate Perez on 1m 38.691s, Grosjean on 1m 38.7887s, Verstappen on 1m 38.924s and Ricciardo on 1m 39.728s. With engine-change penal- ties for Alonso (35 grid places) and Merhi (20 places), the provi- sional grid will line up thus: Ros- berg, Hamilton; Bottas, Vettel; Raikkonen, Hulkenberg; Perez, Grosjean; Verstappen, Ricciardo; Kvyat, Nasr; Button, Maldonado; Massa, Ericsson; Stevens, Merhi; Alonso. As mentioned, it remains to be seen whether Sainz is able to start. maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 OCTOBER 2015 Sport FORMULA 1 Rosberg beats Hamilton to Sochi pole Nico Rosberg went fastest in yesterday's qualifying for the 2015 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix to secure his third pole position of the season. The German headed Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton - who abandoned his final run after an error - by a third of a second, with Williams' Valtteri Bottas a further half second back in third (L to R): Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Williams, Pole sitter Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 and Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrate in parc ferme at Formula One World Championship, Rd15, Russian Grand Prix, Qualifying, Qualifying - 2015 Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. N. Rosberg Mercedes 01:37.113 20 2. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:37.433 18 3. V. Bottas Williams 01:37.912 26 4. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:37.965 15 5. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 01:38.348 18 6. N. Hulkenberg Force India 01:38.659 21 7. S. Perez Force India 01:38.691 19 8. R. Grosjean Lotus 01:38.787 19 9. M. Verstappen Toro Rosso 01:38.924 23 10. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:39.728 18 11. D. Kvyat Red Bull 01:39.214 18 12. F. Nasr Sauber 01:39.323 18 13. J. Button McLaren 01:39.763 15 14. P. Maldonado Lotus 01:39.811 15 15. F. Massa Williams 01:39.895 17 16. F. Alonso McLaren 01:40.144 7 17. M. Ericsson Sauber 01:40.660 9 18. W. Stevens Manor 01:43.693 9 19. R. Merhi Manor 01:43.804 8