Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/673696
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 MAY 2016 53 WITH Vettel carrying a five-place grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change, the German will start seventh behind - in qualifying order - Williams' Valtteri Bottas, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, Williams' Felipe Massa, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, and Force India's Sergio Perez. Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat, Toro Ros- so's Max Verstappen and the luck- less Hamilton completed the top ten. Hamilton was downbeat but philosophical after his technical problems, a recurrence of the same issue his car suffered last time out in China. They mean he now faces the possibility of again starting from the back of the grid. "There's nothing I can do… I never give up," said the world champion, who also has to visit the stewards to explain why he did not rejoin the track in the manner required by the race director after running slightly wide at Turn 2 during Q1. The opening phase saw Hamilton edge out Rosberg with 1m 36.006s to 1m 36.119s - both comfort- ably faster than they had been in FP3. Vettel was close, but not close enough, with 1m 36.555s. As Esteban Gutierrez joined Haas team mate Romain Grosjean in pro- gressing to Q2, Kevin Magnussen narrowly beat Renault team mate Jolyon Palmer but both failed to get through. Behind them, Felipe Nasr took 19th for Sauber, as Pascal Wehrlein just headed Manor part- ner Rio Haryanto. Marcus Ericsson brought up the rear in the second Sauber. Rosberg owned Q2 with a lap of 1m 35.337s, half a second up on Hamilton and a whole 1.3s up on Vettel. Further back, Daniil Kvyat de- lighted the crowd when his final ef- fort lifted him to 10th, and Q3, in the dying seconds. That bumped Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz by 0.046s. There was no joy for McLaren ei- ther; Jenson Button was left 12th, two places ahead of team mate Fer- nando Alonso. They sandwiched Nico Hulkenberg's Force India, as the two Haas cars of Grosjean and Gutierrez finished 15th and 16th. As Hamilton's latest ERS drama unfolded and precluded him from running, Rosberg owned Q3 too. His first run yielded 1m 35.417s to Vettel's 1m 36.259s and Raik- konen's 1m 36.695s. Rosberg's next try saw him faster in the first two sectors before the lap was ruined by an off in Turn 13, but by then the job was long done. Vettel improved from 1m 36.259s to 1m 36.123s, but drops to seventh after his penalty, which means that with the third fastest time of 1m 36.536s Bottas will make Williams' first front-row start since Germany two years ago. Thus, subject to potential penal- ties for Hamilton, the provisional grid will read: Rosberg, Bottas; Rai- kkonen, Massa; Ricciardo, Perez; Vettel, Kvyat; Verstappen, Ham- ilton; Sainz, Button; Hulkenberg, Alonso; Grosjean, Gutierrez; Mag- nussen, Palmer; Nasr, Wehrlein; Haryanto, Ericsson. Sport FORMULA 1 Rosberg eases to Sochi pole after Hamilton failure Nico Rosberg will start today's 2016 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix from pole position, after topping Sochi qualifying by 0.706s from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton finished tenth as a power unit failure ruled him out of Q3 Qualifying results - 2016 Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix Pos. Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1. N. Rosberg Mercedes 01:36.119 01:35.337 01:35.417 16 2. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:36.555 01:36.623 01:36.123 16 3. V. Bottas Williams 01:37.746 01:37.140 01:36.536 17 4. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 01:36.976 01:36.741 01:36.663 17 5. F. Massa Williams 01:37.753 01:37.230 01:37.016 16 6. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:38.091 01:37.569 01:37.125 22 7. S. Perez Force India 01:38.006 01:37.282 01:37.212 20 8. D. Kvyat Red Bull 01:38.265 01:37.606 01:37.459 22 9. M. Verstappen Toro Rosso 01:38.123 01:37.510 01:37.583 20 10. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:36.006 01:35.820 13 11. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 01:37.784 01:37.652 14 12. J. Button McLaren 01:38.332 01:37.701 14 13. N. Hulkenberg Force India 01:38.562 01:37.771 17 14. F. Alonso McLaren 01:37.971 01:37.807 14 15. R. Grosjean Haas 01:38.383 01:38.055 16 16. E. Gutiérrez Haas 01:38.678 01:38.115 18 17. K. Magnussen Renault 01:38.914 10 18. J. Palmer Renault 01:39.009 9 19. F. Nasr Sauber 01:39.018 10 20. P. Wehrlein Manor 01:39.399 10 21. R. Haryanto Manor 01:39.463 10 22. M. Ericsson Sauber 01:39.519 10 Hamilton reprimanded for Q1 offence MERCEDES driver Lewis Ham- ilton has escaped with a rep- rimand for his bollard-related offence during Saturday after- noon's qualif ying session for the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Au- todrom. Hamilton ran wide at Turn 2 in Q1 and re-joined the track to the right of the designated bollard, instead of passing by it on the left, as outlined in Race Direc- tor Charlie Whiting's pre-race notes. "Car 44 left the track at Turn 2 and contrary to the Race Direc- tor's note, did not keep to the left of the red and white polystyrene block in the run off area," read a statement from the stewards. Hamilton's reprimand is his second of 2016, after reversing in the pit lane in Bahrain. Hamilton is set to start the race from 10th on the grid, hav- ing suffered an MGU-H failure at the end of Q2, the same issue that struck his car in China – it is not yet clear if new parts are required. Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg