Sochi, 11 October – Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen will line up on the fourth row of the grid for the Russian Grand Prix in their F14 Ts. The two Scuderia drivers were closely matched for all three parts of qualifying and by the end of Q3 just 62 thousandths separated them. Pole went to Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, the Englishman’s 38th and his team’s 32nd.
Both Ferrari drivers had no problem getting through Q1, with the Finn seventh, 0.150 tenths ahead of the Spaniard. Q2 was more difficult, because as the track continued to rubber in the fight was on right to the very end of the session. Alonso got through to Q3 in eighth spot, beating Raikkonen by just 50 thousandths.
In the final part, thanks to the very low tyre degradations, almost all the drivers stayed on track from start to finish. Fernando’s eighth place came with a 1.39.709, while Kimi secured ninth with a 1.39.771. They start alongside one another on row 4 because sixth placed Kevin Magnussen gets a penalty for changing his gearbox.
Alongside Hamilton is his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg and they are followed by Bottas (Williams,) Button McLaren, Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Ricciardo (Red Bull.) The race starst 15 3pm, (13h00 CET.)