F1: McLaren's Lando Norris Gets Shock Pole In Wet Sochi Qualifying

In a wet qualifying session, Lando Norris aced his last lap in the McLaren Mercedes to jump his former teammate Carlos Sainz Jr in the Ferrari to P1 at Sochi. This is the British driver's first pole and he will be starting in a car that's fast in the straights on a track that's not known for a lot of overtaking. George Russell again elevated Williams to P3 ahead of defending world champion Lewis Hamilton who just managed P4, after he hit the wall while entering the pit lane just before he changed to slick tyres on a drying track.

Hamilton crashed his car while entering the pit lane

Hamilton had his front wing replaced which meant his exit was delayed which gave him less time to warm up the slick tyres on a cold track. Daniel Ricciardo was behind Hamilton in the second McLaren. Fernando Alonso again was impressive in the Alpine with a P6 in the wet conditions ahead of even Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes who had topped the practice sessions. Lance Stroll again proved his skills in the wet conditions as he managed P8 ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel who managed P11.

Sergio Perez was the lead Red Bull in P9 ahead of Ocon in the second Alpine in P10. The AlphaTauri pair of Gasly and Tsunoda was P12 and P13 respectively while the returning Raikkonen was the lead Alfa Romeo in the P14. Mick Schumacher was impressive with P15 for the Haas as he was not only ahead of his teammate Nikita Mazepin who managed P17 but was also ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi in the other Alfa Romeo.

Max Verstappen will be starting from the end of the grid in P20 because of the engine change penalty. Ferrari's Leclerc also has a similar penalty and he starts from P19 while Latifi did not complete his lap and will start from P18.

The former teammates came P1 and P2

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:41.993
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 0.517s
3 George Russell Williams 0.990s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2.057s
5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 2.163s
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine 2.211s
7 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 2.717s
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 2.963s
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull 3.344s
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine 3.872s
11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:46.521
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:46.641
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:46.751
14 Nicholas Latifi Williams no time
15 Charles Leclerc Ferrari no time
16 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1:49.586
17 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:49.830
18 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:51.023
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:53.764
20 Max Verstappen Red Bull no time