In just two minutes, an outburst of emotions,

Lando Norris

prolonged McLaren's great moment in Sochi, to leave

Carlos Sainz

with honey on his lips

, who was brushing with the tips of his fingers the first

pole

of his life. Under unpredictable conditions on the asphalt, the Briton surprised with a great lap (1: 41.993), half a second ahead of the Ferrari driver, while

Lewis Hamilton

made a couple of errors that relegated him to fifth place. A lesser evil for the seven-time champion, as

his title rival

Max Verstappen

will start from the back of the grid due to an engine change.

No one seemed to forget that the morning downpour had forced the last free session to be canceled. Mercedes and Red Bull, cautious in their own way, preferred to stick with the intermediate rain tire. Everything seemed on track for Hamilton's umpteenth triumphant Saturday, when

George Russell

jumped the bench with three minutes remaining. The dry tires on the Williams were an obvious risk. And some could afford it.

Norris and Sainz reacted immediately and those extra seconds to warm up the new wheels were essential. Hamilton, forced by circumstances, smashed his front wing against the

pit lane

wall

as he headed toward his garage. A fatal skid. And in his last attempt, Sir Lewis also lost control of his W12. As if the Mercedes fiasco were not enough, his fourth place was joined by Valtteri Bottas' seventh, just behind

Fernando Alonso

.

The Alpine had speed, as the Asturian had demonstrated throughout the afternoon, with the fourth best time in Q3 just before hostilities broke out. His skill in these delicate conditions did not find the reward it deserved (1: 44.204). In a similar way, Sainz's Saturday (1: 42.510) has to be interpreted, as he must celebrate his second place on the grid, but who may not find similar situations so favorable to attack a

pole

.

With 10 minutes of Q1 still ahead, Verstappen was out of the car, without even setting a valid time. There was no reason for more efforts because the engine change, announced mid-afternoon on Saturday, relegated him to the back of the grid. On the slippery asphalt, the risks of collision were multiple, as Charles Leclerc could well see, barely eluding Antonio Giovinazzi. Also condemned to the well, due to the new power unit of his Ferrari, the Monegasque did decide to stay on a track that was drying up with the advance of the clock.

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull's only resource to torpedo the Mercedes, wanted to be noticed, although he was soon scared. With the humidity on an asphalt and only 13ºC in the air, all the precautions were few. Although the forecasts improved, as confirmed by radio to Sainz, all kept the intermediate rain tires. In the middle of Q2, the Madrilenian was already involved in problems.

With just over two minutes to go in the cut, Carlos mounted a new set of tires to get out of the drowning. He barely met the goal, with 52 thousandths over

Sebastian Vettel

, accustomed throughout the World Cup to this type of disappointment by such a narrow margin. As

George Russell

had given another lesson aboard the Williams, in the red garage they could only sigh in relief when

Yuki Tsunoda

crossed the line.

At the same time, Alonso had left a fabulous lap (1: 45.514), a second faster than Sainz and only four tenths of the lead, from which Hamilton did not get off.

Who did miss this time was

Pierre Gasly

, hampered by

Nicholas Latifi

at the

pit lane

exit

.

The Frenchman accumulated so much anger that he ended up beating him against the halo of his Alpha Tauri.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • Formula 1

  • Lewis hamilton

  • Max verstappen

  • Fernando Alonso

  • Carlos Sainz Jr

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