F1 Russian GP Live Updates - final practice and qualifying
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Russell, who opted against an early opening run for Williams, is out on track and has the Sochi Autodrom to himself.
Ricciardo leads Q2 from Sainz and Perez - those three have definitely been the standout performers from the midfield fight so far this weekend - as Bottas is shuffled back to fourth place halfway through the session.
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With Bottas clearly producing a slow lap it opens up top spot to the rest of the field, for the time being, as Ricciardo goes fastest with a 1m32.218s.
Scratch that, Hamilton has his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 18. So once again Hamilton loses his first lap of the session.
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Hamilton bangs in a 1m32.085s on the mediums which is almost a full second faster than team-mate Bottas.
Both Mercedes drivers and Red Bull's Verstappen are on the medium tyres. Remember that the top 10 who progress from Q2 will start the Russian GP on the tyres they qualify on in this session.
Rain
Reports of drops of rain? Really? Well, that could add some extra spice to this session.
Green flag
Q2 is underway!
So Q1 is done and dusted and a lot of drivers struggling to nail Turn 2, demonstrated by Raikkonen's spin on his final lap. The grip should ramp up as the session progresses but with track temperature dropping it will be an area all drivers will be remaining extremely alert.
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But it is bad news for Grosjean, Giovinazzi, Magnussen, Latifi and Raikkonen who are all out in the first qualifying session.
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Vettel will be relieved as he scrapes into Q2 in 15th place after Russell produces an impressive 1m34.020s to leap up to 13th.
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Vettel, often flirting with qualifying drop zones this season, is another improver but he's still at risk with a 1m34.134s.
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Ocon jumps up to P3 with a 1m33.557s having been in the danger zone. He's safe.
Raikkonen has spun at Turn 2 so his qualifying is effectively over as he's already in the Q1 drop zone.
After a short breather, it is time for the second and final Q1 runs. Not before the crawling preparation laps which we haven't seen for a little while.
After the first runs it is Ocon who is in the uncomfortable situation of P16 and provisionally set to drop out of Q1 along with Raikkonen, Giovinazzi, Grosjean and Russell.
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Verstappen joins the top five party with a 1m33.979s. Red Bull team-mate Albon is currently P9 and four-tenths off.
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Hamilton's second attempt is a 1m32.983s to slot into second place and 0.327s off Bottas. Behind the Mercedes duo, Perez is third for Racing Point ahead of future Ferrari driver Sainz and current Ferrari driver Leclerc.
Hamilton and Grosjean are joined by Magnussen, Latifi and Gasly in all going wide and off track at Turn 2. As Russell pointed out earlier, it looks like track conditions have become a fresh challenge compared to FP3.
Stopwatch
Bottas puts in a clean lap compared to his team-mate and his 1m 32.656s puts him top in Q1.
Hamilton has his first lap time of Q1 deleted for going off track at Turn 2. He isn't alone as Grosjean also gets his first time scratched out.
Radio Comms
"The track is very, very different," Russell reports over his Williams team radio. He duly backs out of his first timed lap, running on the medium tyres, so doesn't set a time.
Russell completes his opening out-lap and is greeted by a train of cars heading out of the pits on the charge to Turn 1. The track is getting busy already.
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Green flag
Green flag! Q1 is underway and Russell heads out immediately.
Taking a glance to the sky and there are some dark and menacing clouds hanging overhead, but the F1 weather forecasters say the risk of rain is only 10%. The clouds have kept conditions a little cooler than Friday with air temperature at 26.4oC and track temperature at 34.5oC.
Here's an in-depth look at the action from Friday practice ahead of the Russian GP: 
But one feature of this weekend that has hit almost every driver is the slippery conditions at Sochi given the lack of running held at the track when F1 isn't in town. An ill-timed slip during qualifying could prove costly.
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It is very much a case of Mercedes first and then the rest at Sochi - by some margin. In final practice Sainz, as best of the rest, was over eight-tenths of a second off Hamilton's leading effort. We don't expect that to change a great deal in qualifying.
To quickly recap the practice action, on the timesheet it has been a Mercedes domination with Bottas leading both sessions on Friday while team-mate Hamilton struck back this morning to top FP3.
Nothing too pressing to report from the lunch break, aside from McLaren confirming Norris will contest qualifying and Sunday's race with its new nose concept having enjoyed successful running with it during practice.
Good afternoon once again! It is nearly time from some more F1 fun with qualifying for the Russian GP at the Sochi Autodrom.
Thanks for following along with our FP3 coverage and make sure to join us again in just over an hour for all the build-up to what promises to be a frenetic qualifying session in Sochi. Until then, see you soon!
Autosport
Here's the full recap of the FP3 session as Hamilton once again dug deep after a tricky start to push Friday pace-setter Bottas off the top spot. 
If you're partial to a bit of motorcycling, you'll no doubt be enthused by the news that Valentino Rossi will be continuing in MotoGP next year with SRT. One wonders what might have happened if he had followed up his promising Ferrari F1 tests with a full-time switch to four wheels...
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The last time Sainz challenged the Mercedes in qualifying at Monza, the race panned out rather well for him... Can he preserve his hold on P3 into qualifying?
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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