Russian GP final practice and qualifying
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By: Geoff Creighton
Summary
Status: Stopped
Here's the details of Leclerc's fourth pole, we'll see you tomorrow for the race! 
Vettel: "Obviously I'm not entirely happy and extracted the maximum from the car. Turn 1 is a long way, we're on different tyre strategies compared to the Mercs, personally I need a good start and then you worry about the rest."
Hamilton: "I tell ya, it was a tough qualifying session. These guys have another level on the straights - jet mode! I gave it everything I had, and the team was able to tinker and push forward. I wasn't expecting to get on the front row."
Leclerc: "The car felt amazing, it definitely feels amazing to be back on pole. But I don't know if it's best track to start on pole! The straight at the start is very long...it definitely feels very special [to get four in a row] but I don't want to think about those stats now."
Leclerc even managed to find time to critique his pole lap before being told the news. Classic Charles.
Q3 order: 1 Leclerc, 2 Hamilton, 3 Vettel, 4 Verstappen, 5 Bottas, 6 Sainz, 7 Hulkenberg, 8 Norris, 9 Grosjean, 10 Ricciardo.
Verstappen improves to fourth, while Bottas has scrapped his final lap - but will join Vettel on the second row due to Verstappen's penalty.
Hamilton pips Vettel to second place by a couple of hundredths! He's denied Ferrari a front row lockout.
Vettel is trailing Leclerc significantly after the first two sectors - and both of them have again well outpaced the Mercedes pair in S1.
The two Renaults, two McLarens and Grosjean are all within a tenth of each other in the first sector on these final flyers.
The frontrunners are beginning their second runs now. Vettel is running ahead of Leclerc once more, but the two Mercedes cars are now behind them - with Verstappen inbetween.
"Check my shifts, because coming out of 3 I'm hitting the shifts and I'm getting a lot of oscillating after the shift, is there a problem?" Hamilton tells Mercedes.
Current order: 1 Leclerc, 2 Vettel, +0.334s; 3 Hamilton, +0.564s; 4 Bottas, +0.831s, 5 Verstappen, +0.928s; 6 Hulkenberg, +1.806s; 7 Norris, +2.307s; 8 Sainz, +2.476s; 9 Grosjean, +2.556s; 10 Ricciardo, +2.576s.
Verstappen's first flying lap is only good enough for fifth, which means he's provisionally looking to start this race in 10th place.
Vettel is another two tenths quicker, before Leclerc dips into the sub-1m32s margin with a 1m31.801s!
Bottas takes the lead with a 1m32.632s, only to be immediately usurped by a 1m32.365s from Hamilton.
Bottas has one tenth and a half in hand over Hamilton in the first sector, but the two Ferraris are both another three tenths quicker.
And now Verstappen has also joined the proceedings. Norris is told he's the first car out and "can drive this exactly how you want it".
The five 'midfield' Q3 cars are first to head out, followed by Bottas and Hamilton in formation, then Vettel and finally Leclerc. No sign of Verstappen yet.
Quite a gap between Ferrari and Mercedes too, can that close up in Q3? Hamilton and Bottas have half a second to find - and then some more.
Another excellent effort from Grosjean too - back in the hybrid-Australia spec Haas, he seems to be a bit happier. Whether he can retain that for the race is quite another story, however.
Worth pointing out that Toro Rosso won't be losing too much sleep over Gasly's Q2 exit, as they won't have wanted to make Q3 and be locked into starting on used softs given his five-place grid penalty.
A good final sector from the #55 McLaren driver, it proved to be the stitch in time that saved Sainz.
Advancing to Q3: 1 Leclerc, 2 Vettel, 3 Verstappen, 4 Hamilton, 5 Bottas, 6 Grosjean, 7 Norris, 8 Sainz, 9 Ricciardo, 10 Hulkenberg.
Ricciardo and Hulkenberg now shuffle Gasly out of the top 10 at the last second, while Giovinazzi improves to a rather impressive 13th.
Grosjean improves to sixth, with Norris and Sainz also slotting into the top eight. Chequered flag out.
Stroll's lap has got away from him due to a moment over the kerbs, and he will thus almost certainly not make Q3.
All 15 Q2 participants are now out on track, including the two Mercedes cars, who are now on softs and thus still have the option of changing their starting tyre compound.
Replays show what could be seen as an unsafe release for Toro Rosso, which sent Gasly out almost right into Vettel's path. Vettel was fairly sharp on the brakes so it didn't look too close in the end.
"Kevin, P6 is just 0.2 seconds ahead, I'm sure we can figure out the final sector, you're still very competitive," Haas told Magnussen.
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