Russian Grand Prix – Warm Up
Everything you need to know about tyres, penalties and the final starting grid for the sixteenth Grand Prix of the season.
This time it’s Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas who managed to take the pole, beating his teammate Lewis Hamilton by +0.145s. Both Ferrari’s left behind - Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen occupied the second row, 3rd and 4th respectively.
Both Mercedes and Ferrari teams will start their race on UltraSoft tyres, the other drivers from the top-10 - on Hypersoft.
Pirelli has brought three types of compounds for the Russian Grand Prix – yellow Soft, purple Ultrasoft and pink Hypersoft. Here's which compounds every driver still has available for the race.
Pirelli also revealed the quickest strategy for the race:
“Quickest strategy on paper is a one-stopper. Start on ultrasoft for 15 laps, then soft to the end.
Almost as quick: start on hypersoft for 9 laps, then soft to the end.
A two-stopper is also possible, but slower. Start on hypersoft for 7 laps, then two 23-lap stints on soft. Or start on ultrasoft for 10 laps, then 21 laps on soft, and a final 22-lap stint on soft.”
As for the power unit changes and penalties ahead of the Grand Prix, let’s overview the below list.
- Brendon Hartley - new turbocharger(TC) and motor generator unit-neat(MGU-H)
- Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly - new internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger (TC), motor generator unit-neat(MGU-H), motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K)
- Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso - new internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger (TC), motor generator unit-neat(MGU-H), motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K), energy store (ES), control electronics (CE)
- The following drivers will start the GP with new gearboxes: Stoffel Vandoorne, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
Alonso and both Toro Rosso drivers got penalties for engine changes, Red Bull drivers got penalties for engine and gearbox changes, Vandoorne got penalty for a new gearbox.
And lastly, take a look at the starting grid for the Russian Grand Prix (Note that Max Verstappen also has a 3 place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags during qualifying) :
|
1st row |
1° – Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes – 1.31.387s |
2° – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 1.31.532s |
|
2nd row |
3° – Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari – 1.31.943s |
4° – Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari – 1.32.237s |
|
3rd row |
5° – Kevin Magnussen, Haas – 1.33.181s |
6° – Esteban Ocon, Racing Point Force India – 1.33.413s |
|
4th row |
7° – Charles Leclerc, Sauber – 1.33.419s |
8° – Sergio Perez, Racing Point Force India – 1.33.563s |
|
5th row |
9° – Romain Grosjean, Haas – 1.33.704s |
10° – Marcus Ericsson, Sauber – 1.35.196s |
|
6th row |
11° – Carlos Sainz, Renault – no time |
12° – Nico Hulkenberg, Renault – no time |
|
7th row |
13° – Sergey Sirotkin , Williams – 1.35.612s |
14° – Lance Stroll, Williams – 1.36.437s |
|
8th row |
15° – Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren – 1.35.977s – 5 place grid penalty |
16° – Fernando Alonso, McLaren – 1.35.504s – start from the back of the grid |
|
9th row |
17° – Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso – no time – start from the back of the grid |
18° – Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull – no time – start from the back of the grid + 5 place grid penalty |
|
10th row |
19° – Max Verstappen, Red Bull – no time – start from the back of the grid + 5 + 3 place grid penalty |
20° – Brendon Hartley, Toro Rosso – 1.35.037s – start from the back of the grid + 10 place grid penalty |