SOCHI: World championship leader Lewis Hamilton continued to dominate with a sizzling lap on Saturday to put his Mercedes on pole position for the inaugural Russian Grand Prix with team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg having to settle for second.

The 29-year-old Briton, winner of the last three Grands Prix, earned his seventh pole of the season and 38th of his career by beating Rosberg by two-tenths of a second at the new Sochi Autodrom, but he felt he could have done better on a new circuit that snakes around the Sochi Winter Olympic park.

“It wasn’t a perfect lap I think there was more time in it,” said the 2008 champion, who leads Rosberg by 10 points with four races remaining.

“The track surface is great, very smooth but it’s got a lot of grip. The kerbs are done nicely and the surroundings, being around the Olympic Park is quite an incredible place.”

Hamilton is seeking his ninth victory of the season and Mercedes can wrap up their first constructors title if one of its drivers wins Sunday’s race.

“Pole is a great place to start from and the team have done a great job,” said Hamilton.

German Rosberg pushed hard to catch Hamilton, but was almost overhauled by Finn Valtteri Bottas in the final seconds. Williams’ Bottas was faster than Hamilton for two sectors in his last lap but then went wide in the last corner and stayed third.

“I didn’t know at that time it was close to the pole,” he said. “I risked it a bit too much in last two corners, went a bit wide and when you go off, it’s really slippery.”

McLaren’s Jenson Button completed the second row while Daniil Kvyat, the only current Russian Formula One driver, will have the home crowd excited after taking fifth place for the Toro Rosso team.

Ferrari, whose record run of 81 successive races in the points ended in Japan, and outgoing champions Red Bull had a difficult session.

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen qualified eighth and ninth while Australian Daniel Ricciardo struggled to take seventh in the leading Red Bull but team-mate and quadruple champion German Sebastian Vettel managed only 11th.

“He just didn’t get the balance and the lap,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner, whose team are likely to pass their champions’ crown to Mercedes on Sunday.

Brazilian Felipe Massa fared even worse, with an engine problem dumping the Williams driver out in the first phase and leaving him 18th on the grid.

Published in Dawn, October 12th , 2014