Russian Grand Prix LIVE: Updates as Charles Leclerc starts on pole, Lewis Hamilton second

11.20: Hamilton hopeful

Lewis Hamilton hasn’t tasted victory since winning the Hungarian Grand Prix at the beginning of August.

But he’s eyeing up that first major corner at the end of the straight.

“They [Ferrari] are on a lower drag level plus they have that power so we had to try something,” Hamilton said.

“The team have done a really good job with putting us in that position.

“It is a long way down to Turn One and it’s not the best to start on the harder tyre. But I will try to tow the hell out of Charles down to Turn One.”

11.10: Leclerc concerned

With an hour to go to race time, let’s get a bit of a view from the drivers.

Pole sitter Charles Leclerc is happy to be on top but knows he will face a challenge defending it.

He said after qualifying: “The car felt amazing and it feels great to be back on pole but I don’t know whether it is the best track to start on pole – the straight is very long after the start.

“It feels very, very special but I don’t want to think about stats for now. I just want to focus on the job.

“There is a long way to go tomorrow and it is a good start. We have been competitive all weekend and the race simulation seems good too.”

11.00: 2018 recap

Lewis Hamilton was victorious on this track 12 months ago with arguably his luckiest victory of the year.

Team-mate Valtteri Bottas outclassed him across the whole weekend but Mercedes told the Finn to move over.

That allowed Hamilton to maximise his championship points total.

It helped with the Brit waltzing his way to his fifth world championship.

10.45: Race information

The race doesn’t actually get underway for another hour and a half or so.

The Sochi Autodrom is the fourth-longest circuit on the Formula One calendar at 3.634 miles.

We are set for 53 laps with 18 corners at the track.

Overtaking chances are reasonable with a long straight from the start.

10.30: Hello and welcome

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are reading from.

Express Sport are here for live coverage of the Russian Grand Prix.

Can Ferrari end Mercedes’ stranglehold on the race with the constructor winning in Sochi for each of the past five seasons?

I don’t know but we will find out over the next few hours.

source: express.co.uk