Ben McPhillips, external: Great effort from Hamilton and Kvyat! Shame for Bottas, but he had nothing to lose. Nice to see Button 4th.

Abi Paterson, external: Imagine if Bottas hadn't spun then. Could he have split the Mercedes? This is going to be an immense race tomorrow.

James Bamford, external: Wow Bottas, so close! Great to see Jenson up there again, madness if he doesn't race next year. Should be a good race tomorrow

Image source, Getty Images

Russian Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat, who qualifies an impressive fifth: "Yes! Come on!"

1) Lewis Hamilton 2) Nico Rosberg 3) Valtteri Bottas 4) Jenson Button 5) Daniil Kvyat 6) Kevin Magnussen 7) Daniel Ricciardo 8) Fernando Alonso 9) Kimi Raikkonen 10) Jean-Eric Vergne

11) Sebastian Vettel 12) Nico Hulkenberg 13) Sergio Perez 14) Esteban Gutierrez 15) Adrian Sutil 16) Romain Grosjean

17) Marcus Ericsson 18) Felipe Massa 19) Kamui Kobayashi 20) Pastor Maldonado 21) Max Chilton

Image source, Getty Images

Valtteri Bottas was so unlucky, the Finn got out of shape in the penultimate corner and then lost the rear in the final turn, slipping wide and losing a bunch of time.

Lewis Hamilton takes pole position for the Russian Grand Prix.

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton improves again with a 1:38.513 to extend his lead at the top of the pile to four tenths of a second. Nico Rosberg improve, too, but he's still two tenths off the pace. Valtteri Bottas, though, is flying! He's fastest of all in the first two sectors? Could this be his first F1 pole? Could it?

Joseph, external: The first corner looks like it will be amazing at the start of the race tomorrow. A good get off the line needed!

Jacques, external: Did anyone see the great drivers of the past struggling with the balance of a car for a whole season, like Vettel is?

Amy Brown, external: Come on, Lewis. You can do this! #TeamLH

Lewis Hamilton's race engineer: "It looks like the track is dropping away - the track is slowing."

Stunning stuff from Valttero Bottas, who stays third but is just 0.006 seconds behind the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.

1) Ham 2) Ros 3) Bot 4) But 5) Ric 6) Alo 7) Kvy 8) Ver 9) Rai 10) Mag

Lewis Hamilton go fastest in the first and third sectors to move to the top of the pile, with a 1:38.647. Nico Rosberg tries to hit back, but he makes two clear mistakes and he crosses the line two tenths of a second off the pace. He'll have at least one more go, maybe two.

Better lap from Daniel Ricciardo to go fourth in the Red Bull. Meanwhile, Jenson Button heads for the pits. Had he got a problem? Everyone bar the McLarens are out on track.

Image source, Getty Images

Nico Rosberg takes some of the pressure off his shoulders with a solid 1:38.946 to go quickest, with Valtteri Bottas going second and Jenson Button third. Lewis Hamilton is bumped down to sixth.

Fear not, though, Hamilton fans. These soft tyres are proving to be very durable and the quickest laps don't tend to come until a few laps into the run.

Lewis Hamilton goes quicker, but it's an average 1:39.980, a few thousandths clear of Daniel Ricciardo.

Daniel Ricciardo sets the early pace, the Red Bull driver clocking a 1:40.076, but the Mercedes drivers have yet to complete a timed lap.

Let the battle for pole position begin!

Mercedes on Twitter, external: Who's your money on? It's going to be a tense 12 minutes! #RussiaWithLove

1) Hamilton 2) Rosberg 3) Bottas 4) Magnussen 5) Kvyat 6) Button 7) Ricciardo 8) Alonso 9) Raikkonen 10) Vergne

"Unfortunately, Seb has not managed to get a lap together with a balance he is happy with," says Red Bull boss Christian Horner. "We have not heard too much from him. Unfortunately he couldn't do a lap which was good enough."

Since Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull announced that their partnership will finish at the end of this season, relations appear frosty.

"OK Sebastian, P11, we're done," said the German's race engineer Rocky, who then throws his pen to the floor. Normally, there's plenty of chat and banter between the two.

Janine Pingree, external: I think @LewisHamilton has been pinching Vettel's Red Bull drinks & putting them in his fuel tank!

Ben McPhillips, external: McLaren and Toro Rosso definitely looking more competitive than usual this weekend.

Emma, external: Wow can't believe Vettel didn't make top 10!! But good on Jenson Button for making it into Q3.