Image source, Formula 1

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton is second on the grid behind his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and believes leapfrogging the German at the start is his best chance of winning.

"The great thing about racing is you never know what happens at the start. I'll try to get away as clean as possible," he said.

"The start is where you can a big difference."

Stoffel Vandoorne was this morning crowned GP2 champion. What next for the Belgian? Formula 1 in 2016?

Image source, Getty Images

I know, I know. I'm being presumptions here, but say McLaren don't win today, it will tie their all-time longest winless streak.

The 53-race run will equal the same interval between James Hunt’s 1977 Japanese GP win and John Watson’s 1981 British GP victory.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

“Jenson Button produced what he said was possibly his best qualifying performance of the year to get into second qualifying on merit (beating Fernando Alonso by more than 0.4secs) and end up 13th. He beat Fernando Alonso, who was quicker on the first runs, by more than 0.4secs, the Spaniard saying: ‘I was not fast enough. I felt better on the fist set of tyres; on the second I didn’t find the same grip. 

"But it will be a difficult race for both McLaren drivers. Button explained that Sochi is one of the tracks where the penalty of Honda’s shortage off hybrid boost - it runs out before the end of the straights, robbing the car of more than 160bhp - is at its biggest. ‘It costs us a lot of lap time around here and you also use more fuel because you have less deployment than other people,’ Button said, ‘so fuel is also an issue for us, in terms of not having enough in the car.’ 

"Alonso starts from the back after a grid penalty of 35 places for using too many engine components. Even if they are in good positions after the start, they face a very tough fight to stop rivals passing them on the straights.”

BBC One

Image source, BBC Sport

We are up and running with live build up to the race on BBC One, that fantastically familiar sound of The Chain making Sunday mornings that bit better once again right now. Remember you can also watch on this page too.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

“Fernando Alonso is celebrating his 250th grand prix this weekend, even though a couple of statistical anomalies mean it won’t actually be his 250th race, but rather the 249th or 248th, depending on how you look at it. Leaving that aside, the official F1 website put out a tweet about the Spaniard’s statistics last night that brought home just what a fantastic career he has had.

“Thirty-two wins - sixth in the all-time list; 97 podiums - third in history; 179 points finishes - second; 84 races led - fourth. Those are impressive enough, even before you start to think about how rarely Alonso has had the best car.

“And how rarely is that? Well, you can’t ever say it for sure. It’s arguable in his two title-winning years of 2005 (when Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren was faster than his Renault, but less reliable) and 2006 (when the Renault and Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari were very close); and perhaps 2007 (even if the careers of the four drivers involved since suggest strongly that the Ferrari driven by Raikkonen and Felipe Massa was better than the McLaren driven by Alonso and Lewis Hamilton). Other than that? No.

"It’s Alonso's consistency, relentlessness, completeness and unquenchable racing spirit that impress even beyond his enormous talent. Not that he’s been able to demonstrate much of any of those qualities in this year’s McLaren-Honda.”

The Spanish samurai is here again...

McLaren's Fernando Alonso may be starting from the back after his 35-place grid penalty but the Spaniard is in good spirits on the occasion of his 250th grand prix.

"We'll try to have some fun - we have nothing to lose so let's see how it goes."

Former Toyota and Marussia driver Timo Glock is in Sochi working for German television and has made a visit to the Manor garage...

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

“Each Formula 1 season starts with two world titles up for grabs and it would be a major shock if one of them was not settled in Sochi this afternoon. 

"Mercedes need to score only three points more than Ferrari in this race to seal a second consecutive constructors’ title and with the front row locked about the silver cars and the Ferraris nowhere near them on pace, it is hard to see how that will not happen. 

"‘Of course the constructors’ championship is a really important target for us this weekend,’ said Nico Rosberg, who beat Lewis Hamilton to pole for only the third time in 15 races. ‘It would be amazing to clinch it for the second time so early on in the season – so we’re out to do that, but at the same time, of course, I’m out here to try to reduce the gap to Lewis in terms of points.’”

Whatever happens with regards to the battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton on the circuit in Sochi, Mercedes will, in all likelihood, be celebrating a world title today...

The Sun on Sunday focuses on Carlos Sainz's crash in practice and the reaction to it among the drivers, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel describing it as "shocking to see" while McLaren's Jenson Button said: "We shouldn't be able to go under the barriers because then they are not doing what they are supposed to, which is slow you down before you hit something hard."

Image source, Sun on Sunday

We're all delighted to see Carlos Sainz fit and well at the circuit and the Toro Rosso driver has been speaking in the drivers' parade about his accident and how he's feeling now:

"I feel good, I feel very positive and I really want to race - I am going for it.

"It was obviously very scary, maybe more from the outside. Just to let you know, I was always conscious and trying to get the barrier off my head and contact the team.

"I have to learn because I have only done 15 laps in the dry.

"I feel a bit stiff but I am OK."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Formula1.com

Is Carlos Sainz a little shaken up? I know I would be. Judging by his beaming smile during the drivers' parade I guess not...

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

“Understandably, the main topic of discussion after qualifying was the nasty accident suffered by Carlos Sainz - and in particular the fact that the car ended up underneath the Tecpro impact-absorbing barriers. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel said: ‘It was shocking to see he was so deep in the barriers and that he was covered by barriers. The idea is for the barriers not to come on top of you or the car going under the barriers. It's something we need to understand.’ 

“Jenson Button said: ‘It definitely needs to be looked at. We shouldn’t be able to go underneath the barriers because then the barrier is not doing what it’s made to do, which is slow you down before you hit something hard. He did hit the Armco barrier and pushed that back quite a bit. Tecpro works very well if you hit it sideways on but with the nose of the car being quite low, it obviously just picked it up.  In that situation it’s perhaps not as good as other options. It’s a tricky one to know what the best compromise is and work out what is the best way forward. Safety is improving all the time and there is always room for improvement and we definitely need to see that as soon as possible.’

“Fernando Alonso, though, did point out that ‘after a big impact he is OK, so everything did the job, so there is a lot of positives from the accident.’”

BBC One

Build-up and race coverage of theRussian Grand Prixgets under way onBBC Oneat 11:00 BST, with commentary onBBC Radio 5 livefrom 11:55 BST. You can also watch and/or listen online via this page too.

The race itself gets under way at 12:00 BST.

You can see how Carlos Sainz's crash unfolded here.