World Championship leader Nico Rosberg may be in the ideal position to secure his seventh consecutive victory but the German says he is remaining "focused" on "getting the job done".

"Yesterday was a special day," the Mercedes driver said. "The car felt amazing - it was really feeling great out there."

More of the same today and he'll be disappearing way, way into the distance...

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Points for McLaren in Russia? It’s a tall order. Jenson Button was only 0.095secs from making it into Q3 for the first time in McLaren’s new partnership with Honda, and Fernando Alonso only 0.1secs behind, but they are 12th and 14th on the grid. And Button admitted the race will be tougher for them. 

"A lot of fuel saving, which is going to hurt us," he said, the Honda engine still lacking fuel efficiency as well as overall power. It could be a long afternoon.

Image source, Reuters

Watch BBC Radio 5 live's Tom Clarkson and Jack Nicholls talking about today's Russian Grand Prix and its location around the 2014 Winter Olympic stadiums in Sochi on the Black Sea coast.  

Mark Gallagher
BBC Radio 5 live Formula 1 analyst

Nico Rosberg would appear to have a safe afternoon of motoring ahead of him but there is going to be an awful lot of action behind him.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

If Valtteri Bottas can covert his second place on the grid to a second-placed finish, it will match the best results of his career at the British and German GPs in 2014.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

There are unlikely to be any surprises on strategy. Before the weekend, engineers were predicting it was going to be a simple one-stop race, starting on super-softs and switching to softs. And so it has proved. 

Pirelli says there is no significant time difference no matter which way around the tyres are used. If a driver starts on the super-softs, expect stops around lap 18; on the softs, it will be lap 35 or so. 

Lewis Hamilton says one-stop races are ‘crap for TV and crap for racing’. But not everyone would agree. The low-abrasion asphalt means drivers can push much closer to the limit for much longer in Russia than at any other race; tyre management is much less of an issue. Many purists would say that’s the way it should be - and that’s what F1 bosses hope will come back with the new tyres being designed for 2017.

Image source, .

Here's the layout of the Sochi track - of which we'll see 53 laps.

Some big long straights in there, plus that rather odd left-hand horse shoe affair at Turn Three. Must feel a little nauseating that one.

Turn Two caught out so many drivers during practice and qualifying.

Not too taxing on the tyres this one, so the super softs will get a good run out.

One-stop strategies a possibility? Very much so.

Eyes on Max Verstappen right now. His Toro Rosso made an awful noise as he started it up to leave the pit lane just now.

He's going around the track but is on the radio saying they'll need to take a look.

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Thirty minutes until lights out!

Coverage is live on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra right now. You can also listen in by using the Live Coverage tab on this page - so don't go anywhere!

Image source, Reuters

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, AFP

Times are tough for Sauber right now. Already this season, team principal Monisha Kaltenborn - who is not in Sochi - has denied rumours that the team might not make it to the end of the season, so great are their financial troubles. And Marcus Ericsson qualified at the very back for the race. 

Team-mate Felipe Nasr was also knocked out in Q1 but is 19th, and happier because he is more comfortable in the car - after being given a new chassis following his insistence that something was wrong in the first three races. Sporting director Beat Zehnder admitted over the weekend in Russia that the financial strain of the 2017 rule changes was ‘really difficult’. The Swiss team - in their 24th season - face an uncertain future.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, afp

Williams have started the season slowly, but things are looking up for them so far in Sochi. 

A new nose and front wing have helped the car, and on a track on which they have always gone well, Sebastian Vettel’s five-place penalty means a front-row grid slot for Valtteri Bottas, who benefited from the second Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen messing up his final qualifying lap. Again. 

Bottas, whose team-mate Felipe Massa starts fourth, is aiming for the team’s first podium of the year, but with both Vettel and Lewis Hamilton coming at him from behind, and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo also believing he can beat the Williams cars, he knows it will not be easy.

"Good progress with the new bits we put in the car but also the track is good for us," he said. "We need to try to turn it into a podium somehow. It is going to be tricky because there are some very fast cars being us out of position but it’s possible.”

What can you offer to change Lewis' luck?

The answer? More unicorns.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

"This has been an uncomfortable weekend for Ferrari, to bring to an end an equally difficult start to the season. Not only have there been reliability problems, but, even worse, they have been pretty much as far away from Mercedes as they have ever been since the start of 2015. 

"But at least Sebastian Vettel has kept his sense of humour intact. Asked about this by a veteran German reporter after qualifying, Vettel laughed: 'I don’t know. Bloody Germans! Always pessimistic. Show some optimism! I think it’s only three and a half races. We’ve, had, yeah, quite a trip so far with not everything going according to plan. We could have won the first race if things go a little bit different. So overall, it’s not so bad.

"We have shown great pace, especially on Sunday, and that’s where you get the points. We know that we need to work and we are pushing very hard – but it’s not so easy. Mercedes is doing a great job, those two guys driving the car are going a good job, so it’s a difficult team to beat. 

"We are not playing… it’s not a kindergarten, I think it’s for grown-ups and therefore the challenge is tough – but ultimately we want to be the best so we need to be ready to tackle the best and, so far, we’re very optimistic we can turn it around.’”

Toto Wolff is on Sky Sports and has just been asked about people on social media who are suggesting that Mercedes are sabotaging Lewis Hamilton.

His response?

"I won't respond to lunatics."

Strong stuff.

Image source, Getty Images

A few of you, quite rightly, have mentioned that Ayrton Senna was not the only man to lose his life on that weekend in San Marino 22 years ago.

We didn't overlook the memory of Roland Ratzenberger - we paid respect to his memory yesterday, as that was the anniversary of his death.

The Austrian's career may not have been as illustrious as his Brazilian counterpart, but the Simtek driver's death was as much of a driving force for the advances in safety around head and neck protection.

It's a sobering thought when we consider the debate around halos and aeroscreens.

Image source, Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton posted this on his Instagram account last night, before he learned that he would not receive a grid penalty for adjustments to his power unit.

Here is the full text. I'll let you decide if it's naff or not:

There is light even in the darkest of days. That little glimmer of light in the distance holds hope and is the light of our salvation. I see that light on days like these and use it as my compass. Wherever you are, and whatever you are going through, never stop believing in that light. I promise you, it will guide you to a brighter day. #keepbelieving #nevergiveup #light #fight #TeamLH

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, AP

"Lewis Hamilton has a tattoo across his shoulders that says: ‘Still I rise’. It is a sentiment he was leaning on heavily on Saturday afternoon after the latest blow to his 2016 title hopes. 

"'There is still a long way to go,' he said, as he pondered starting from 10th on the grid in a race just two days before he had effectively said he needed to win. 

'Once again, always trying to turn the negatives into positives. It is another big challenge and the challenge is becoming great but every challenge is an opportunity to rise. I quite like that approach and idea. Even when it seems like it’s the darkest of days, there is always some light there and as long as you focus on that there will always be a brighter day ahead. That is what is going to power me forward.'"