So Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen top the two practice sessions for today, and as Toto Wolff says, Mercedes are off the pace.

Speaking in the press conference yesterday, Hamilton said he hasn't yet done a perfect lap this season and he believes he can "squeeze more out of the car, more out of [himself]", so what can we expect for tomorrow?

Read Andrew Benson's report, and listen to the Chequered Flag podcast and we'll be back tomorrow from 09:30 BST.

Image source, Getty Images

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team boss, is speaking to Sky Sports: "Negative day to put it bluntly. We are off the pace and struggling to find the right form. We haven't really improved, we didn't put a lot of effort into developing the car so that might be a reason and it seems like other have dis-proportionally gained and we haven't.

The last three races were not able to qualify on pole anymore, we were lacking the straight-line speed and not being able to make it up in the corners."

Is it Bottas' circuit? "I think this is really Valtteri's track. The mirror like surface is what he likes and he's very fast here" Wolff says. "If we manager to unlock the potential in car for the race, he has the potential to win."

Max Verstappen says: "The last sector has been really good and the car comes alive. It's important especially because in Singapore it was a struggle."

Verstappen says he's not disappointed about the penalties, and added: "Let's see on the weather, hopefully the car will work in the wet, from today it's looking positive [for us]."

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

Do you think it is a straight fight between Verstappen and Leclerc?

"No, because Verstappen has got a five-place grid drop.

"I would go for Leclerc v Bottas...with a wildcard of Verstappen, Hamilton or Vettel."

So it's anyone's race then Jolyon?

"Slow down. Slow the car, slow the car, we have a problem."

HOUSTON!

Alex Albon slots in 10th for his final lap of the day, 2.054 sec away from his team-mate up in the number one spot. Granted, he didn't have a lot of running in this session.

Pierre Gasly getting rowdy at a Ferrari in his way. Lots of swearing over the radio.

Final laps of the day.

Looks like Max Verstappen is going to win this one.

Re 14:15, ahhh there we go.

Lewis Hamilton just narrowly missed taking out Alex Albon.

Hamilton overtook on the inside on of the bend... like one of those annoying drivers who undertake on the motorway, and then scowl at you through the window.

The Red Bull pit crew spent much of FP2 trying to fix floor damage in Alex Albon's car.

By the looks of these pictures, it's pretty clear the floor of the Red Bull was dragging on the surface of the Sochi track. Not ideal...

Image source, Reuters

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

In response to Norris' radio message...

They're raised, whereas the red and white painted ones are flat.

If you can take that, sometimes it can put a lot of energy into the gear box and the drive shaft. The more you use them you can go quicker through Turn Two, but at what cost.

Engineer: "Max, your rear brake balance is set to minus two."

"How did that happen?"

When is "long run corner with Andrew Benson" going to start?

"Lando you've been doing the right thing, please continue to stay off the orange kerbs."

Image source, Getty Images

Claire Cottingham
BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

Good news for Alex Albon, they have put the car back together after the team have reported some floor damage. It looks like he's got his tyres back on and his front wing so it looks like he's going to go out for the last 10 minutes.

The Russian Grand Prix preview is up with the team.

Download it here.

Image source, .

Max Verstappen goes off the track at Turn Two, but he manages to avoid binning it into the wall.

Hards are the C2, mediums are C3, and softs and C4.

Image source, Pirelli