Verstappen fastest in second practice, Hamilton nearly crashes into Albon
Leclerc fastest in first practice, Kvyat breaks down at home race, Ricciardo crashes
Get involved #bbcf1
Verstappen goes off wide at Turn Two. He goes over the sausage kerbs.
Speaking of sausage kerbs, Alex Peroni who was launched into the air by a sausage kerb the Formula 3 crash in Monza isn't fit to drive yet after vertebra damage, and David Schumacher (Ralf's son, and Michael's nephew) is sitting in for him this weekend.
"Tyres are still all good."
Remember last year at Sochi?
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Robert Kubica spins. He may or may not have made a mess of those tyres.
"Yeah all ok." he says.
"Is everything OK on the car?"
Pit crew: "We are checking, we are checking...all looks OK at the moment."
Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live
A lot more encouraging for Verstappen and Red Bull.
A big chunk of time found on that last lap.
Verstappen is just absolutely going for it.
Image source, Getty ImagesA ski resort in winter, a beach resort on the Black Sea in summer.
Hills in the background, not too many spectators in the stands.
Russia.
Image source, Getty ImagesP11 and P16 for the McLarens.
The top five stand:
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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
This is something of a favourite race for Valtteri Bottas. He has never qualified outside the top three here in his entire career, never behind a team-mate, and was on pole last year.
“It gives confidence to come into a weekend when you know previously it’s been one of the good tracks for you,” the Finn said.
“So that’s obviously a nicer way to start the weekend but always, in every case, you start from zero. Every season, every track changes a little bit, every car is always different every year, so setup, everything is different, so you’re starting from zero – but for sure, we have a good mindset coming here, knowing that it’s been good in the past. I don’t know, just since the first year coming here I’ve found a good flow on the track and haven’t really had many problematic corners or anything, so been on the pace. Obviously, there’s always things I can do better this year than last year and that will be the aim.”
Image source, Getty ImagesWe've had long enough this season to decide who's hot and who's not - 15 rounds to be exact.
Which drivers have impressed you? And what about their qualifying record against their team-mate.
Get involved the usual way #bbcf1.
Sebastian Vettel takes receipt of his new helmet for the Russian Grand Prix...
That looks more like a crate of beer to me.
Image source, Getty ImagesRealistically it seemed like a good economical decision to revive a once-thriving city by bringing big sporting events there.
In the 1920s Sochi was a desirable holiday resort for wealthy Russians to enjoy spa treatments by the beach after the malaria-infested swamps were turned into a nature reserve.
Under Soviet rule it became the number-one holiday resort on the Black Sea – as the ski season doesn’t begin until December – directly opposite Bulgaria’s lovely Sunny Beach if anyone has been there.
But after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, Sochi went into decline, and people turned to cheaper package holidays outside of Russia instead.
However, Lonely Planet, external makes it look quite nice these days...
Image source, Getty Images"Can we stop? Try something on the front wing and do it again?"
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
The result of Singapore could have led to tensions at Ferrari, given the man who had taken pole and led the first part of the race, was leapfrogged by his team-mate, who was given a better strategy, against all F1 convention.
But both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were on their best behaviour on Thursday. Leclerc took it upon himself to say he had been at fault for complaining on the radio when he saw Vettel in front of him - I just need to control myself more in these situations and, how can I say it politely, just shut up instead of speaking on the radio,” he said - and Vettel said he would probably have been “equally upset” if the positions were reversed.
Which was a change of position from after the race in Singapore, when he had ducked a question on this very subject - from yours truly, as it happens. If they had scripted it, it could not have come across much better.
Image source, Getty ImagesCharles Leclerc has apologised for losing his cool at Singapore.
He certainly looks to have regained it at Sochi - strike a pose Charles, there's nothing to it.
Image source, Getty ImagesLeclerc goes quickest, followed by Vettel. They are 0.5 sec apart.
Typically, Mercedes have been successful here, winning every race since 2014.
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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
In addition to the Honda engine changes, Robert Kubica also has a new engine, turbo and MGU-H, which takes him over the limit on all those parts and means a penalty. But he was going to be at the back anyway, so it's rather academic.
Image source, Getty ImagesDoug Blues F1: #bbcf1 is formula 1 becoming that boring that the most exciting thing you can talk about is frying an egg on a tyre
Yeah, why not?