Five minutes to go in this first part of qualifying with everyone in the pits. The drivers in the elimination zone are:

16) Ocon

17) Raikkonen

18) Giovinazzi

19) Grosjean

20) Latifi

Better now from Lewis Hamilton as he avoids falling foul of that tricky turn two to clock a 1::32.983 and go second quickest, three tenths slower than Valtteri Bottas.

No representative times yet from either Romain Grosjean or Nicholas Latifi.

PhilSlocombe: Bottas for pole in Russia and for the win, he isn't going to hand the championship to Hamilton. On his day, he is the only driver capable of beating Hamilton.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

McLaren driver Lando Norris will continue with the team’s new nose and front wing design for qualifying and race.

The design is not a big step forward in its current form, but there are further aerodynamic developments to come that should make the performance gain more significant. The rush to get the nose on the car before the whole package is ready has come about because of the rule changes introduced to try to lessen the effect of coronavirus on F1. Teams are required to homologate certain parts of the car by the end of September if they want to use them next year, and McLaren feel this new nose design gives them greater aerodynamic development potential through 2021.

What’s different about it? It uses a device called a ‘cape’, a horizontal piece of bodywork under the nose that helps shape the airflow as it heads backwards over the car towards the crucial ‘bargeboard area’ in front of the side pods. The cape is a device pioneered by Mercedes in 2017 and is gaining favour among other teams - Red Bull adopted it for this year, Renault are moving in that direction and now McLaren, too.

Carlos Sainz is third quickest, 1.3 seconds down on Valtteri Bottas' time. Charles Leclerc is P4 (1:33.967) with Daniel Ricciardo P5 (1:34.344).

Quite a few scrappy laps out there with drivers running wide. George Russell did say the track felt different and so it appears to be proving.

Actually, scrap that. Lewis Hamilton has had his time deleted for exceeding track limits, so no time yet from the Briton.

Instead, Sergio Perez is second quickest with 1:33.704.

Valtteri Bottas sets the pace with a 1:32.656 with Lewis Hamilton second quickest on 1:34.265 - not a great run through the middle and final sectors by the reigning world champion.

"The track is very, very different," reports George Russell.

There's much head scratching in the BBC commentary booth as George Russell goes out on medium tyres. Everyone else who is heading out now is going out on softs.

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

One of the key things to consider during a qualifying lap around Sochi are the brakes as you've got a long run down to the first significant corner which is turn two.

There's also a tricky few turns towards the end of the lap but turn 15 has been catching out some drivers so far in the practice sessions.

Lewis Hamilton is going for a record-equalling 91st career win this weekend, and securing pole position will give him a strong chance of achieving just that.

The first part of qualifying is under way with George Russell the first to head out.

How many espressos does Valtteri down during a race weekend do you think?

Audio coverage from Jennie Gow and the team is under way now. Tune in via the top of this page.

Chris Lord: Pole position isn’t a disadvantage when you are bound to have a team-mate along side who won’t put it down the inside of you, didn’t do it at Spa, and didn’t do it at Mugello third start when it most mattered. Lights to flag for Hamilton for 91st win.

Image source, Getty Images

Last year's qualifying saw Ferrari come out on top, with Charles Leclerc taking pole, accompanied by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton on the front row.

The final part of qualifying was electric, becoming a shootout between Mercedes and Ferrari for pole.

Leclerc took provisional pole with his team-mate Sebastian Vettel just over three tenths behind, with both Mercedes lurking just behind. On the second set of flying laps, Vettel pushed hard to take pole from his team-mate but just couldn't quite do it as Leclerc further improved his time to take his fourth pole in a row.

Mercedes looked out of contention but Hamilton put in a blistering final sector to take a surprise place away from Vettel, allowing him to push the Ferrari's for the win come the Sunday.

Stephen Taylor: I fancy Ricciardo or one of the Mclarens for P3 . Verstappen looks vulnerable to them and it's practically a given Albon will not outpace Verstappen. The same for Ocon with Ricciardo . Kimi for another Q2 . I also fancy Vettel against Leclerc today.

James: Danny Ric!

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes and Ferrari have taken 16 of 18 podium places in Russia to date.

The only exceptions were Valtteri Bottas, who was third in 2014 for Williams, and Sergio Perez, who finished third for Force India in 2015.