Beside the Black Sea, close to the Caucasus mountains, racing cars rushed round the Sochi Autodrom, but even by Formula One’s fabulous standards everything felt surreal, everyone felt strangely unmoored.
This could partly be explained by the unfamiliarity of the surroundings, for this is Russia’s first F1 grand prix, and partly by the tightening of security measures before the arrival of Vladimir Putin at the lavish circuit, something that jars the conscience and prompts difficult questions about the sport’s presence here. The situation in Ukraine has slipped from the top of the news agenda in recent weeks, which has helped the people who run F1.
Mostly, though, the feelings of anxiety revolved around thoughts of Jules Bianchi, the French driver who remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Yokkaichi following his crash in a Suzuka downpour a week ago.
When Bianchi’s name is mentioned here, gnarled old professionals look down and shake their heads with sad despair. The FIA, the sport’s ruling body, placed a graphic on the track by the exit of the final corner. “Jules we are all supporting you,” it read. All the drivers wore stickers on their helmets, declaring: “Tous Avec Jules.”
After qualifying, a moment of fist-pumping exultation for the most successful drivers, the paddock atmosphere was subdued to the point of forlornness, and Formula One drivers are as tough as they come.
Lewis Hamilton, who clinched pole position in a compelling qualifying session, best summed up the prevailing mood here. “It’s something I’m trying my hardest not to think too much about,” Mercedes’ championship-leading driver said after claiming his seventh pole position this season, and 38th of his career.
“We all know it’s tough for everyone here. I already said, getting into the car this weekend has been the weirdest and one of the most difficult in my racing career. But we need to keep the pedal down and keep going. I hope we have a strong, positive race and everyone is safe.
“People I might just think we are a bunch of overpaid kids and we’re just going out and playing. But there’s not a second that I get in the car that I’m not fully aware of the dangers ahead of me.”
Mercedes need 25 points (another win and they will have won a dozen races this season) to clinch the constructors’ championship. Hamilton might well make it four in a row with his ninth win of the year but no one was talking about that in the pale sunshine of a Sochi autumn. All week Marussia, Bianchi’s team for whom this represents their home race, have shown great strength at a terrible time. Max Chilton will be their sole representative on the grid here.
A clearly distressed Chilton, who qualified last of the 21 drivers but will start 20th because of a penalty for Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado, said: “The fact is it’s not the same without my team-mate. It’s been a tough weekend and one that hasn’t got any easier as we’ve progressed towards the race. I’m grateful for having the whole team around me, as I think that it is helping all of us to focus.”
Dave Greenwood, Marussia’s chief engineer, said: “It has been another day of digging deep, in order to focus on the immediate job in hand here in Sochi.
“Yesterday we made mention of the strength of the team, but today brought home to us the burden on Max’s shoulders. This is a brand new circuit and the first barometer for a driver is always his teammate in equal equipment. Max is flying solo here.
“We compounded that challenge with a driveshaft problem that caused him to lose a chunk of this morning’s FP3 session. The challenge hasn’t become any easier this week, and the race will certainly be tougher still, but hopefully we’ll find strength in the fact that, tomorrow, all of us, including Max, will be racing for Jules.”
There is still a race to be run and once the drivers pull on their helmets more important issues will disappear for a couple of hours. Nico Rosberg, Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate and rival for the world title, has been on the back foot as the British driver has taken a grip on the championship to build a 10-point lead. Rosberg said: “Today Lewis was quicker – all weekend actually. Tomorrow I have to try to get close, but I didn’t manage to get closer than two-tenths.”
Valtteri Bottas would have taken pole but for a mistake in the final sector and Mercedes were well aware of their good fortune. Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ motorsport director, said: “We were lucky he made a mistake, maybe just overdrove the car. We’re one-two, so there are reasons to be happy. Lewis deserves to be on pole. It was a good lap.”
“Valtteri was amazing,” said Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams. “He’s had a glint in his eye all weekend. He has clearly got to grips with this track quite quickly. He just lost it going into the final corner. We don’t mind. We like a trier at Williams. He was fighting all the way.”
Outside of the top three, Jenson Button was fourth in his McLaren, the veteran’s second best grid slot of the year. The Russian driver Daniil Kvyat conjured his best qualifying performance of his debut season with Toro Rosso as the Russian secured fifth. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen qualified sixth, but drops five places to 11th courtesy of a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
There remains pressure on the FIA to improve driver safety in the wake of Bianchi’s misfortune and the sport’s governing body has said it would experiment with speed limits under difficult conditions on the Friday before the next race, the US Grand Prix in Austin on 2 November. Jean Todt, the FIA president, said: “I knew Jules since he was 15. It has been very tough, it is very tough.”
Hamilton said: “I think it’s good. We had a drivers’ meeting with Jean Todt on Friday. One of the ideas that came out, was sometimes, when you were go karting, with electric karts, when the flags come out the engines are limited. It takes the pressure off us having to do anything, or making any mistakes.”
Jolyon Palmer became the first British winner of the GP2 title since Hamilton’s success in 2006 when he won here on Saturday. He has scored in every round and led the championship all year. Palmer, the son of former F1 driver Jonathan, said: “It’s incredible, to look at the list of champions, who are fantastic drivers, and join them, which nobody can take away from me, is an incredible feeling,” he said. But everyone had unusual feelings on this day.
