FORMULA 1 - 2016

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HAMILTON TURNS DOWN RICCIARDO’S BOXING MATCH CHALLENGE

Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton has one big fight on his hands already this season and he is not spoiling for another, not even for charity and against the man with the broadest smile in Formula One.

The Mercedes driver, 36 points behind team mate Nico Rosberg after three races won by the German, was asked at the Russian Grand Prix about Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s invitation to take part in a charity boxing bout.

“Seems I’m not the only one throwing hands these days. Charity match?,” the big smiling Red Bull driver wrote on Twitter earlier in the year with a photo of himself strapping his fists for a gym workout.

Hamilton had added boxing training to his winter workouts pre-season.

Ricciardo then posted a video on Instagram this week showing more sparring with the comment: “Trying to improve my skills before a hopeful charity match at the end of the year. (I’ve asked Lewis hopefully he can be convinced).”

The Briton was clear that would not be happening, “I quite like my face the way it is. Fighting someone you don’t like is easy. I like Daniel, so there’s no reason to fight him.”

“I’d rather just give the money to charity. Why the hell am I going to risk this, man?,” he added, pointing to his face.

Sunday’s race around Sochi’s Olympic Park circuit will be another matter, with Hamilton chasing a hat-trick of Russian wins to end Rosberg’s run of six straight victories — three of them at the end of last season.

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MARKO PLAYS DOWN VERSTAPPEN-KVYAT SWAP TALK

Helmut Marko has played down speculation Max Verstappen will definitely be promoted to Red Bull’s senior team for 2017.

The Austrian, who runs the energy drink company’s F1 driver programme, was quoted recently as suggesting that because Dutchman Verstappen is so good, he will almost certainly move on after two years at Toro Rosso.

But he told Russia’s Sport Express on Friday: “I did not mean anything specific. Do not cling to those words. I was just praising Max’s progress.

“Verstappen really is very fast, it’s a fact. He is gaining experience, getting stronger in every respect, particularly in his consistency. He is on the right path,” Marko added.

He insisted, however, that it is simply too early for the media to be coming to the conclusion that Verstappen will replace Daniil Kvyat, who may have to return to Toro Rosso for 2017.

“Any talk about the driver compositions for next season usually begins no earlier than the end of the summer break,” said Marko.

“That is when it will be possible to raise the issue. In August, we will discuss the future of the drivers, and then in Spa I will tell you everything,” he added.

Marko suggested he is happy with Kvyat’s progress, “I think (Daniel) Ricciardo has never been better, but Daniil is trying to keep up. And he’s doing pretty well, as he is much younger. So everything is fine.

“Everything that is in the press now is nothing more than rumours,” added Marko.

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DENNIS MAY SHARE HONDA ONLY AFTER THEY WIN F1 TITLE AGAIN

It is well known that McLaren supremo Ron Dennis is not keen to share Honda as an engine supplier with any other team, but it transpires that he would consider it if, and when, the partnership wins the Formula 1 world championship title again.

Dennis told F1 Racing magazine, “Let’s get to the point where we’ve won the world championship first and then we’ll think about it.”

Reportedly when Red Bull went knocking at Honda’s door last year it was Dennis who exercised his veto to scupper any deal between the Japanese car manufacturer and the fizzy drinks brigade.

At the time Bernie Ecclestone revealed, “[Honda] somehow made a commitment to Ron that he had a veto and he doesn’t want Red Bull. Ron has said definitely not, as far as he’s concerned. I don’t know whether his veto will stand up legally..

Right now, and perhaps even the foreseeable future, another world title for the Woking outfit is not likely unless Honda ramp up their engine or find that elusive ‘magic button’.

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Mercedes' Hamilton bemoans lack of grip during Russian GP practice

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton bemoaned the lack of grip on offer during Friday's Russian Grand Prix practice, adding that the tyres are not suited to the Sochi Formula 1 track.

The world champion, who ended second practice quickest, spun in both sessions as drivers struggled to keep their cars on track.

"The grip is very poor, you are sliding around a lot, struggling with the balance," said Hamilton.

"As always, it's like trying to balance a knife on a tip, which is pretty much impossible and here even more so.

"It's even harder for some reason. I think it's because the track has very low grip and then the tyres on top have low grip in general.

"The tyres aren't very good here. You're just sliding, it's like driving on ice, it's crazy.

"Hopefully it gets warmer, the rubber goes down on this track and it gets better."

Nevertheless, Hamilton said he was fairly happy with his Friday running though was unsure what slot on the front row would prove the most beneficial on Sunday.

"Generally it was a good day," he said. "Our goal is to lock out the front row."

"Pole or second, I don't know which is best because it's such a long run down to Turn 1.

"I'll do the best I can. I feel pole is an opportunity for us this weekend for sure.

"This is a weak circuit for me but I think I've found something so hopefully we'll see the result in that tomorrow."

His team-mate Nico Rosberg added the track surface is very different to any other F1 venue, which makes it tricky for drivers.

"The asphalt is strange here, just different to everywhere else," he said.

"Smooth might be the right word.

"So it's not easy to get it right car-wise or driving-wise.

"It's been an interesting day but good. We got off to a good start."

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Red Bull's F1 aeroscreen helps the look of cars, Button believes

McLaren Formula 1 drivers Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso have backed the aesthetics of Red Bull's aeroscreen concept, with Button saying it enhances the look of the cars.

Red Bull introduced its take on F1 cockpit protection on Daniel Ricciardo's car during first practice for the Russian Grand Prix, with the Australian saying his visibility was "fine" during the single installation lap.

While world champion Lewis Hamilton is not a fan of the aeroscreen, or the halo trialled by Ferrari during pre-season testing, his former team-mate Button liked what he saw on Friday.

"I think it looks pretty - I think it looks better than a normal Formula 1 car," he said.

"I think in a couple of years if we did go for that design that was on the Red Bull today, we'll look back and we'll think the cars look weird without it.

"I used to watch the F1 powerboats in Bristol with the family, with the open cockpit for many years, then they had the closed cockpit and it looked so much cooler.

"[but] that's not a reason to have that option. It's for safety and we have to choose the right option for safety."

Alonso also believes that safety must be the key factor rather than aesthetics, but agreed with Button that he preferred the look of Red Bull's concept over the halo.

"We need to trust the FIA and the decision, they have of all the information," he said.

"Which one is better, [more] comfortable, safe, you know, there are many factors.

"We just look from the outside, probably the Red Bull solution is a little bit better from an aesthetic point of view.

"But, I think FIA will decide the best one and hopefully there are more options coming.

"It's very early days, so the important thing is we find a solution and it's a must that will come from next year, hopefully, and we need to find the best solution to do that."

MASSA AND GROSJEAN BACK HALO

While the McLaren pair are comfortable with the aeroscreen, Williams driver Felipe Massa and Haas's Romain Grosjean say they prefer the halo.

When asked for his take, Massa said: "It's not so nice, to be honest.

"Maybe the Ferrari piece was better. I am in favour of the safety of the driver, but it's important to choose the right system."

Grosjean said he was in favour of a system that remained as close to an open cockpit as possible.

"I didn't see it [in person], I saw the pictures," he said.

"I prefer the halo system because I think in Formula 1 you have to get the helmet in the air.

"If not it becomes a closed car. So I'm more in favour of the halo."

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Mercedes spends F1 engine tokens for fuel system upgrade

Mercedes has spent two of its Formula 1 power unit development tokens as part of a improvement to its fuel system.

The tokens have been spent on ancillary components outside the sealed perimeter and therefore do not require a new power unit.

The world champion team's customers Williams, Force India and Manor have all received the update ahead of the Russian Grand Prix.

As part of the improvement, Mercedes is also running a new oil from partner Petronas.

It comes after Ferrari spent three tokens and changed the internal combustion engines on both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel's cars.

Honda and Renault have yet to use any tokens during the season, with the latter planning an update for the Canadian Grand Prix.

TOKEN SPEND SO FAR THIS SEASON

Ferrari 26 (6 remaining)

Honda 18 (14 remaining)

Mercedes 21 (11 remaining)

Renault 7 (25 remaining)

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Ferrari spends Formula 1 power unit tokens for Russian Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel are running new Formula 1 power units in Russia after Ferrari chose to use three development tokens as part of an upgrade.

Ferrari was the biggest spender of tokens before the start of the F1 season with 23 and following its latest spend now has six remaining.

Vettel moves on to his third internal combustion engine of the year and now only has two remaining in his allocation while this will be Raikkonen's second.

Speaking on Thursday, Raikkonen said: "We have certain plans like we had last year all the way through the year to improve certain things and bring new parts in certain races.

"The plan is again similar, we are following it and it's a different, new engine but it's normal progress through the year.

"Is it going to make an awful lot of difference? I don't know.

"My engine had nothing wrong and it's just a new spec and it's normal."

Meanwhile, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo has fitted a new control electronics, his second of the allocation of five for the season.

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Jolyon Palmer fears he's already doomed to a poor Russian GP

Jolyon Palmer fears he and the Renault Formula 1 team might be unable to fix his oversteer problems during the Russian Grand prix weekend.

The 25-year-old described the Chinese GP two weeks ago as "maybe my worst ever as a racing driver" after battling with car problems the team has subsequently worked to identify and eliminate the cause of.

But Palmer complained of snap oversteer after ending both of Friday's free practice sessions in 18th position, 0.773 seconds slower than new Renault development driver Sergey Sirotkin in the first and 0.495s off regular team-mate Kevin Magnussen in the second.

"I have a few concerns that we are not going to be able to get on top if it," he said when asked by Autosport if he feared having to carry the problems for the rest of the weekend.

"We've done two of the three practice sessions now, we've only got an hour left and while the balance is better on the super-soft tyres, there is still the same inherent problem.

"We can mask it, but I don't think we are going to find or cure it and we need to do more work to try and understand what's going on."

Palmer is confident the problem does not lie with "something strange I'm doing" behind the wheel.

While he says there is no indication the problem lies with the car's monocoque, he said he would be interested to see what happens if the team attempted a similar chassis change to the one tried by Sauber for Felipe Nasr this weekend.

"Nobody could understand at Sauber why Felipe [struggled] as he's not a rubbish driver, but he looked very bad in the first three races," said Palmer.

"It's only Friday but it looks like he's suddenly back to what he's been able to do.

"I don't know if that's the case here, there's no indication of it but I don't think with these things you can really tell too much until it happens.

"It would be an interesting test."

Magnussen had what he described as a "similar" oversteer problem, although he conceded it might not have been as dramatic as what Palmer is struggling with.

"We have similar problems, maybe on a different level but we are complaining of the same issues," said Magnussen.

"I'm not completely sure what he has but it sounds like he's having oversteer mid-corner, maybe he has it a bit earlier, I don't know.

"It's encouraging that we are complaining about the same things so we can work in the same direction."

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Grosjean disappointed with Friday

Haas driver Romain Grosjean has admitted that he is fearful that they will be having more or less the same weekend they had in China after FP1 and FP2 concluded in Russia.

Despite praising the team over the past couple weeks for their attitude after their performance in China, the Frenchman was left disappointed by their lack of pace and precision on the Sochi Autodrom.

The former Lotus driver also called for the American team to make improvements to the car as he has not satisfied with it since two weeks ago in China.

"I think we have to make the circuit suit us," the 30-year-old revealed. "It is a very different one from China and I was expecting a bit more from the car today.

"I think we are struggling a little bit with a few issues that we may have started to have in China – getting the tyres to work properly. And that is the only big difference that we can see from the first two races. Hopefully things get better for tomorrow: we get the right answer and the guys will work hard to evaluate what we can do.

"We need to analyse. Since Friday in China I am not happy with my car, it was the case again today. We need to understand what could possibly go wrong and hopefully change it. I think there is a lot of work in progress, a lot of question marks. A lot of data. It is hard to trust everything but by tomorrow I think we find some good solutions."

[capitalpg]

Damn speed Mercedes is showing is just incredible. This will be a difficult race for Ferrari to compete in, so hoping for a misstep by Nico at the start. Start should be fun if both Kimi & Sebatian get aggressive off the line - as long as they don't take each other out!

Must say though, love Nico's start this season and hope some additional drama between he 7 Lewis continues build. Can't believe I find myself rooting for Nico!

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ROSBERG: ITS MORE THEM BEING UNFORTUNATE THAN ME BEING LUCKY

Nico Rosberg’s Formula One rivals made life easy for the runaway championship leader in Russian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday but the German did not consider himself particularly fortunate.

While Rosberg qualified on pole position with a lap so much quicker than the rest that he was out of his car before the end of the session, team mate Lewis Hamilton suffered engine problems for the second successive race weekend.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the four times world champion who qualified second, was demoted to seventh place after a grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

“Of course, I am aware of the misfortune of my direct competition, but then I would say its more them being unfortunate,” Mercedes’ Rosberg told reporters when asked whether he felt lucky.

Rosberg, who has finished runner-up to triple champion Hamilton in the last two seasons, has won the first three races of the campaign — six in a row including the last three of 2015 — and leads the Briton by 36 points.

“On my side it’s been… I wouldn’t say a special day, but I’m completely satisfied,” said the German. “There’s not many days like that out there.

“My car was just on rails, the balance was right and I was on it and it was just feeling great. So it was a particularly special experience out there.”

That said, Rosberg was concerned that his team’s famed reliability was not what it used to be.

Dominant Mercedes have won 35 of the last 41 races, and will have started 40 of 42 on pole, but there are clear chinks in the armour.

Hamilton, who will start 10th on the grid on Sunday, has now been sidelined in qualifying for two successive grands prix.

“It’s not something that I can influence. Of course, I am aware that reliability is not our strength at the moment, it’s an area we need to be working on,” said Rosberg, who suffered throttle failure in Russia last year and retired after starting on pole.

“I have all the trust in the team that they are going to get on top of things very quickly and sort out the few little issues that we are having at the moment.”

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ROSBERG: FERRARI ARE NOT VERY CLOSE THE GAP IS BIGGER

For much of this season there has been talk that Ferrari are closing th gap to Mercedes, but after qualifying on pole with ease for the Russian Grand Prix Nico Rosberg has admitted that the Maranello outfit are not even close.

Speaking to media after scoring his 21st career pole start, Rosberg said, “Here it looks like they are not very close. We’ve been saying all this time over the last few weeks that they are very close, very close, maybe we need to stop saying that for now because this weekend is looking very, very strong from our side. We look to have opened the gap.”

Rosberg only needed his first lap to claim the top spot start for the race, but lamented the fact that he over shot his braking point on his second flying lap.

“The first lap was good,” explained Rosberg. “But I had a bit more fuel so the second one would have been the quicker one. But I was very confident that the first one was good enough for pole as I saw the gaps in Q2. It was feeling awesome out there so I went for an all or nothing lap and it didn’t work out unfortunately.”

Nevertheless he parked his Mercedes in the pit garage and was out of his car with a couple of minutes still to run in Q3, with his rivals pounding the tarmac and chasing his time but to no avail, “It was a qualifying that was quite exceptional for me. Feeling wise the car came together, the balance, it was really good.”

While his side of the garage has been devoid of bad luck so far this season, his teammate Lewis Hamilton alongside is having reliability issues which this time resulted in him not turning a lap in Q3.

But Rosberg is not fazed, “I don’t really think I need to maximise now because I have confidence in the team to sort out the issues that we are having at the moment. I don’t think about such problems, I just try to make the most of it and focus on the things that I can influence.”

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ARRIVABENE: THE WAY TO RECOVER IS TO PUSH LIKE CRAZY

Sebastian Vettel has had a troubled weekend so far in Russia, as Ferrari pull out all the stops to challenge the unrelenting dominance of Mercedes.

After early-season reliability trouble and then a controversial clash with teammate Kimi Raikkonen in China, the German then struck more reliability problems on Friday in Russia. Now a changed gearbox means he will serve a five-position demotion on the Sochi grid.

According to La Repubblica, boss Maurizio Arrivabene had warned before Russia that Ferrari had deliberately entered dangerous ground for 2016 in a bid to catch the pace of dominant Mercedes.

“When you’re behind, the way to recover is to push like crazy,” the Italian is quoted as saying. “And to push like crazy you need performance before reliability. So this winter we said: we are aiming for speed and then we will look for reliability.”

La Gazzetta dello Sport, however, claims Ferrari has confirmed in Russia that the damage to Vettel’s gearbox may actually be traced back to the first-corner clash two weeks ago.

It probably means one rival less for runaway championship rival Nico Rosberg to worry about this weekend.

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VIDEO OF THE DAY: F1 RADIO RESTRICTIONS EXPLAINED

Mercedes explain the untold story of how the team approached the new 2016 F1 radio restrictions ahead of and during the Australian GP. Rosanna is joined by Chief Race Engineer Andrew Shovlin.

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RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX SECURE WITH PUTIN’S BACKING

Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone says Russia will stay on the grand prix schedule so long as it has the backing of Vladimir Putin.

The F1 supremo is an avowed admirer of the controversial Russian president, who Ecclestone said is likely to present the trophies on the podium on Sunday.

“We’ll see, but we would be very happy if he did,” the 85-year-old Briton told Tass news agency at Sochi. “I would be surprised if he didn’t (come to the race).”

Ecclestone is also quoted by Ria Novosti news agency: “It’s wonderful of him to find the time to come to the grand prix.

“It’s difficult for him, he’s under a lot of pressure as a very well-known politician, as people understand what he has done, is doing and will do.

“Russia is an important country and we will be here as long as Mr Putin wants to. Forget about contracts — if he wants Russia to go from formula one, it will go, and if he wants it to stay, we will stay,” Ecclestone said.

Finally, Bernie confirmed reports that talks are still underway about Sochi becoming a floodlit night race in the future.

“I’d like to see it happen, I like the idea,” he said, “but the decision is for the organisers. If Russia wants to, I am happy to support the idea.”

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VIDEO OF THE DAY: RUSSIAN GP WITH SEBASTIAN VETTEL

This year will mark Seb’s third time at Sochi, the second as a Scuderia Ferrari driver: “The track is located in the Olympic Park, where the Winter Games were held, it’s something quite unique. It’s an exciting circuit with a lot of 90 degrees corners. The track is quite floating, so there are not hard stops. It’s not that easy to overtake but overall quite high grip and good fun. I think that a lot of Russians enjoying the fact the Formula 1 is happening there so, it’s definitely a good Grand Prix.”

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‘Helpless’ Hamilton wants answers

Lewis Hamilton wants answers from Mercedes as to what exactly is going wrong after being forced out of Saturday's Russian GP qualifying with yet another engine issue.

The reigning World Champion was unable to take part in Q3 on Saturday after suffering the same ERS issue that afflicted him in qualifying last time out in China.

As such Hamilton will start Sunday's Russian Grand Prix from tenth on the grid, which he concedes it making his job of winning a fourth World title a great deal more difficult.

"It's not easy, but there's nothing you can do about it," said the Brit, who trails team-mate Nico Rosberg by 36 points in the standings.

"I'm doing everything I can to do my job the way I'm supposed to do it. I'm doing it to the best of my abilities, but these things are just unfortunate."

He added: "It's [as if] you're almost helpless at some points.

"We've worked so hard with my engineers and mechanics to get the car in a great position this weekend. We had the great pace once again and then this happens for us all unexpectedly and I feel helpless for my guys, because there is not much I can do to uplift them, and there's not much they can do to uplift me because it's happened.

"The goal is moving further and further away in the distance. I'm doing everything I can do, so there is nothing else I can do."

The Brit has called on Mercedes to deliver an explanation, saying he wants "as much detail as possible" as to what exactly has gone wrong.

"I'm very, very curious as to what is going on so I've asked them to give me as much detail as possible," he said.

"We did 800kms a day in testing. The car was faultless, and all of a sudden two times in a row, the same thing. That doesn't happen for us.

"We learned, or they say that we understood what happened in the [last] race, and I thought we would have learned from that, but obviously not, and more work needs to go in.

"Now we've got another engine going in, and who's to know it's not going to happen on that one? What's really key is that we understand what it is, more so than we did before, and try and be careful on how we take out all the engines that we have for the rest of the year.

"Obviously I now have only three for the rest of the year really, so I'm going to have another penalty later on in the year at some point. But I'll do the best job I can."

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Alonso: We didn’t deserve better

Continuing their underwhelming performances this season, McLaren-Honda driver Fernando Alonso has admitted that they didn’t have chance of making it into Q3 during Saturday's proceedings.

Qualifying in 14th place ahead of the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday, the Spaniard revealed that they actually weren't expecting to qualify in the top ten but did add that they at least wanted to be in contention.

"Obviously, we didn't have a clear target to be in Q3 but we were hoping to be close and we were close," the double World Champion told motorsport.com.

"We were one-and-a-half tenth from Q3 but, unfortunately, there are so many cars today fighting for that 10th place – five cars, and we were the fifth of those.

"We are 14th so that's a bit of an unlucky situation. [but] we didn't deserve any more today. We were not quick enough."

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Kvyat satisfied with home GP qualifiers

Ahead of the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday, local driver Daniil Kvyat expressed his satisfaction with his 8th place position in the qualifying rounds.

Despite easing passed the first two rounds, the Russian failed to heat up his tyres in Q3, which forced him to put a hot lap in on compounds that were not suitable for a flyer.

"It was the best possible from our side and it was a very good qualifying," Kvyat explained.

"(Daniel) Ricciardo had his warm-up lap and I didn't. I didn’t have time to do my lap in Q3 on the last run so I had to start the lap on cold tyres which wasn’t ideal but in the end we just ran out of time.

"But it's okay, I still think it was a good lap, and it is good to know that we still have something in our pocket and still did a good job with the tools that we had in our hands.

"It was very hard to work on the tyres, especially on our car, but otherwise I was quite happy. Good laps, good performances, good positions, so I'm happy with what I did and what we did."

Adding to the drama of Saturday's proceedings, Kvyat offered an apology to Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz, who blamed him for ruining his run in Q2.

"If I did, I am very sorry but I didn't see him at any point in my mirrors during the qualifying session so I really don't know," the 22-year-old explained.

"I usually pay a lot of attention to other drivers and really dislike it when drivers block other drivers so I think we should respect each other, but I haven’t seen him in my mirrors at all so I don't know what he is talking about.

"When I am racing, I am not distracted by everything around me anywhere and that’s why I love racing so much. To be able to do my job to maximum efficiency, it's just me, myself and I."

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Raikkonen: No big step in engine upgrade

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen has revealed that the latest engine upgrade that the Italian team received has not massively improved the car's performance.

Ahead of Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix, Ferrari upgraded their internal combustion engine but the Finn explained that it is not surprising that they have not made up any ground on the Mercedes cars as they were not expecting a major leap in performance.

"It's working as we expected," the 2007 World Champion revealed to ESPN.

"There are no massive things there, some improvements here and there, with the whole package in the car, so we take it. But it's not like it's making a big, big difference.

"People are very interested in new engines but we put new parts in the car all the time to try to improve everywhere – it's a very normal thing and all the teams do it."

Qualifying fourth after Saturday’s proceedings, Raikkonen admitted that a blunder in the last corner during Q3 was disappointing to say the least and added that he has been having trouble all weekend.

"I ran wide in the last corner on the last lap, but I've been struggling all weekend to put decent lap together," he continued.

“Thankfully it was better in qualifying, but I was still fighting for front-end grip in a few places. Still, it was good enough for third place, but it will all change for tomorrow. Obviously today it was not ideal, it's disappointing but I'll be starting from the clean side of the track, in third place.

"I've been fighting with the set-up of the car the whole weekend, to make the tyres work as we want, as this is a tricky place for that. It could have been a lot worse today, but we'll try to make a good start for the race and go from there."

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Renault's Palmer says Russian GP floor change has solved car issues

Jolyon Palmer says a change of floor on his Renault Formula 1 car for Russian Grand Prix qualifying has solved the problems that caused his 'catastrophic' loss of form.

The British rookie described the previous race in China as the worst weekend of his motorsport career, as he finished last and was comprehensively outpaced by team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

He was pessimistic about his Sochi prospects when the troubles continued in Friday practice, but swapping to a new floor transformed the car.

"Finally I can drive the car again," Palmer said after qualifying 19th, but within a tenth of Magnussen ahead.

"We changed the floor overnight and the car feels normal."

The replacement floor was the same specification as before, leaving Palmer suspecting that the one his car had used since the start of the Bahrain weekend was a rogue component.

"It wasn't working as we'd hoped," Palmer said.

"They couldn't really see it clearly on the numbers, but something's clearly not been working very well because yesterday was very bad, China was very bad, and we didn't understand it."

He said the Renault had now returned to the behaviour he remembered from testing and the Australian GP.

"It felt like Melbourne. It was consistent every run. It wasn't doing anything strange," Palmer said.

"We're not, as a team, super-quick but at least I'm having the same feedback as Kev now. We're lapping within a tenth. It's normal.

"Pre-season and in Melbourne, we were both talking about having a consistent car that was quite nice to drive but we needed more downforce.

"The last couple of weekends I've not felt that and suddenly I've had this snappy oversteer as I turn in.

"It's back to how it was before and it feels nice to drive."

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Carlos Sainz Jr: Daniil Kvyat delay cost me a Russian GP Q3 spot

Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr is adamant he would have got into Russian Grand Prix Q3 but for a delay behind Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull.

Kvyat scraped into final qualifying for his home F1 race at the last moment with a lap just 0.046 seconds faster than Sainz's.

It was while the Red Bull was building up to that lap that Sainz said he lost crucial time behind it in the final three corners - ending his shot at joining Toro Rosso team-mate Max Verstappen in the pole shootout.

Sainz believes the incident cost him "two or three tenths" and a definite Q3 place.

"All of a sudden Kvyat was there preparing his 'push lap' and eventually he kicked me out," he said.

"When they tell me 'Kvyat knocked you out', my friend, the one who slowed me down..."

He clarified that it was a case of unfortunate timing rather than blocking that merited a penalty.

"It's not impeding like he blocks you," said Sainz.

"Just by following the car you lose that two or three tenths extra of downforce in the last sector that you know could get us into Q3.

"If he would've let me by he would not have had any qualifying."

Kvyat said he had no idea he had delayed Sainz.

"If I did, I'm very sorry but I haven't seen him at any point in my mirrors in the whole qualifying session so I really don't know," he replied when asked by Autosport if he was aware of Sainz's comments.

"Maybe he mixed me with someone else or something because I usually pay a lot of attention to other drivers and I really dislike when drivers block other drivers so I think I will want to watch the video."

Sainz added that he would speak to Kvyat but that the Red Bull/Toro Rosso relationship meant he would not cause any fuss.

"Obviously I will tell him something but obviously it's the 'big brother' so I cannot really complain too much," he said.

"It wouldn't be very polite from my side, but anyway that's life."

Kvyat went on to qualify eighth, just ahead of Verstappen, with Sainz staying 11th.

[skalls]

I'm thinking this might the year where f1 drivers finally have NASCAR style fist fights in the pits.

Vettel-kyvat 2 lol

[MIKA27]

I'm thinking this might the year where f1 drivers finally have NASCAR style fist fights in the pits.

Vettel-kyvat 2 lol

I have to agree - Pretty reckless from Kyviat IMO I felt for Seb

[MIKA27]

RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX: CRUISE FOR ROSBERG AS HAMILTON LIMITS DAMAGE

It was another cruise for Nico Rosberg as he claimed his fourth win of the season, this time at the Russian Grand Prix where he was simply untouchable as he powered to his 18th career victory to finish ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who turned tenth on the grid to second place when the the chequered flag waved.

Thus Rosberg chalked up his seventh consecutive F1 win – his fourth in a row this year – and with it extending his lead in the world championship points table where he leads triple world champion Hamilton by 43 points in the standings with 17 races remaining.

At one point there was a flicker of hope of a Silver Arrows ding-dong when Hamilton appeared to be reeling in Rosberg at about half a second or more per lap, but the German had it all under control and for good measure even popped the fastest lap of the race in the final laps.

Rosberg crossed the line 25 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who was ahead of third placed Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari, who came out on top after a battle with fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas, who started on the front row in the Williams but for some reason his race pace went AWOL.

Rosberg equaled the achievement of compatriot Michael Schumacher in winning seven successive races, with only Vettel (nine in 2013 with Red Bull) and the late Italian Alberto Ascari ahead of them.

He said afterwards, “It’s been an awesome weekend, the car has been fantastic. Very, very happy. I just like to keep going for concentration. If I slow down, that’s when you make mistakes. Keep banging them out.”

“A great job for Lewis to come up to second so quickly from 10th,” added Rosberg.

Hamilton hardly smiled on the podium despite his fight back to second place. He missed the first lap melee and when the safety car came out in the early laps he was fourth behind Bottas and Raikkonen.

Raikkonen messed up the restart and before he knew it he was fourth, watching Hamilton hunt down Bottas. The world champion did not take long to get by, but Rosberg was a dozen seconds up the road.

Nevertheless Hamilton dug deep, reeled out a flurry of good laps before he was told to ease up on the attack, so as to stablise a water pressure issue, which saw him reduce the gap to the leader to seven seconds.

Hamilton reflected, “It was not the easiest first corner but all races have been the same. I’m really happy for the team and I got the points. With the overtake Kimi I don’t think he was expecting me.”

“With Valtteri he didn’t seem to defend so it was quite easy. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind I could win it – I had the pace. But I had a problem again so had to back off. I wasn’t at full throttle down the straights,” explained the reigning world champion.

Raikkonen, as is his trademark, struggled to crack a smile on the podium, but did say, “Of course it’s not exactly what we want – we want to win races but we tried today, I had a pretty OK start and managed to get past Valtteri on the first lap.”

He added, “After the re-start we didn’t have the pace. Not fast enough for Mercedes. We had good speed but with fuel saving we have to take some measures.”

At the start drama started early and once again it featured Sebastian Vettel, starting seventh in the Ferrari, was hit twice from behind by Russian Kvyat’s Red Bull into turns two and three while Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Manor’s Rio Haryanto both retired.

Felipe Massa was fifth for Williams with Fernando Alonso sixth for McLaren, who had their first double points finish since Hungary last year when Jenson Button crossed the line in 10th place.

Kevin Magnussen took Renault’s first points of the season in seventh place with Romain Grosjean continuing his remarkable form with newcomers Haas in eighth place. Force India’s Sergio Perez was ninth.