After qualifying third for a race he desperately needs to win, Sebastian Vettel admitted he was not expecting to have such a big gap to Mercedes on the front row at the Russian Grand Prix.
Vettel qualified 0.556s off Valtteri Bottas on pole position and was 0.411s off his title rival Lewis Hamilton in second. The long run down to Turn 2 could offer him a chance to get ahead of the two Mercedes on the first lap -- as it did for Bottas with position reversed last year -- but Vettel said he was not expecting to find himself so far off the pace this weekend.