Russian GP: Rosberg beats Hamilton to pole

The German driver's best time of 1:37.113 was enough to give him the top spot after Hamilton made a mistake on his final run and decided to abort the lap and return to the pits.

It was Rosberg's second pole position in a row after Japan and his third of the 2015 season.

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas repeated last year's performance at the Russian track and will start from third place, sharing the second row of the grid with Sebastian Vettel, who had to settle for fourth place in the quickest Ferrari.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen will start fifth, ahead of Force India drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.

Despite not running at all on Friday, Romain Grosjean put on an impressive showing to qualify eighth in the Lotus.

Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso and Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull completed the top 10.

There was disappointment for local hero Daniil Kvyat, who was knocked out in Q2 after finishing a tenth behind Verstappen.

Felipe Nasr will start 12th in the quickest Sauber, ahead of the McLaren of Jenson Button, who put on his second best performance of the season in qualifying, only bettered by his Monaco result (10th).

Pastor Maldonado finished behind teammate Grosjean for the 14th time this year, the Lotus driver qualifying in 14th place.

The most disappointed driver in Q2, however, was Felipe Massa, who made a costly mistake on his flying lap and finished down in 15th position in the second Williams.

Fernando Alonso had another difficult day, the McLaren driver being knocked out in Q1 on the weekend he is celebrating his 250th Grand Prix entry.

It was the seventh time this season that Alonso has missed the Q2 cut.

The McLaren driver will start from the back of the grid anyway, as he is facing a 35-place grid penalty following an engine change.

Sauber's Marcus Ericsson qualified in 17th position, ahead of Manor drivers Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi, returning to the car after being replaced by Alexander Rossi in the previous two races.

The Manor duo finished over three seconds off Ericsson's pace.

Carlos Sainz did not take part in qualifying following his heavy crash in final practice, but Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost said the Spaniard could still race on Sunday if he gets the green light from the doctors and the FIA.

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:38.343	1:37.500	1:37.113	20
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:38.558	1:37.672	1:37.433	18
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:38.448	1:38.194	1:37.912	26
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:38.598	1:38.402	1:37.965	15
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:39.207	1:38.224	1:38.348	18
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:39.250	1:38.727	1:38.659	21
7	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:39.617	1:38.914	1:38.691	19
8	Romain Grosjean	Team Lotus	1:39.056	1:38.754	1:38.787	19
9	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:39.411	1:39.119	1:38.924	23
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:39.574	1:39.005	1:39.728	18
11	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:39.580	1:39.214		18
12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:40.042	1:39.323		18
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:39.739	1:39.763		15
14	Pastor Maldonado	Team Lotus	1:39.724	1:39.811		15
15	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:38.926	1:39.895		17
16	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:40.144			7
17	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:40.660			9
18	Will Stevens	Manor	1:43.693			9
19	Roberto Merhi	Manor	1:43.804			8