Vettel and Hamilton split by 0.081s in Monza FP3

The slipstream advantage is huge here, thus helping Raikkonen to his first pole since Monaco a year ago and only his second in a decade.

“We did a few laps but after that it was like having a day in the office when you don’t have too much work to do – I was even snoozing in the vehicle at one point”, said Hamilton of that wet session. “It’s a long race”.

Hamilton: Every previous race in Sochi has ended with a Mercedes victory, with the Englishman taking wins in 2014 and 2015. “So hopefully one of us will win”.

During the Monaco Grand Prix weekend in May, the FIA said it had completed a complicated investigation into Ferrari’s hybrid system and reiterated its satisfaction last month amid suggestions of ongoing discontent from Ferrari’s rivals. Raikkonen went second while Vettel was third after running wide.

Raikkonen was one-tenth of a second faster than both Vettel and Hamilton.

Ericsson completed three full somersaults as the front of his auto completely disintegrated following the force of the devastating impact. In the last moment in Parabolica, Kevin made a decision to start the lap just in front of me and fill the gap between the two cars in front.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has had five second-place finishes in 13 races.

McLaren’s Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne, whose team mate Fernando Alonso clashed on track with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in the second phase of qualifying, could not say the same after setting the slowest time.

That demonstrates how much a driver can gain by staying in touch with the vehicle in front, so if a gap forms in front of a quicker auto then it may struggle to shake off those behind if they remain within range to benefit from the slipstream.

Vettel, 17 points behind Hamilton after a commanding win in Belgium last Sunday (Aug 26), has previously triumphed at Monza with Toro Rosso and Red Bull and will fancy his chances of the hat-trick at the super-fast track outside Milan.

“Sooner or later, we’ll really hit them and we’ll be the bad guys, and we know how much that hurts”.

Of the rest, most interest will centre on the re-born Force India team as they seek a repeat of their Spa form and a possible drivers’ line-up change that may see Lance Stroll, son of the new Force India owner Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, move from Williams to race for the Silverstone-based team. But Hamilton maybe took us closer to an understanding of what was gnawing at Vettel. This was also the first time Williams reached the Q3 this season. As Maurizio is our team principal, ultimately he’ll take the decision, but we will discuss it.

In one of the most exciting qualifying sessions for some time, Hamilton fought to overcome what appears to be a slight Ferrari pace advantage and appeared at one stage to have done it. He said: “It’s hard to get a worse weekend. Once we’re ready, we’ll tell you”.