Mercedes' Nico Rosberg has seized pole position for the Russian Formula One Grand Prix with world champion Lewis Hamilton joining his team mate on the front row.
Nico Rosberg, sochi, 2015. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The pole was Rosberg's third of the season with championship leader Hamilton, who is 48 points clear of the German with five races remaining, denied his 50th for the third race in succession.
Hamilton, who had hoped for his 12th pole in 15 races, aborted his second and final lap of the final phase after making a mistake on a clear afternoon in the Olympic Park.
The front row lockout was still just what Mercedes had ordered, with the team needing to score three points more than Ferrari to clinch their second successive constructors' title this weekend.
Finland's Valtteri Bottas qualified third for Mercedes-powered Williams with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen fourth and fifth.
Hamilton won last year's inaugural race in Russia from pole, with Rosberg runner-up after also starting on the front row, but he could not get close to Rosberg's time of one minute 37.113 seconds.
Saturday's final practice was halted after just 35 minutes when Toro Rosso's Spaniard Carlos Sainz crashed heavily into the barrier.
Carlos Sainz Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The 21-year-old rookie was fortunate to escape serious injury after hitting the energy absorbing Tecpro barriers at about 200kph.
"My back and my neck are just a bit sore from the accident, but I'm totally ready," he said in a team statement.
The accident ended practice and forced organisers to cancel a following GP3 race while extensive repairs were made to the barriers.
Toro Rosso initially said Sainz would be kept in hospital overnight but they issued a later statement to say he had been released.
Soon after the incident, drivers expressed safety concerns about the barriers.
"It was shocking to see he was so deep in the barriers and he was covered by them, too," four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel told reporters.
"The idea is not for the barriers to come on top of you or the car go under, so it is something we need to understand," added the German Ferrari driver.
"I don't know why if there was any thing wrong with the way they installed the Tecpro barriers or if was just coincidence the way he crashed into them. I am sure that is something that needs to be avoided."
Carlos Sainz loses control in Austria, 2015. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said the incident would be examined, as always, to see if lessons could be learned but said the barriers had done their job in preventing serious injury.
Officials defended the installation of the barriers, which are designed to absorb energy more effectively than tyre walls at places where high-speed crashes are likely, and said correct procedures had been followed.
