Lewis Hamilton says he is still happy with the progress he and his Mercedes team have made in Russia despite missing out on pole position to his teammate Valtteri Bottas.
An uncharacteristic mistake from Hamilton on his final attempt robbed him of any chance he had of pole, with Bottas also improving on his final run.
After qualifying, Hamilton went over to Bottas and gave him a hearty congratulations on the grid, saying that his teammate had just done a better job during qualifying than he did.
"Firstly a big congratulations to Valtteri, he's been driving well this weekend and he just did a better job," Hamilton said in the post-qualifying interview.
"The track is great, and the weather is good, it was intense, naturally, as it always is. My last two laps of Q3 weren't special at all, you can't always get it right - but we're still in contention for the race tomorrow.
"We rely fully on the team, the guys at the factory and here all do an impeccable job. It's motivating to see the upgrades come and the evolution on the car and see the changes."
Mercedes will be looking to convert their front row lock-out tomorrow in a race that they have dominated since being added to the calendar back in 2014.
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