Sebastian Vettel says "third isn't the worst place to start" at the Russian GP

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel is relatively pleased to start in third at the 2019 Russian Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon after Lewis Hamilton produced a brilliant lap to beat his rival in qualifying right at the death on Saturday.

Vettel's team-mate, Charles Leclerc, claimed his fourth pole position in a row, to continue his and Ferrari's recent dominance. Sochi Autodrom seems to be a circuit where it doesn't matter too much where you start on the grid, as long as you are in the top three.

We saw last year, Hamilton, who started in P2, run Valtteri Bottas (pole-sitter) very close going into the first corner, with the British driver getting the inside line on his team-mate.

"I think if you are third here it is probably not the worst place to be, compared to third in Monaco," Vettel said to Formula 1's official website. "I'm not entirely happy with today, I wasn't really on top of everything. Especially closing the lap was getting a bit weaker - I struggled with that final sector.

Vettel won his first race of the season last weekend, where a pit strategy by Ferrari saw the four-time world champion come out in front of Leclerc, who was dominating the race before then.