Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRace weekend

LIVE: Russian Grand Prix qualifying

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Follow live coverage of the Russian Grand Prix weekend from Sochi Autodrom with F1i.

Following a difficult Friday, the teams also struggled for track time on Saturday morning as FP3 lasted for just 35 minutes before a heavy crash for Carlos Sainz brought out the red flags and ended the session prematurely.

Sainz went off at Turn 13 - a tight right hander at the end of a DRS zone - with his car becoming embedded below the tecpro barrier. The Toro Rosso driver is conscious after the accident but will not take part in qualifying having been airlifted to a local hospital for further checks.

Friday saw the opening practice session reduced by 30 minutes due to a diesel spillage, which also left the track slippery and prevented any serious running, while FP2 was then hit by heavy rain. With all three sessions disrupted, there are in a number of uncertainties ahead of qualifying as teams having been unable to prepare and tweak set-ups.

Nico Rosberg was fastest in the dry before FP3 was stopped, with the Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa also looking strong. Both Force India drivers ensured Mercedes power dominated the top six, but McLaren will take some encouragement from Jenson Button finishing the final practice session seventh quickest and team-mate Fernando Alonso also within the top ten.

Following FP1 it was confirmed Fernando Alonso - on his 250th grand prix weekend - will receive a 35-place grid penalty for power unit component changes, while Roberto Merhi drops 20 places for the same reason.

You can follow all the live coverage on F1i's live page, which can be bookmarked as it will provide commentary on every session of the 2015 F1 season.

LIVE: Russian Grand Prix qualifying

Rosberg fastest as Sainz crash cuts FP3 short

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.