F1 2017: Vettel leads first Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying since 2008 at Russian Grand Prix

Vettel's exultant cries on the radio at the end of qualifying for the F1 Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom were probably echoed by fans of the most famous racing team in the world as well as his own fans as Ferrari secured a 1-2 for their first front-row lockout since the 2008 French GP.

Leading teammate Kimi Raikkonen by just 0.059 seconds with a time of 1min33.194sec, Vettel's pole was the first not scored by a Mercedes AMG F1 driver since Daniel Ricciardo's pole for Red Bull-Tag Heuer (Renault) since last year's Monaco Grand Prix. It was Vettel's first since the 2015 Singapore GP, which was also Ferrari's last prior to today.

TEARING UP THE FORM BOOK
Given the conventional wisdom ahead of the season that a major rule change would favour the dominant Mercedes team, the season so far has been a major shock to the F1 system given that Ferrari currently lead the drivers' and constructors' points standings.

Not to mention many expert's views of Valtteri Bottas wilting in the face of having Lewis Hamilton as a teammate at Mercedes has not quite panned out either as the Finn out-qualified the former three-time world champion for the second race weekend in a row.

Bottas was just 0.036 seconds behind compatriot Raikkonen and a relative massive 0.478 seconds ahead of Hamilton as Mercedes line up on the second row.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was the best non-Ferrari/Mercedes driver in fifth place, albeit almost 1.2 seconds behind Hamilton. Williams-Mercedes' Felipe Massa, Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, Force India's Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten drivers that made it to the third and final segment of qualifying while the other ten drivers were eliminated in the two preceding 20 minute segments.

CLOSE BATTLE
The smooth and temporarily used 5.853km, 19-turn Sochi Autodrom's smooth circuit that kept gaining more grip as drivers set a time on it led to increasingly fast lap times through the session.

This lead to an exciting qualifying battle where the margins were slim as one could not tell which driver would come out on top at the end of their qualifying runs.

With a shorter wheelbase than Mercedes' W08, Ferrari's SF70H was a nimbler car around Sochi's many 90 degree corners and medium speed corners. Coupled with Ferrari's advantage over a race distance, one could just see a third win for the team on Sunday.