Lewis Hamilton hopeful Mercedes' Russian GP victory chance not gone

Lewis Hamilton hopes to be able to turn "negatives into positives" ahead of the Russian GP and that Mercedes can challenge Ferrari for victory in Sunday's Sochi race.

On the day Mercedes' 18-race pole position streak was brought to a shuddering halt by the first all-Ferrari front row since 2008, Hamilton qualified only fourth in an unusually low-key performance in which he trailed team-mate Valtteri Bottas by nearly half a second.

The Briton, on the front row for the previous nine races, put it down as "one of those weekends" after struggling with the rear balance of his W08, particularly in the final sector of the twisty Sochi track.

"Not every weekend goes perfectly smoothly," said Hamilton. "On Friday we struggled to get the tyres into temperatures. Today we got them into the window and the car was completely different. [We] worked towards it but generally got worse and worse."

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Mercedes' qualifying superiority of recent seasons had remained intact during the 2017 season's opening three rounds, but revitalised Ferrari had consistently posed a stronger challenge on race day - winning in Australia and Bahrain to take early leads in both championship races.

Hamilton admits his prospects of a second win of 2017 do not look particularly rosy from the second row, but hopes the set-up of his car proves more advantageous for Sunday's longer distance.

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"We're fourth and it's very hard to overtake as it is," he said. "Their [Ferrari's] race pace yesterday was better than mine at least and I was more than half a second off.

"Currently there doesn't appear to be too many [positives] but over tonight we'll do some studying, try to turn any negatives into positives, and who knows? We should hopefully be in a better position tomorrow after the changes we made for today and I'm hopeful the race pace will be stronger."

With chief title rival Sebastian Vettel starting on pole, the German is perfectly placed to increase his seven-point championship advantage over Hamilton.

But asked if he expected Kimi Raikkonen, Vettel's Ferrari team-mate, to essentially be utilised as a blocker between the polesitter and the Mercedes', Hamilton said: "Kimi has been very quick this weekend and only just missed out on pole position, so tomorrow he'll be quick and I don't imagine it's going to be a case of Sebastian just pulling away.

"Kimi's on it this weekend so hopefully it's a race between the four of us."

Will Ferrari stay ahead of the pack in Sochi? Watch the Russian GP weekend with Sky Sports F1. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday. Check out all the ways to watch live F1 on Sky Sports for subscribers and non-subscribers - including a NOW TV day pass for £6.99!