Russia – Race: Hamilton Wins, Ferrari Sees Red!

Taking advantage of Sebastian Vettel's retirement due to a mechanical problem, Lewis Hamilton won the Russian Grand Prix after making his only stop under the Safety Car conditions. He finished ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc. The race was also marked by Ferrari's questionable team orders, which aimed to favor the Monegasque driver, who was trapped at the start by Vettel.

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Charles Leclerc starts from pole position in this Russian Grand Prix, but it’s Sebastian Vettel who makes the best start by overtaking Lewis Hamilton and the Monegasque in the second turn.

Carlos Sainz has the luxury of overtaking Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes while at the back of the pack it’s a disaster for Romain Grosjean, who is hit by Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo, sandwiched between the Frenchman’s car and Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault. The Australian suffers a puncture and enters the pit at the end of the first lap. Unfortunately, it’s a retirement for Grosjean, who has to leave his Haas in the barriers and inadvertently triggers the deployment of the Safety Car.

On the radio, Charles Leclerc complains about a lack of power at the start, which would explain his less than stellar getaway. At the back of the grid, Kimi Räikkönen blatantly jumps the start and will be penalized with a “drive through”.

The Safety Car pulls away at the start of the 4th lap, and Vettel maintains the lead against Leclerc and Hamilton. The German quickly escapes beyond a second, allowing him to stay clear of his teammate’s DRS. The two Ferraris pull away from Hamilton’s Mercedes, on harder tires.

In the 6th lap, Ferrari’s strategists ask Vettel to let his teammate pass. To which the German responds that the Monegasque must first get closer to him. Indeed, the Singapore winner is currently faster than his rival, but the Scuderia seems to be responsible for Leclerc’s poor start. The latter clearly accusing his team over the radio of having made him lose first place at the start. However, the team is forced to realize that Vettel is the fastest on the track and ultimately decides to abandon this nonsensical instruction.

In fourth position, Valtteri Bottas regains his place against Carlos Sainz while Max Verstappen begins his comeback with strong overtakes on Sergio Pérez and then on the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. Nico Hülkenberg in his Renault and Kevin Magnussen, who had a perfect start, complete the Top 10.

The German in his Renault is the first to pit on lap 16, but the stop goes rather poorly, with the mechanics getting slightly confused with the front jack. Nevertheless, he leaves on Medium tires, indicating a likely two-stop strategy.

Ferrari decides to pit Leclerc at the end of the 22nd lap to prevent Lewis Hamilton from catching up. The latter had fully optimized his Medium tires and was consistently lapping faster than the Monegasque. This early pit stop also allows him to close the gap on Sebastian Vettel, who stops four laps later… too late to come out ahead of Leclerc, who overtakes the German with a strategy chosen by Ferrari.

A great battle for 8th place where Alexander Albon has to work hard to overtake a tenacious Pierre Gasly, who is determined to show Red Bull decision-makers that he has character. Unfortunately, the Frenchman is then overtaken by his teammate Daniil Kvyat. Midway through the race, the two Toro Rossos are in 9th and 11th positions while Daniel Ricciardo retires at his pit.

Dramatic turn of events on the 28th lap when Sebastian Vettel is forced to stop his car on the track and retire. The Virtual Safety Car is deployed, and this benefits Lewis Hamilton, who makes his first pit stop. The Briton comes out well ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and takes the lead.

Just after the race resumed, George Russell lost his Williams and crashed into the TechPro barriers. This time, the Safety Car took to the track and slightly disrupted the strategies of the drivers battling in the pack, as well as Ferrari, which chose to pit Leclerc a second time to switch him onto Soft tires. He came out 3rd behind the two Mercedes.

Before the resumption of the race on the 33rd lap, the Top 10 is as follows: Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Magnussen, Norris, Pérez, Stroll, and Albon.

Charles Leclerc is very close to Valtteri Bottas but despite using DRS, the Ferrari driver is struggling to overtake the Finn. The Mercedes performs very well in the winding third sector and therefore benefits from enough of a lead on the start/finish straight to maintain its second place.

Kevin Magnussen is an astonishing 6th with 12 laps to go. The Haas driver has capitalized perfectly on his good start and the race interruptions to find himself in this position. But the end of the race is more challenging for the Dane, who is successively overtaken by Albon and then Pérez in maneuvers at the end of the straight. He will even suffer a 5-second penalty on his race time for cutting the chicane at the second turn.

The situation doesn’t change at the front of the race, and it’s an unexpected Mercedes one-two and a victory for Lewis Hamilton that concludes this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix.

The complete race standings:

Driver Team Times Gap Laps
1
Hamilton Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 1:33:38.992
53
2
Bottas Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 1:33:42.821 +3.829
53
3
Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari 1:33:44.204 +1.383
53
4
Verstappen Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer 1:33:53.202 +8.998
53
5
Albon Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer 1:34:17.340 +24.138
53
6
Sainz Jr. McLaren Renault F1 Team 1:34:24.881 +7.541
53
7
Perez Racing Point Force India Mercedes 1:34:27.720 +2.839
53
8
Norris McLaren Renault F1 Team 1:34:36.741 +9.021
53
9
Magnussen Haas F1 Team 1:34:37.771 +1.030
53
10
Hülkenberg Renault F1 Team 1:34:38.833 +1.062
53
11
Stroll Racing Point Force India Mercedes 1:34:39.813 +0.980
53
12
Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34:41.488 +1.675
53
13
Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Sauber Ferrari 1:34:47.902 +6.414
53
14
Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34:49.068 +1.166
53
15
Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Sauber Ferrari 1:34:52.338 +3.270
53
16
Kubica Williams Racing 51:42.308 +
28
17
Russell Williams Racing 48:58.002 +
27
18
Vettel Scuderia Ferrari 45:29.330 +
26
19
Ricciardo Renault F1 Team 43:41.568 +
24
20
Grosjean Haas F1 Team +
0
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