The night before the Russian Grand Prix, the starting grid took on its final form. A small consolation for Daniil Kvyat, who changed two engines in one weekend, missed the qualification and received a ban on replacing the helmet, was that he did not start last. In an even more unenviable situation was his former partner in Toro Rosso Alexander Albon. After the accident, the mechanics had to redo the Red Bull car with violations of the rules of the closed fleet, for which the start from the pit lane is the punishment. Quat approached the peloton a few meters, taking 19th place.
The strategy for the race for all pilots was unambiguous - start on the softest tires and then change them to the most durable. However, Mercedes decided to go on experiments to try to achieve the incredibly strong lately Ferrari cars. The German stable gave Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, starting one after the other on the even right side, medium-hard tires. On a long start line, such a strategy would hardly give an advantage over Charles Lecler and Sebastian Vettel, but in the long run the risk could be justified.
What else was interesting starting grid, so this is the position of Max Verstappen. The leader of Red Bull knew in advance that he would lose five places due to the replacement of power plant elements, and ended up on the ninth line. Considering that he was the best in the second free practice, it was dangerous for a group of middle peasants to side by side with him.
As a result, when the race started, Hamilton immediately missed Vettel, who used a slip stream to go ahead and take first place instead of Leclair. Failure also befell Bottas, who circumvented Carlos Sainz on McLaren. The British team will return to Mercedes engines from 2021, stopping cooperation with Renault, and will surely return to the struggle for the highest places, but already in Sochi it managed to slightly snap future suppliers on the nose.
⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️
⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️
LIGHTS OUT! WE'RE OFF!
Vettel takes the lead into the first corner! # F1 🇷🇺 # RussianGPpic.twitter.com / 7nz46CeEec
In the middle of the Peloton, the struggle in the first circles was much tougher. Antonio Giovinazzi at Alfa Romeo was the main troublemaker. He struck the wheel of Daniel Riccardo at Renault and knocked Romain Grosjean off the highway at Haas. For the Frenchman, the race immediately ended, and the rest were waiting for a restart after leaving the safety car. Daniil Kvyat took advantage of the turmoil and climbed to 13th place. His words that the fight for points is real turned out to be prophetic. He was separated from the coveted top ten by teammate Pierre Gasley, Lance Stroll of Racing Point and Kevin Magnussen on Haas.
LAP 1/53
Vettel has taken the lead
Grosjean is out
Ricciardo has a puncture
What a start! We are now behind the safety car # F1 🇷🇺 # RussianGPpic.twitter.com / NvkZq80me5
After the restart, the main fight did not take place on the track, but on the Ferrari radio waves. The team promised Leclair that Vettel would miss him and return first place, but the German was not eager to give way to a more successful partner this season. He demanded that the Monegasque wait and get close, and without a fight, he was not going to give up leadership. Moreover, the best circles belonged specifically to Vettel. Leclair was extremely unhappy that he was ordered to create a slip stream for his partner, but he did not repay the same. By the 14th circle, he was already three and a half seconds behind.
Bottas, meanwhile, regained fourth place in a dispute with Sainz. Hamilton lagged behind the two Ferrari, giving them more than three seconds. However, the tactics of Mercedes still began to work - in time on the circle the Briton was not inferior to the leaders, and his tires were more viable. Quat was in the same winning position - his rubber was the strongest in composition, but at the same time he drove with his competitors equally fast. For a while, even Albon could not get to the Russians in a position to attack. His partner Verstappen was doing better - he climbed to sixth place and was ready to overtake Sainz.
In the end, Albon still beat Kvyat, but the Russian remained 13th. Nico Hulkenberg at Renault was the first to go to the pit stop and lingered on it for an extra seven seconds due to the replacement of the wheel. At the same time, Ferrari instructed Leclair to attack Vettel, which was met with laughter among journalists in the press center - the gap was already four seconds.
LAP 18/53
Alex Albon has no time to stop for a catch-up with his former team mate! 🤣
He moves ahead of Dany Kvyat into P12 # F1 🇷🇺 # RussianGPpic.twitter.com / tkgErRfce8
On the 23rd lap, Lecler went to the pit stop to get tires of medium stiffness, and returned to the track for Bottas. This gave Hamilton a chance to catch up with Ferrari if his partner held them back for as long as possible. Leclair on the new tires set the best lap, driving a second faster than Vettel.
LAP 23/53
And the plot thickens 👀
Leclerc boxes and drops to P4, with a Mercedes 2-3 behind Vettel # F1 🇷🇺 # RussianGPpic.twitter.com / oIT7HU9mQ3
A series of pit stops in the middle of the peloton allowed Kvyat to rise to tenth place, but he could move forward on his own. The Russian ahead of Gasli and came in ninth place. Immediately the track owner began to catch up with Sainz, but no one else was visible behind Quat.
Three laps after Leclair, Vettel visited the mechanics, and his return to the track turned out to be a failure. Not only due to the fact that he was behind his partner as much as three and a half seconds. The car had technical problems, and the German turned onto the side of the road, leaving the cockpit. Hamilton, who was 19 seconds ahead of Leclair, jumped into the pits and got the softest tires, on which he had to drive as many as 24 laps.
LAP 28/53
SEBASTIAN VETTEL IS OUT! # F1 🇷🇺 # RussianGPpic.twitter.com / 5duhe37afm
Fortunately for the World Cup leader, George Russell crashed right into the wall at Williams, because of which the virtual safety car was replaced by the real one, and Hamilton got a chance to save rubber in a couple of laps. In addition, Lecler decided to re-update the tires and dropped to third place. Mercedes in full force led the race before the restart, but Leclair was ready to attack them on the fastest tires.
LAP 29/53
George Russell is out at Turn 8!
He suffers a brake failure, and we are now behind the safety car # F1 🇷🇺 # RussianGPpic.twitter.com / rKP4IT2PRI
Quat also visited the boxes twice, and the second pit stop turned out to be delayed. Although after the first tire change, he could claim 11th place, in the end he had to miss Hulkenberg and Gasley.
For 20 laps to the finish line, the safety car left the track. Leclair immediately tried to attack Bottas, but the Finnish racer covered his partner, who had a chance to win the first race after three consecutive lost. Kvyat also had an unsuccessful attempt to overtake Gasly, and the stewards even thought that she was committed with violations of the rules. But while the question was discussed whether to start an investigation, the Russian still came out in 12th place. Ahead was Stroll, which was missing two and a half seconds.
LAP 37/53
Gasly and Kvyat are battling for P12
Gasly runs wide into Turn 2, which lets Raikkonen move into P13! #RussianGP 🇷🇺 # F1pic.twitter.com / DQnzp0duy0
Inspired by such a successful development of events for himself, Hamilton three times set the best lap in the race. At the same time, the British conquered an incredible record in the number of races with at least one leadership circle - the Russian Grand Prix became the 143rd such race, and the Briton reached clean first place, ahead of Michael Schumacher.
Seven laps before the finish, Kvyat felt his pace and began to drive faster than Stroll and Hulkenberg, however, to play three and a half seconds from the German, the distance might not be enough. But unexpectedly, the Russian had a new goal - Magnusen, who took eighth place, cut the distance on the second turn and was punished with a five-second fine. To fight with the Dane for at least 11th place at the start from the 19th became real. However, in the last few laps, Kvyat’s pace has fallen so much that it’s stopped talking about any plans.
Nothing special happened at that time in the leadership group. Hamilton reached the finish line first, although before the race he considered Ferrari pilots to be his favorites. The Briton won a fourth victory in Sochi and 82nd in his career - now he completed more than a third of his starts in first place. Thanks to the second place of Bottas, Mercedes designed the first winning double after the British Grand Prix. Leclair remained in third place both in the race and in the overall standings, in both cases defeating Verstappen. Quat finished the race in 12th place.
BREAKING: Mercedes back on top - @LewisHamilton beats @ValtteriBottas to win in Russia! #RussianGP 🇷🇺 # F1pic.twitter.com / T5dVprgMKx
- Formula 1 (@ F1) September 29, 2019