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After braving the brutal heat and soaring temperatures of the Singapore Grand Prix, the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi provides a fresh wave of respite to the 20 men on the grid. This is a track, where make no mistake, the Silver Arrows have ruled with an iron fist.
Not only have Mercedes scored a podium in every single installment of the Russian Grand Prix, ever since the first run in 2014, but have denied Ferrari, Red Bull and the likes to claim a win in five back-to-back wins.
If anyone was looking for a thumping Constructor's record then Mercedes' at Sochi is exactly that.
But after Charles Leclerc set the precedent with unmatched pace, walking away with his sixth pole position on Saturday. It seems the math regarding the 2019 run at Sochi seems fairly simple. Attack Leclerc right from the start and find a way to go past the towering straight-line speed of the Scarlett Scuderia and it seems, all will be fine from the Mercedes point of view.
With Hamilton starting from second having given it 'his everything' during qualifying with Vettel closer on his heels up in third, it seems Sunday would offer a cracker of a contest.
Let's look at 5 possible outcomes of the 2019 Russian Grand Prix
Sainz outscores Norris for the first time since Hungary
Carlos Sainz Jr. is, without a trickle of doubt, the more experienced driver among the duo involving Lando Norris, at McLaren.
But where the last few Grands Prix matter, then it appears that Sainz has swallowed a bullet of sorts, failing to score a single point from the onset of the contest at the Hungaroring. At Belgium, upon the resumption of the ongoing season, where Sainz registered a DNF, his teammate went on to collect a P11 albeit no points.
Later, when Sainz scored another DNF at Monza, at the Italian Grand Prix, his teammate recorded a memorable drive to score a P10. And were seen recently, then at Singapore, as Sainz somehow managed to finish the race in entirety, his teammate was up amid the points, ending with a respectable P7, thus 6 points.
But the Spaniard will run into some good fortune amplified by a strong and tedious drive at the Sochi Autodrome where he will outscore his rookie teammate for the first time since the second half of this season began.
Grosjean fails to collect a point despite strong qualifying result
Romain Grosjean of Haas has hardly been a stranger to criticism this season, a year where he has clearly struggled with car control and hence, collecting some useful points for his team.
This is an outfit, that one must remember, has reposed its faith in the abilities of the experienced driver, retaining him for the 2020 season.
But truth be told, one can't really think of another drive of the class of the one he delivered at the German Grand Prix, where the experienced Swiss-French driver went on to score a handy P7 under intense rains driving well enough during the climactic moments of the race.
Grosjean's score-card, since the German Grand Prix has wielded DNFs and no points finish consistently. He hasn't made it to the points once until Singapore, although he'd love to bag a different outcome at Sochi where he starts from eighth on the grid.
But on the race-day, Grosjean will find it hard to tackle the contest posed by two strong midfielders- the likes of McLaren and Renault comfortably up in his front. That Verstappen will be hot on his heels, beginning from ninth will make Grosjean's life even more difficult to collect useful points for Haas.
Two Ferraris end up on the podium
When both Charles Leclerc- although not the happiest man at the Marina Bay- and Sebastian Vettel finished on the podium places at the Singapore Grand Prix, the sport experienced a revival of fortunes for the Scuderia outfit.
Remember, Scuderia's last 1-2 finish came at the behest of Vettel(P1) and Raikkonen's (P2) sensational effort at the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix. But from that point on, scoring two immaculate podiums in the same race has been an uphill task for the most famous marquee in the sport.
In that regard, that Leclerc (pole) and Vettel (P3) begin strongly at Sochi will lift the spirits of the famous team and its backers to evidence another strong result. But for that to happen, Vettel will have to find a way to breach the strong defenses of clearly the most capable and dangerous man on the grid, one that has been denied a win on four back-to-back occasions since the resumption of the season: Lewis Hamilton.
Guess what, Vettel will find a way to outpace the Briton and will help Ferrari score yet another 1-2, this time at Russia.
Bottas sets the fastest lap of the race
Prior to arriving at Sochi, a venue where he last triumphed in 2017, Valtteri Bottas suggested that he has some "unfinished business" at Russia. The events of 2018, though, seemed to be clearly favoring Bottas, who was dominating the track position of the race until the halfway stage, which is when he received a message on team radio and from that point on it was Lewis Hamilton all the way.
Few moments have captured the crestfallenness of a racing driver as honestly as seeing Bottas on the podium last year at the Sochi Autodrome, where, in an effort to let Lewis through, the Finn ended up on the second spot.
But this time around, Valtteri, who was keen to register a win, finds himself trailing three strong cars, arguably, also the three fastest-men on the grid, starting with Leclerc, Hamilton, and Vettel in that order.
While Valtteri won't be able to finish on the podium unless someone like Vettel does a racing blunder, he will do well enough to score the fastest lap of the race.
Leclerc beats Vettel and Hamilton to collect third F1 win
Charles Leclerc experienced a bag of mixed emotions at the recently-concluded Singapore Grand Prix. Despite scoring a strong P2 and therefore, collecting a hat-trick of podiums since the resumption of the ongoing season, the 21-year-old was left jaded, Ferrari's successful undercut helping his teammate, who began from third on the grid.
But at Sochi, where Leclerc has scored yet another pole, the sixth in his maiden season with the Scuderia and his fourth on the trot, thus matching the iconic Michael Schumacher, the Monegasque will end up with bright smiles and won't be sulking.
He will control the race pace sufficiently well after beginning strongly on the long straights to deny Hamilton the lead of the race. From that point on, Leclerc will sit comfortably in the leadership position and will also get the first preference in terms of pits, to eventually recover well to cross the checkered flag as the race-winner.
