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The Russian Grand Prix was bound to be exciting with Ferrari and Mercedes intermixing on the grid. Despite a dearth of on-track overtakes between the front-runners, the Grand Prix was a nail-biting affair.
A chaotic starting lap resulted in multiple incidents. While all eyeballs were glued to Sebastian Vettel surging ahead to snatch the first position from his teammate, those behind him did not come out completely unscathed.
The first virtual safety car was announced after Romain Grosjean, Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniel Ricciardo bumped wheels. Romain was pushed into the barriers and his car had to be retrieved from the side of the track.
His teammate, Kevin Magnussen, made quick headway to get among the points. He pit under the second virtual safety car, which was brought out as a measure to remove Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari from the track. He finished 9th, owing to a five-second penalty awarded because of leaving the track.
The virtual safety car was switched to a full-fledged safety car when George Russell lost control of his brake pedal on his way out of the pits and crashed.
Lewis Hamilton made full use of a brilliant tyre strategy mixed with a well-timed virtual safety car and strong race pace to score another emphatic victory in Russia. The Silver Arrows would surely be relieved that the Ferrari resurgence was halted.
Let us have a look at the five talking points of the exciting race.
#5 A Tumultuous First Lap
Kimi Räikkönen was awarded a drive-through penalty due to a jump start. The Finn immediately stopped and restarted on the grid to rectify his mistake, forcing the drivers behind him to go around him. His race was affectively ruined due to that and he finished in 13th place.
The collision between Romain Grosjean, Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniel Ricciardo right at the start brought out the first virtual safety car. It cut short Romain’s race as the Frenchman was bunted into the barriers.
Daniel’s Renault was forced to retire later on due to significant floor damage which resulted in a loss of downforce and balance. Antonio finished last in fifteenth place after a nose cone change earlier on.
#4 Honda engine feeling the heat
The Red Bull Racing drivers Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon were already on the back foot because they began the race down in ninth place and from the pit-lane respectively. While they made a resurgence through the field, buoyed by two virtual safety cars and a safety car, they never managed to bring the fight to the leaders.
However, they easily picked off other drivers one by one to finish fourth and fifth. Verstappen jumped ahead of Romain Grosjean before the VSC came out, halting his progress momentarily. Later, he went hunting for the McLaren drivers and Nico Hülkenberg to finish the race 14 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton.
The Toro Rosso drivers, meanwhile, were caught up in a fight between themselves for the most of the Grand Prix, with Albon too being in the mix for a while. Pierre Gasly and Danil Kvyat kept swapping positions as neither was ready to relent.
Their pit wall surely had their hearts in their mouths as the two barely managed to avoid a collision. Despite providing entertainment, they finished outside the points.
#3 Strong race for McLaren
McLaren made full use of the slipstream on offer during the first lap. Carlos Sainz even put Lewis Hamilton under pressure once he got past Valtteri Bottas. He stayed ahead of the Finn before they finally swapped places on lap 7.
Lando Norris continued to impress, making it hard to believe that it is only his debut year in the sport as the British driver got past Nico Hülkenberg initially. The two McLaren teammates may have lost out a little due to pitting before the virtual and then a proper safety car was deployed, but the overall result was still commendable.
Lando had medium tyres on and once the green flag was waved, he came under pressure from Nico on a fresher set of boots. The 19-year-old withheld his nerves despite the German hunting him down until the latter was forced to back off.
A 5-second time penalty handed to Kevin Magnussen just ahead of the road meant he picked up another spot to finish P8. Kevin was penalized for leaving the track during a battle with Sergio Perez. Sainz, meanwhile, could not hold out against the faster Red Bulls, but he finished an admirable sixth place.
#2 Intra-team strategy battle in Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel had a stellar start off the starting grid. The German was leading the race in the blink of an eye, already leaving everyone behind as he got past Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton by the time he reached Turn 2.
Remaining at the front of the pack was easy with the race pace that Vettel displayed, but soon requests from his team to swap positions started flowing in. A tactic decided previously, probably during the team brief, was to switch around the two red cars in exactly this situation.
Charles Leclerc quickly went on the radio to express his disapproval for not having been let back ahead of his teammate. Vettel, on the other hand, stated that he was faster than the Monegasque driver and later even stopped responding to his team.
This cold war resulted in Ferrari pitting Leclerc earlier to successfully administer an undercut. Unfortunately for the Prancing Horse team, once the Sebastian exited the pits after his tyre change, an MGU-K related problem made itself known cutting short his race.
#1 Mercedes 1-2 finish stops Ferrari's resurgence
Based on qualifying results, the chances of Ferrari coming out on top in Russia were high. Mercedes, however, had the foresight to ensure a start on medium tyres by opting that compound during Q2. They banked on the knowledge of safety cars being a common occurrence in Sochi.
Mercedes did not show enough race pace at the start to put the Ferraris under pressure, so they played the waiting game. The harder tyres on both their drivers lengthened their stint. Once the virtual safety car was announced, they dashed into the pits for a quick pit-stop.
Lewis came out in front of the lone Ferrari remaining. Soon, when Leclerc pitted again for a set of soft tyres, Bottas inherited the second place. Despite Leclerc bringing the fight to Bottas, the latter was well up to the challenge. Hamilton, on the other hand, pushed hard to leave the rest in the dust and also attain the fastest lap of the race.
