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Mercedes have grabbed the headlines today for both the right and wrong reasons after the Russian Grand Prix. A 1-2 for the team was soured by controversial team orders which prevented Valtteri Bottas from winning his first race of the season. Some would say that it's a team sport and this is, therefore, part of the event, others think that it was in poor taste and the Finn should've been allowed to fight. Who takes home the Sportskeeda F1 awards this week? Keep reading to find out!
Driver of the Weekend
Hamilton and Bottas for their 1-2 and Charles Leclerc for his excellent 7th were good shouts for this award, but this one goes to the birthday boy. The Red Bull drivers of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo went into this weekend knowing full well that they'd be starting from the back of the grid. It was expected that Mercedes would be in a league of their own around the Sochi Autodrom, but the Red Bulls surprisingly out qualified them in Q1. Q2 was a far as Ricciardo and Verstappen went, there was no point going further due to their engine penalties.
Verstappen lined up 19th of 20 on the starting grid and wasted no time improving his position. An extremely brave dive into the first braking zone set him on his way up the field, as the Dutchman ascended to 13th by the end of the first tour. By the third lap he was inside the top 10, and by Lap 8, only the Ferraris and Mercedes cars were in front of him as he ran in fifth. Verstappen even held off Lewis Hamilton for a few laps before eventually pitting. In the end, P5 was where Verstappen ended up, not too spectacular in itself, but how he got there as something special. The pace differential between Red Bull and the midfield teams is a big one, but this start was on another level, highlighting why Mad Max is one of the sports biggest young prospects.
Best Overtake
No, it's not the one you're thinking of. The 2017 Russian Grand Prix produced a not so grand total of 0 on-track overtakes, but that thankfully wasn't the case this year. The Mercedes drivers of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton got away cleanly in 1-2 formation at the start of the race as things were going perfectly to plan for the Silver Arrows. Sebastian Vettel was their only real challenger and after Bottas' pit, strangely, Hamilton did not. Vettel took the opportunity to try and make the undercut work, Ferrari for once getting their strategy correct. The world champion would pit a lap later, but the damage was already done, Seb powering past Lewis down the pit-straight.
Hamilton then showed the true performance of the Mercedes, challenging Vettel the next time around but being run out of the road by the German. That wasn't the end of the onslaught, though as Hamilton forced his way around the outside of Vettel around the 180 degrees horseshoe-shaped turn 4.
Vettel defended perfectly, but sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say your opponent was better. While Verstappen had plenty of overtakes, this was one that was significant for the championship and of the utmost quality.
Underperformer of the Weekend
Toro Rosso's early double retirement and Renault's poor Grand Prix are contenders for this dishonourable award, but it's the Papaya cars that get burdened with this one. McLaren can't wait for 2018 to end, their results are getting worse and worse as the year goes on. Stoffel Vandoorne not making it of Q1 is expected by now, but not even the prowess of Fernando Alonso could manage to make the top 15.
It didn't get much better in the race itself, either, with neither driver threatening the points-paying positions, coming home in 14th and 16th. Catching Renault and Haas for 4th and 5th in the constructor's standings is a mere pipe dream now, and there's a real possibility of Force India catching McLaren for 6th. And yes, that's the same Force India that had their points erased before Belgium.
Special Recognition Award
I'm not going to beat around the bush here, Valtteri Bottas deserves something for his drive in Russia, and for his efforts this season. Bottas is somewhat of a specialist around Sochi, almost qualifying on pole at the inaugural race in 2014 and claiming his first Grand Prix win there last year. History appeared to be repeating itself too, as Bottas was in a net lead of the race with 25 laps gone after claiming pole on Saturday. To most fans' surprise, Valtteri was ordered to step aside and let Hamilton by for the net lead, an order that angered the Finn, but one he obeyed.
With a 40 point lead over Vettel going into the race and after Bottas was told to hold station in Germany, you'd think that Mercedes would let Valtteri have this victory, but you'd have been wrong. It's understandable from a team perspective, but after "wingman" comments from Toto Wolff and Bottas not having a won a race this year, it's a very bitter pill to swallow for Bottas.
