Hamilton benefits from Ferrari's Sochi setbacks

Russian GP victory seemed destined to Ferrari, but destiny will have decided otherwise and that is Lewis Hamilton who scored his 9th victory of the season, his first since Hungary, while Mercedes secured the double with Valtteri Bottas.

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) had taken the advantage over his teammate and pole sitter Charles Leclerc at the beginning. While the Monegasque expressly asked his team to recover first place, having not blocked the German at the start, the Scuderia decided to pit the quadruple pole-sitter first.

The race changed when Sebastian Vettel retired with an engine problem. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas took advantage of the virtual safety car to change their tires and take control of the race, the championship leader taking the lead ahead of the Finn. Charles Leclerc found himself 3rd by choosing to take new tires to attack following the exit of the track of George Russell (Wiliams), victim of broken brakes.

Despite the wishes of Charles Leclerc, the top three has no longer evolved. Lewis Hamilton thus soars a little further in the Drivers' standings by achieving the 82nd success of his career (his 4th in Sochi and his 2nd in a row) while Mercedes celebrates its 8th double of the season by remaining undefeated in Sochi in 6 editions. The Briton also won the bonus point for the best lap in the race.

Red Bull made a nice group shot by completing the Top 5 with Max Verstappen before Alexander albon. The Thai made a good comeback race after starting from the pits. The two RB15s had fallen back on the grid following the penalties, the new resident of Milton Keynes even having left the stands.

McLaren still takes the lead over Renault. Carlos Sainz Jr took 6th place while Lando Norris finished 8th behind Sergio Pérez (Racing Point). Kevin Magnussen (Haas) took 9th place after receiving a 5-second penalty for cutting a chicane.

Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) took the last point by ahead of Lance stroll (Racing Point), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo), Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo).

Romain Grosjean (Haas) retired on the first lap following a collision with Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) and Antonio Giovinazzi. The Frenchman ended his race in the tire wall while the Australian retired a little later.

“I don’t need to see the pictures. The commissioners leave a little more room for the first round”, commented the Haas driver.

Both Williams did not see the finish with a double retirement of George Russell and Robert Kubica.

Lewis Hamilton will arrive at the Japanese GP at Suzuka on October 13 with a lead of 73 points over Valtteri Bottas and 107 over Charles Leclerc. Mercedes is 162 units ahead of Ferrari.

Discover the analysis of the Russian GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2236 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.