- Lewis Hamilton
- Nico Rosberg
- Valtteri Bottas
- Jenson Button
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Sebastian Vettel
- Kimi Raikkonen
- Sergio Perez
- Felipe Massa
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Jean-Eric Vergne
- Daniil Kvyat
- Esterban Gutierrez
- Adrain Sutil
- Romain Grosjean
- Pastor Maldonado
- Marcus Ericsson
Kamui Kobayashi DNF
Max Chilton DNF
Lewis Hamilton took his 31st career win at Sochi to extend his championship lead to 17 points and to give himself and Mercedes their first Formula One Constructors Championship. It was a dominant drive from Hamilton after team mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg locked up going into turn 2 causing him to run off the track and Pit at the end of the lap. The Williams of Felipe Massa also followed Rosberg in at the end of the lap to get his mandatory stop out of the way. Rosberg’s escapade left McLaren’s Jenson Button in a comfortable 3rd in similar fashion to Japan 1 week ago. The 2009 World Champion had been under slight pressure from the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso who reportedly will take Button’s seat at McLaren for next season. While 2nd place Valtteri Bottas kept Hamilton honest during the early stages at Sochi. While after a promising qualifying the Torro Rosso’s of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat kept falling through the field with the two Red Bull’s and McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen getting past in the opening 3 laps. On lap 8 Rosberg was instructed to try and stretch the Prime Medium compound tyre all the way to the end of the race surprising many people including Jenson Button who when told about Rosberg’s plan said “No Chance”. But on lap 20 Rosberg passed the struggling Force India of Sergio Perez to regain a place in the points as Felipe Massa followed him through but the German was 34 seconds off the lead with Hamilton yet to make his pit stop. Button pitted on lap 23 for his prime tyres but came out behind Rosberg putting him a net 4th but under pressure from Alonso who tried the overcut but a dodgy pit stop from his Ferrari mechanics saw him drop behind both McLarens and Massa’s Williams. Race leader Hamilton pitted on the end of lap 27 and retained 1st as Sebastian Vettel did the opposite to team mate Daniel Ricciardo whom had pitted before lap 20 to try and do the undercut whereas Vettel tried a big overcut which ultimately didn’t work in his favour. Shortly after his pit stop Bottas was passed by Rosberg on lap 31 but Williams like most of the paddock believed that he would need to pit again due to degradation. With 13 laps to go Rosberg was asked if he could get to the end in a competitive state as the pit window was open Rosberg stated “EASY! Well not easy but the tyres feel good.” Massa then took the bold decision to pit for a second time for another set of the Option Soft compound tyres which once again dropped him down the field. Around lap 45 President Putin arrived at the track, just as well that he was late because home boy Kvyat was down in 14th after starting 5th. Romain Grosjean was given a 5 second penalty and 2 penalty points for contact with Sauber’s Adrian Sutil while Kamui Kobayashi claimed that Caterham retired a healthy car as the team went into administration and the Brit max Chilton had a suspension failure wrapping up a dier week for Marussia at their home GP. But in the Championship battle Hamilton capitalised on another error by Rosberg and with Hamilton winning the inaugural US GP back in 2012 and with his current form many wouldn’t bet against him to take another win in Austin.
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Lewis Hamilton took pole position at the inorgiral Russian GP and Valtteri Bottas threw away pole at the final 2 corners. The Fin had gone purple in the first 2 sectors until he got loads of oversteer right at the end of the lap, causing him to drift over the line. Hamilton has looked the quickest man all weekend but Adrian Sutil track conditions changed and it bought the Williams into play. However for the Williams of Felipe Massa it was a disastrous day after a fuel pressure problem saw him drop out in Q1. It has been a good weekend for McLaren with Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button looking good on Friday and in Q3 Button managed to get 4th. Magnussen qualified in 6th after an error on his first run but will drop 5 places after a gearbox change along with Nico Hulkenberg, Max Chilton and Pastor Maldonado. It was a bad day for Ferrari bound Sebastian Vettel who was knocked out in Q2 only 0.006 ahead of Hulkenberg's Force India. It was a great day for Torro Rosso and Daniil Kvyat at his home GP, as he took 5th. Team mate Jean-Eric Vergne also got into the top 10 as he bids to save his F1 career. It was a tough day for Marussia at their home GP, with Jules Bianchi still in a critical but stable condition in Japan and with Max Chilton the slowest man on track. Ferrari had an average day with Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen only 8th and 9th. But at the front it looks like a 3 horse race for the win but McLaren and Torro Rosso could spring a surprise in the long run to turn 2. Lights out at 12 noon UK time and the Race is LIVE on Sky Sports F1 and BBC One. 1. Lewis Hamilton 1:38.513 2. Nico Rosberg 3. Valtteri Bottas 4. Jenson Button 5. Daniil Kvyat 6. Kevin Magnussen +5 Places 7. Daniel Ricciardo 8. Fernando Alonso 9. Kimi Raikkonen 10. Jean-Eric Vergne 11. Sebastian Vettel 12. Nico Hulkenberg +5 Places 13. Sergio Perez 14. Esterban Gutierrez 15. Adrian Sutil 16. Romain Grosjean 17. Marcus Ericsson 18. Felipe Massa 19. Kamui Kobayashi 20. Pastor Maldonado 21. Max Chilton
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