Mercedes finishes 1-3 as Red Bull’s Verstappen takes second.
SOCHI, Russia—Sunday, September 27th—Valtteri Bottas won Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix by seven seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton recovered to finish third. “Once I was in clean air, I felt that the pace was pretty awesome and that I could control everything,” Bottas said afterward.
Despite the win, Bottas trails Hamilton by 44 points in the championship standings, with Verstappen in third.
Hamilton took the lead early, but the safety car came out after only one lap as Lance Stroll was hit by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and went into the wall. At the same time, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr., who was trying to avoid the incident, ran into the wall on the other side of the same turn. Both cars were the only retirements of the race.
Officials served Hamilton two penalties for practicing starts outside the pitlane, and those penalties dropped the Briton to 11th. Bottas, who was only a couple of seconds behind, took the lead for good and held it for the remainder of the race. Although Verstappen drove well, the Dutchman ran into slower cars as the race progressed.
While the front had relatively little action, the rest of the field generated lots of excitement. Sergio Perez drove his Racing Point comfortably into fourth, while Daniel Ricciardo, in his Renault, had a penalty for cutting a curve while passing teammate Esteban Ocon. It was not a problem, though, as the Australian had enough of a gap to stay in fifth just ahead of the only Ferrari in the top ten driven by Leclerc.
Ocon ended up in seventh, just ahead of Dani Kvyat, who was on his home circuit. Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly came alive late in the race, finishing ninth in his Alpha Tauri. Tenth place was grabbed by the senior Red Bull car of Alex Albon.
Kevin Magnussen (American Haas) finished in 12th. Romain Grosjean took 17th after going off the track and striking the bollards, which put out a virtual safety car laps from the end.
For Bottas, the race could be the start of things to come. But the next round might be a challenge. The F1 grid goes to the famed Nurburgring in Germany in two weeks and may face adverse weather. But Bottas can relish what he accomplished on Sunday. “It’s a good day,” he said. “It’s nice to get another win, and now need to keep the momentum going.”
