Max Verstappen headed into Russia leading the championship, but with a 3-place grid penalty hanging over his head when the Dutchman and Hamilton came together again in Italy...
So how did Russia play out?
Free Practice...
FP1:
Though rain had been forecast for most of the weekend, for this session it looked optimistically dry and sunny.
Leclerc, knowing he would be starting his Grand Prix from the rear of the grid, would tactically work his way through the practice sessions unconventionally. Whilst teammate Carlos was on the hard compound, Charles was on the softs. He was the only driver in the session’s initial stages with the red-walled tyre, as everyone else tested the medium and hard compounds.
Bottas has a pretty successful history at this track, with one pole and two wins, and started the session well by leading with a 1:37.147. However, there was widespread awareness that he may be used as a strategic device for Mercedes and a makeshift wall in front of Verstappen when the time to qualify arrived, so he would not find himself tasting victory this time around. His top spot didn’t last particularly long as Leclerc on those soft tyres went quicker. Verstappen was the next car to join Leclerc on the red tyres, and quickly assumed P1 with a 1:36.055- several seconds off Hamilton’s 2020 pole time.
A couple of cars found themselves weaving through the bright orange bollards at Turn 2 such as Giovinazzi and Gasly. You may remember Sainz’s odd incident prior, where on Lap 1 he had to take Turn 2’s escape route but clipped the wall, ending his race there and then.
Both Mercedes eventually joined the soft tyre group and topped the time sheets, with a decent gap to Verstappen. As everyone began to switch to the soft tyre, Lando Norris was left out on the mediums, and Alonso was the only other driver not testing the softs.
When Lando eventually bolted on those soft tyres, he soon found himself losing the rear at Turn 10 and sliding towards the barriers trackside. It wasn’t his only incident of the session, when he found himself clipping the barrier entering the pit lane and consequently spinning around.
When the chequered flag was waved, the session ended as probably expected- Bottas, Hamilton and Verstappen all leading the field.
FP2:
Ricciardo sat in the garage for a while, and it appeared the team had opted to switch his PU for another one- with no penalty applied as this was one already within his allocated set. However, early on in the session we received big news from Red Bull: confirmation that Max Verstappen would start from the back of the grid after using new PU components- a decision probably taken in light of his existing grid penalty.
Meanwhile, title rival Hamilton entered his pit box with a force which sent his front jack man tumbling over backwards. Fortunately the Mercedes team member was well, after Hamilton apologised and asked whether he was okay.
Back out on track a while later, a red flag suspended the session when Giovinazzi crashed at Turn 8. The accident sent him into the barriers, causing damage to his rear wing which only got worse as he attempted to limp away whilst losing more carbon fibre. The marshals swiftly cleared up the debris and the Alfa Romeo, as Giovinazzi returned to his garage. Whether this may be a determining factor in whether his contract is renewed, time will tell.
Mazepin at his home race was unlikely to put in a stellar performance in the Haas car regularly sitting at the back of the grid, but he did share that there was “too much air” in his helmet when the cars were given the green flag.
The final incident came near to the conclusion of FP2, as Gasly took an interesting trip across a curb (following Ricciardo) which resulted in a broken front wing.
Bottas topped the timesheets again in Free Practice, with Hamilton behind and Gasly’s broken car helped carry him to third.
FP3:
CANCELLED!!!
Qualifying...
Q1:
With both support races cancelled as well as the final practice session due to heavy rain and dramatic thunder and lightning (perhaps some foreshadowing of what was to follow), there was a bit of unknown. As FP3 is the session most representative of the true pace of the 20 cars on the grid, we would have to rely on the only two practice sessions and Mercedes’ history of dominance at the circuit for data.
After at least 30 minutes of heavy rain, Q1 was able to commence as it fell in a break in the rain. Rain was on the radar, so timing your lap and gaining track position might make or break the driver’s final positions.
With rumours of ominous rain, it was no surprise that the cars were queuing to exit the pit lane, and it was the Alpha Tauris who were leading the grid out. Sporting the intermediate tyres like the rest of the field, bar Alonso on the wet tyres, the green tyre looked like the ideal choice with a dry track and drizzle in the air. Gasly was the first to indicate what timings we might expect round a wet Russian circuit, putting in a 1:51.519, his teammate continuing the trend of appearing much less comfortable in the car by going 3 seconds slower. However, as with most circuits and wet conditions, times improved as a drier line appeared and the tyres warmed to their optimum temperature. Ferrari looked promising as Leclerc toppled his friend to go P1 with a 1:50.292, with Sainz in P3, whilst Red Bull looked at a disadvantage when Perez posted a time only good enough for P5. Gasly continued to improve and broke into the 1:49s with Norris for company, whilst Bottas and Hamilton set times good enough for P4 and P5.
Mercedes’ main rival, Max Verstappen, began to set a time but promptly returned back to pits, as they viewed setting a time unnecessary with a grid penalty. If they wanted to protect their title challenges, Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull would have to step up, a big ask at the Mercedes dominated circuit.
Giovinazzi was the first to have a noticeable incident, which was not the first of his race weekend. Crawling into Turn 16, the driver yet to have a contract for 2022 lost the rear tyres, spinning himself around, and was only narrowly avoided by Charles Leclerc behind him. Crashing into the barriers on Friday and spinning in a wet qualifying session may not aid his contract negotiations.
As all the drivers began to find the limits and their ideal lines, Mercedes came through the field and the times tumbled as Hamilton went P1 with a 1:46.937 ahead of teammate Bottas, who has found success at this circuit. It wasn’t plain sailing for Valtteri however, as he failed to make Turn 2 and had to take the escape road- infamous last year for Carlos Sainz’s bizarre crash on the first lap, though altered this year. Backing the two Mercedes up was the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, a driver not particularly known as a wet weather master, but remembered for his shock pole on a wet track in Turkey. Much further back was next year’s Mercedes driver George Russell in P15, a master of Saturdays with a memorable and inspired performance at Spa which delivered his first F1 podium. However, he was leaving it late to put in another stunning performance.
As Alonso eventually swapped from the blue wet tyre to the green intermediates, Tsunoda found himself the victim of traffic. Perez and Mazepin blocked Tsunoda, an incident which ultimately meant he didn’t improve in P14. It was Ricciardo and Stroll however who the stewards were investigating, as the Canadian felt he was blocked by the grid’s latest race winner.
Russell meanwhile was fortunate to improve to P11 on his final lap, continuing his qualifying reputation.
As the chequered flag signalled the end of the session, the field were separated by 7.772 seconds, Mazepin in P19 at his home Grand Prix. Eliminated alongside the Russian were Verstappen, Giovinazzi, Schumacher and Raikkonen, whilst Perez hung onto the tails of the two Mercedes cars.
Q2:
Though Q2 was much quieter on track than Q1, the news of the session was that Latifi, having successfully made it into Q2, would join Leclerc and Verstappen at the back of the grid with fresh PU components. With Leclerc looking content not to set a time and Latifi unlikely to be majorly competitive, there would be less contenders for the top ten grid slots.
Intermediates were still the desirable choice in Q2, but the times were on the whole quicker. Though Gasly clocked a 1:46.096, one second slower than Hamilton’s fastest lap in Q1, it was 5 seconds quicker than his own initial lap in Q1. Hamilton established his pace again, quickly ascending to P1 with a 1:46.096 ahead of Lando Norris, but Bottas, normally comfortable around this circuit, had to take the escape route again at Turn 2.
There was only one complaint as Gasly voiced his discontent with George Russell entering the pits ahead of him. The Frenchman’s session didn’t get any better, as he was knocked out in P12 with his teammate for company. Also missing out on Q3 were Leclerc and Latifi, with Vettel P11 (sharing his agonising disappointment on the radio).
The Mercedes topped the session again, looking unchallenged by Perez’s Red Bull.
Q3:
Though with conditions continuing to dry, the Mercedes may not be as secure as it appeared- Alonso and Norris did not finish too far behind them in Q2. High speed corners often end up drier than low speed corners due to downforce and simply the speed at which the cars take them, so it was still a bit of a mix- while some areas of the track suited intermediates, others were ready for the slick compounds.
The teams’ choice was still the intermediate tyre, perhaps with nobody wanting to risk a spin or more costly accident. Not too far into the session however, Russell radioed to his team to prepare the slick tyres, and Carlos Sainz voiced his agreement. Russell was the only driver not to set a banker lap on the intermediate tyre, deeming the soft tyre a measured risk. Although, the Williams team likely had their hearts in their mouths when Russell wobbled out of the pit lane, desperately needing to get his slicks up to temperature to find any benefit.
Eventually, many drivers and their teams followed the Williams man, neutralising any tyre advantage. With a pole position to protect, Mercedes called both of their drivers in, but there was shock as Hamilton hit the pit wall on entry, damaging his front wing in the process! With Bottas coming in behind, Hamilton had to be manoeuvred out the way before he could get his front wing replaced. To make matters worse for the Mercedes team, Hamilton struggled to get any temperature into his slick tyres, as everybody else began reaching the prime temperature to get the most out of them. Yet Russell, who was on slicks for the longest, was still setting times 6 seconds slower than Hamilton in P1.
In fact, barely any of the top ten improved on their final laps, but Sainz was the one to watch as he went purple in Sector 2, before old teammate Lando Norris snatched it away from him. The Spaniard then went fastest in Sector 3, only for Lando to snatch that honour away from him too, along with provisional pole! With Russell’s early call for slicks eventually landing him a P3, Lando’s maiden pole was secured as we watched Hamilton spin off the track on his final fast lap. Lando was over 5 tenths quicker than the man who would line up alongside him on Sunday.
It was a sensational follow-up from Italy for McLaren, and redemption for Lando after his hefty crash in Spa, a track where he looked promising to take pole. It would be the first pole position at the circuit not claimed by a Mercedes or a Ferrari. Hamilton would only scrape P4, with Ricciardo, Alonso, Bottas, Stroll, Perez and Ocon behind.
What a fantastic grid line-up to watch fight down into Turn 1.
The Race...
We’ll get straight to the point- this week's Russian Grand Prix was both heartwarming and heart-breaking with absolute chaos up and down the paddock.
Setting the grid, Max, Charles, Nicholas and Valtteri all ended up with engine penalties resulting in a start to the rear of the field. The engine penalty for car 77 came in very late, only being announced Sunday morning with rumours swirling it was to cover off the threat of Max's Red Bull. Toto Wolff however insists it was just to add another power unit to the pool for the remaining 7 races. Later on it was also announced that Antonio would also start in a different position to where he qualified, being forced to take a new gearbox after his accident in free practise, and the 5 place penalty as a result.
During a tense lap to the grid, everyone's hearts dropped a little bit as Max came over the radio reporting an issue with battery charging, however thankfully it seemed to sort itself out.
Lights out for one of the most anticipated races of the season... with young Brit Lando Norris starting on pole having a seemingly brilliant start however he unfortunately got overtaken by 2nd place man Carlos into Turn 4.
Hamilton on the other hand had a shocking start, being swallowed down to P7 from P4 with George maintaining his P3. Verstappen managed to race into P17 with Charles upto P13 ahead of Bottas in P15. Stroll also had a mega start upto P4 from starting P7.
Starting Lap 4 the hunt was on between Bottas and Max with Carlos comfortably leading out front by 1.7 seconds over his former teammate. Lewis on Lap 6 ended up stuck behind a Mercedes powered train with Ricciardo, Stroll and Russell all ahead. To add to Lewis's woes, George was rumoured in commentary to be the fastest in the straights meaning he'd be tough to overtake.
Max by the end of Lap 7 had got ahead of Bottas with a brilliant move to the inside with little difficulty. This may not have been ideal for Mercedes if their engine penalty strategy rumours were true, alongside their world champion stuck in a DRS train. However, one lap later Bottas was coming back at the Red Bull driver picking up DRS, but to no avail with Max managing to inch away with an overtake on Pierre for 13th.
By Lap 9 Lando had raced back into the DRS of leader Carlos and was gaining quickly. At the same time, Max was also very close to contact with the wall in an attempt to overtake Charles, just managing to keep it out of the barriers to his right. He still radioed to his team to check the car was intact. Lap 11 saw Lando still following in Carlos' tyre tracks.
After the pit window opened, Stroll was the first to jump, coming out behind Bottas in P15 releasing Daniel’s McLaren into P4. It was then when the pole sitter finally managed to re-take the lead on Lap 13.
Next to “box box” was Russell from P3, followed by Latifi and Tsunoda. Aston Martin then found their inner Bond making the overcut on the Williams teamwork ending up ahead of George after drivers both stopped. Carlos was then the next car to pit with a slightly slow stop leaving him trailing, allowing McLaren to have a repeat of Monza with a lead 1-2. Verstappen was now up to 6th place with nearly everyone ahead pitting for new tyres a few places behind his teammate Perez in P4.
The Gap on Lap 18 between Max and Lewis had come down to roughly 5 seconds, however Max was over the radio complaining about tyre deg. is now down On Lap 19, top 10 are yet to stop.
Karun Chandhok on Sky Sports came into the chat talking of a drizzle in the pitlane on Lap 22, however the rain would hold off mainly until Lap 49-50.
The latest victim of a slow stop was Ricciardo, dropping him down to 14th. Then came Max's stop on Lap 26 with another slightly slow stop placing him 12th, Hamilton pitting the same lap to come out 9th.
On Lap 29 it was Lando who also boxed with a superb stop from the papaya team allowing him nicely out ahead of Gasly in P4. Bottas was the next to come in with Giovinazzi, Gasly, Perez, Leclerc and Alonso left to stop.
The next moves came from Hamilton with him overtaking Sainz on Lap 30 then the number 10 car by the end of the next lap.
The first of the day's retirees came in the form of car 42, Mick Shumacher on Lap 33, after having unresolveable issues.
The remaining cars on track who had yet to come in for new tyres, extending their stints like crazy then finally came in with quick succession, allowing Lando to get past and up into the podium places whilst Lewis was to close the gap to his fellow Briton to under 5 seconds with that closing even further to 2.3 by Lap 37 with 15 to go.
On Lap 40, the rain came down once again in Russia with Carlos calling in early to swap to inters, yet not following through with that message. The scarlet Ferraris bluff call seemed to kickstart the in train with nearly half the field coming in to switch over to the green striped intermediate tyres all the while, DRS was to be disabled for the remaining laps of the race.
This is when the tornado began as Hamilton was told to box from 2nd place, but made the decision to ignore the team’s call, instead reacting a lap or so later as the rain continued to intensify. The next bits are officially too painful to recount as Lando was left struggling like a bambi on ice having not initially been concerned enough about the weather to box. Painstakingly, the late call to come in left the young Brit tumbling down the order, eventually coming out in 8th, to finish 7th in total after overtaking car number 7 on the final lap with a possible penalty looming over his head after crossing the pitlane white paint. (Update from after the race: Lando was let off for the incident after the FIA stewards could see his clear intentions and struggles to keep his car straight.)
In the end it was Lewis who came home in first place with his 100th career victory. 2nd place saw Max Verstappen move up a whopping 18 places in total, reaping the rewards of the rain in Russia with Carlos alongside him in 3rd place also gaining towards the end. As deserved, despite the win seemingly in his grasp, Lando did come home with driver of the day and extra point for the DHL fastest lap of a 1.37.423 on Lap 39.
If you're a McLaren fan, half of the emotions you're probably feeling are hopeful after Daniel brought his car across the line in 4th and heartbroken after everything else from the other side.
The rest of the finishing grid consisted of Bottas in 5th followed by Alonso, Räikkönen, Perez, Russell, Stroll, Vettel, Gasly, Ocon, Leclerc, Giovinazzi, Tsunoda and Mazepin rounding out the finishers at his home event.
It hurts, and will do for a while, but we come back stronger; together as a team. -Lando Norris
In the words of papaya racer Lando Norris “It hurts, and will do for a while, but we come back stronger; together as a team.”
See you in Istanbul Park for round 16 as the championship fight continues- there are a mere two points separating Hamilton and Verstappen.
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