Lewis Hamilton won his ninth race of the season at the inaugural race at the Sochi Autodrom as Mercedes GP secured their first constructor’s championship. Nico Rosberg came home second ahead of Valtteri Bottas.
The start began in dramatic fashion as Rosberg challenged for the lead up into turn two however locked-up heavily which meant he ran wide and was forced to give the place back to his team-mate. The German subsequently flat-spotted his tyres meaning he had to pit on the opening lap and switch to the prime tyre – hoping to go to the end of the race on the same set.
After starting on the prime tyres, Felipe Massa followed Rosberg in on lap one for his pit-stop and switched to the soft tyres. At his home race, Danill Kvyat plummeted from fifth on the grid and found himself behind team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne within a couple of laps. Hamilton led from Bottas in the opening laps and the Mercedes driver managed to extend his lead over the Finn to three seconds. Fernando Alonso had a typically good start and was up to fourth – pressurizing Button for the final podium position.
On a tough weekend for Marussia, Max Chilton was forced to retire on lap ten due to a technical issue. Both Rosberg and Massa made their way through the field and looked set for a good haul of points. As the first round of pit-stops arrived Button dropped behind Rosberg whilst a slow-stop by Ferrari saw Alonso fall behind Massa who stopped for a second time two laps later.
Bottas made his pit-stop on lap twenty-six and exited ahead of Rosberg but behind Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton made his pit-stop a lap later than Bottas and was well in control of the race. Bottas was briefly promoted to second as Vettel pitted however was overtaken by the charging Mercedes at turn three. Further down the field, Ricciardo closed in on Alonso however the former could not find a way pass the Ferrari due to the lack of power provided from the Renault power-unit.
Felipe Massa remained behind Sergio Perez for the remaining few laps despite having a quicker car and slightly fresher tyres. Despite Rosberg’s best efforts, the German could not catch Hamilton as he had an unassailable lead as the Brit took victory at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix. Jenson Button came home fourth ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen – who matched his best result since the season opener in Melbourne. Alonso finished sixth after a slow-stop ahead of the Red Bull duo of Ricciardo and Vettel whilst Raikkonen and Perez rounded out the top ten.
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Pits | |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:43.396 | 1:31:50.744 | 1 | |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:41.953 | 13.600 | 1 | |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:40.896 | 17.3 | 1 | |
| 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:42.502 | 30.1 | 1 | |
| 5 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 1:43.363 | 53.4 | 1 | |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:42.179 | 59.8 | 1 | |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:43.050 | 61.5 | 1 | |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:42.630 | 65.8 | 1 | |
| 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:43.817 | 78.3 | 1 | |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:43.217 | 79.3 | 1 | |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:43.370 | 80.1 | 2 | |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:43.298 | 80.5 | 1 | |
| 13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:42.550 | 96.4 | 1 | |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:42.022 | 1 lap | 2 | |
| 15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 1:44.145 | 1 lap | 1 | |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | 1:46.365 | 1 lap | 1 | |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:44.921 | 1 lap | 1 | |
| 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:46.361 | 1 lap | 1 | |
| 19 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | 1:46.164 | 2 laps | 2 | |
| R | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | RETIRED | 31 laps | 1 | |
| R | Max Chilton | Marussia | RETIRED | 43 laps | 2 |
