The Russian Grand Prix gave up some thrills, spills and other exhilarating commodities as World Champion elect Lewis Hamilton moved to within 11 points of a Senna-equalling third crown. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Force India’s Sergio Perez rounded off the podium.
1st place: Lewis Hamilton
The 30-year old Brit moved ever closer to completing a championship hat-trick in Sochi. The Mercedes driver had a quiet race, if not dominant and appeared to be hanging on to his lead over Sebastian Vettel, who whittled it down to a shade under six seconds at the chequered flag.
Rating out of ten: 8
2nd place: Sebastian Vettel
After an uncharacteristically poor start, the quadruple World Champion clawed his way from fifth to second to gain a fourth successive podium finish after overtaking teammate Kimi Raikkonen on track, and staying out for longer than Valtteri Bottas, passing him in a somewhat Schumacher-esque strategic move and went on to set the fastest lap and subsequent lap record at the Sochi Autodrom.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
3rd place- Sergio Perez
A well executed team strategy, as well as making the most of Force India’s much improved B-spec car culminating in the Mexican taking his fifth ever podium finish, and what is surely his finest to date, albeit needing a last lap blunder, courtesy of Raikkonen who took Bottas out of the running and seriously crippled his SF15-T.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
4th place: Felipe Massa
Another beneficiary of the Raikkonen-Bottas scramble was the latter’s teammate Massa, who had seemed simply bang average before actually joining the race, as he overtook the McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso along with namesake Felipe Nasr in quick succession. Nevertheless, a commendable drive for the Brazilian with a bittersweet result for the Williams team.
5th place: Daniil Kvyat
Nothing more than an adequate home result for Kvyat, no major dramas and little flair on show at a track which Red Bull did not expect to adapt well too with its Renault power unit. Although a solid 10 points for his troubles underlines a solid weekend for the 21-year old.
Rating out of ten: 6
6th place: Felipe Nasr
Another solid race for the rookie following a solid qualifying, whilst sixth place signals his best race since his debut in Australia, a barely developed Sauber car suggests things aren’t going to get much better for the Brazilian. Even so, nobody can take away the plaudits bestowed upon the 23-year old.
Rating out of ten: 7
7th place: Pastor Maldonado
Forming a pattern of uneventful races for the midfield teams was the Venezuelan Maldonado, who survived the race of attrition, whilst also putting a move on serial enemy-for-the-year Jenson Button, although he finished behind Massa, whom he qualified ahead of, and Nasr in an undisputedly slower car doesn’t earn Pastor too much praise.
Rating out of ten: 6
8th place: Kimi Raikkonen
In what can only be described as an erratic race for the 2007 champ, Raikkonen mixed daring lunges (some more successful than others) with some comparatively impressive spells of driving, namely coping with a small loss of power during the Grand Prix,‘The Iceman’ arrived to the party fashionably late, but his irresponsible move on Bottas earns him no points for style.
Rating out of ten: 5
9th place: Jenson Button
As another driver that survived the race of attrition in Sochi, the 2009 World Champion takes ninth and a well earned 2 points. On the whole, Button, who outpaced teammate Alonso throughout the weekend, was half a second faster in Q1 and proved his worth to McLaren and thus justifying his renewed deal to stay with the Woking outfit in 2016.
10th place: Max Verstappen
Having collided with Hulkenberg at the start and having to limp back to the pits with a puncture, more was expected of Verstappen when the Safety car brought him back into sync, but the 18-year old couldn’t catch the McLaren’s and failed to live up to the high standards he has set himself in his debut year, however a penalty for Alonso means that a solitary point for his spoils papers over the cracks of a somewhat lacklustre weekend.
Rating out of ten: 5.5
Honourable mentions:
Carlos Sainz showed a true racer’s attitude, as he went from FP3, into hospital, then on to the back of the grid and a high point of seventh before brake problems curtailed his efforts to complete an impressive recovery. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was penalised for exceeding track limits, after being warned during the race itself, thus capping off an ambivalent weekend for the Spaniard. 2015 looks totally lost on him now. Valtteri Bottas fell behind Vettel in the race, despite stopping earlier than him, on top of that he was unable to pass traffic with his usual incisiveness and ended up in the wall after a tangle with Raikkonen.
Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Rosberg had the edge over their teammates all weekend, with the German suffering mechanical faults whilst leading and a suspension failure put an end to a solid race day for Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson didn’t even complete the opening lap, as a collision between the two ended their days early.
