Track: Sochi Autodrom
Number of Laps : 53
Circuit Length: 3.6 miles (5.8km)
Race Length: 192.5 miles (309.7km)
Start Time: 13:00 GMT
Fastest Lap: 1:37.113 (Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG Petronas, 2015. Q3)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:40.071 (Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari, 2015)
2015 Pole Position: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG Petronas, 1:37.113, Supersoft Tyres
2015 Race Winner: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas
Tyre Compounds: Supersoft, Soft, Medium, Intermediate, Wet
First F1 Championship Grand Prix: 2014
Most Wins: Lewis Hamilton (2), Mercedes (2)
Formula One heads to Sochi at an earlier time in the season than we have seen in the past two years. The Russian Grand Prix will be the fourth race of 2016, a season that has seen brilliant action and drama in all three events so far.
Lewis Hamilton is undefeated at Sochi and will be desperate to make it three wins in a row. The reigning World Champion is yet to win a race this year, having made poor starts in the opening two Grands Prix and suffering dramas in both qualifying and the race in China.
The consequence of this is that his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg has begun to run away with the championship, coming into the race with a 36 point lead on the back of six consecutive race wins (including the end of 2015).
Ferrari will be hoping for better luck in Russia too.
Vettel and Raikkonen collided at the first corner in Shanghai after the German took avoiding action from Daniil Kvyat, resulting in damage to both cars. Vettel recovered to finish on the podium, but his Finnish teammate could only manage fifth.
The Scuderia are bringing a power unit upgrade to this race in a bid to improve their shaky reliability. Raikkonen suffered a turbo fire in Australia, whilst Vettel’s engine failed on the formation lap in Bahrain.
After finishing on the podium in China, Daniil Kvyat is hoping to collect back-to-back top three finishes for the first time in his career – especially at his home race. The Red Bull driver drove a calm race in Shanghai, despite suffering an altercation with Sebastian Vettel in the first corner.
It could have been so much better for the Bulls had Daniel Ricciardo not suffered a puncture whilst leading the race. He recovered to fourth in Shanghai but was one of the biggest “what ifs” of the weekend. Both Dani and Dany will need to be on top form if they are to fend off the challenges from Ferrari and Mercedes.
2016 has delivered some cracking races so far, let’s hope that the pattern continues in round four.
