Missing out on pole position by a tenth and starting the 2017 Russian Grand Prix from third on the grid turned out just fine for Valtteri Bottas.
Sure, a second career pole would have made a fine addition to his CV. However, starting third behind the Ferraris – after the Scuderia’s first front row lock-out since 2008 – Bottas was able to immediately attack when the five lights extinguished at the strat of the race.
An impressive launch from the clean side of the grid allowed him to immediately dispatch the second-placed Raikkonen before switching his attention to polesitter Vettel, who was now directly ahead.
Tucked into the slipstream of the Ferrari, Bottas was alongside Vettel as the two powered through the flat-out Turn 1 and by the time they reached the heavy braking zone at Turn 2, Bottas was comfortably in the lead.
The duel between Bottas and Vettel would ultimately go down to the wire. For speed, the pair were closely matched. Vettel made fewer mistakes than the race leader which was understandable in the circumstances – the Ferrari ace was hunting win number 45 while Bottas was desperate to hang on for his first.
A lock-up into the Turn 13 braking zone in the closing stages nearly proved costly as Bottas narrowly avoided the barriers and despite Vettel closing to within DRS range on the final lap, Mercedes’ new recruit for 2017 bagged his maiden win.
Had he qualified on pole, the story might have been different.
Of course, Bottas’ launch off of the line was the strongest of the leading three. However, the power of the slipstream effect from the start/finish line to the 90-degree Turn 2 was pivotal. At 1015 meters, it is the longest run from the grid to the first braking zone of the season and Bottas certainly used it to good effect.
With a third-place starting position proving so fruitful last year, it raises the question as to whether pole position is really the prime spot from which to start the race at Sochi?
“Yeah, it is tricky one here,” Bottas said when asked the question during the FIA press conference ahead of this weekend’s race. “It is an extremely long run into Turn 2.
“Last year I missed the pole by less than one-tenth, which maybe, in the end, was good, I got a nice tow.”
Bottas did, however, go on to note that his initial launch off of the line was a key factor in allowing him to pass Vettel en route to Turn 2.
“But you also need a good start. I think still you would like to be on pole because from pole if you get a good start there is… I think if you look at the past, 2015 and 2016, who started on pole could keep the first place into Turn 2.”
What is important to note is that the slipstream effect is now more powerful than it was in ‘15 and ‘16. The higher downforce delivered by the current era of Formula 1 cars has brought with it increased drag. For a polesitter looking to defend on the run towards Turn 2, that is bad news.
In addition, 2016 was the only season in which the polesitter has been largely unchallenged on the run to Turn 2. On that occasion, a lightning start from Nico Rosberg in first left a comparatively sluggish Bottas and Raikkonen occupied by a fight over second place.
With both Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Rosberg executing near identical launches from the front row of the grid in 2014, it was the second-placed Rosberg who emerged from Turn 2 in the lead. But for his rather careless and unnecessary lock-up in the braking zone of the corner when the overtake had already been sealed, Rosberg would have retained his lead beyond a lap.
Bottas’ brilliance from third on the grid, however, does appear to be an anomaly and could be even harder to repeat this season with the tarmac for the front row of the grid having been resurfaced and, therefore, could yield a grip advantage to the drivers starting first and second.
If a qualifying runner-up can negate the disadvantage of starting on the dirty side of the grid – which will also be a reduced issue thanks to the new tarmac – the powerful slipstream effect is likely to leave the polesitter very exposed en route to Turn 2.
If your favourite driver misses out on pole position on Saturday, fear not – it’s probably the box seat for the critical 1015 metres that follow.
