Valtteri Bottas has taken his first Formula 1 win today at the Russian grand prix just weeks after getting his first pole.
Despite being on the second row of the grid it was the Finn who got the best start and led into turn 1 flying past both Ferrari’s while team mate Hamilton lagged behind in 4th.
It didn’t take long for the race to slow down after a crash between Grosjean and Palmer brought out the safety car. The incident saw Grosjean’s car jumping off the ground as he hit Palmer’s rear in turn 2, spinning him round and causing Palmer to T-bone Grosjean ending both of their races there.
After Bottas pitted Vettel stayed out another 7 laps and maintained pace despite being on old ultra soft tyres. He then pitted and came out 4 seconds behind Bottas, the German then chased Bottas down and got within the DRS zone putting it down to a last lap battle.
But in the end Bottas held on to take his maiden victory.
As for Raikkonen and Hamilton they struggled to keep up and finished 3rd and 4th respectively. Although Hamilton was complaining of problems with overheating.
A fairly boring race insued with no overtakes for more than 20 laps.
It was a poor race for the Red Bulls with Ricciardo retiring due to a rear brake failure similar to that of Verstappen in Bahrain, although the Australian managed to get back to the pits before a fire at the rear forced the retirement. On the other hand Verstappen came close to not starting when a water leak meant mechanics where crowding around the car with less than an hour before the start. He went on to finish in 5th.
The two Force india’s were next, continuing their string of double points finishes, with Ocon getting his best result in 7th.
Hulkeneberg was looking good and running alongside Verstappen in 5th but a late pit stop pushed him down to 8th. Massa was next with Sainz just behind.
Stroll finally manged to finish a race and was just outside the points.
Home boy Daniil Kvyat was in 12th ahead of Magnussen, Vandoorne and the Sauber’s of Ericsson and Wehrlein.
Fernando Alonso how ever failed to start, having problems on the formation lap and coming to a halt in the pit entry and causing an aborted start. An ERS failure is thought to be the cause.
Final standings are as follows
