It was good weather for the start of the Russian GP and good news for young Toro Rosso driver, Carlos Sainz, who was cleared to race after passing an FIA Medical test. For those who didn't know, Sainz had a huge crash during Saturday's last practice session and was taken to a local Hospital where he was cleared from any injuries.
When the lights went out, it was a good start for most drivers and a special start for Fernando Alonso, who celebrated his 250th F1 race start. Nico Hulkenberg, who started from 6th, ended up in a spin on the first lap and Marcus Ericsson collided with him, causing them both to have too much damage to their cars to continue.
In the front, Hamilton had taken an easy lead from Rosberg, who started from Pole Position. Rosberg retired only a few laps in due to a problem with his throttle. Not only was this bad news for him as far as the drivers championship is concerned, but it was also his first retirement since Singapore 2014. Sebastian Vettel & Valtteri Bottas were close behind Hamilton, along with Raikkonen and Perez. While Lotus looked to be doing good, Romain Grosjean had a huge crash that ended his race early, but luckily escaped the car unharmed.
Carlos Sainz ended up having to retire after a brake failure, which put an unfortunate end to his already unlucky weekend. Daniel Ricciardo also retired due to a suspension failure. Their team-mates, however, were still in the running for points. Both Max Verstappen & Daniil Kvyat, who is the only Russian driver on the grid, finished in the top 10 and brought points to their teams.
Towards the last few laps, Perez had been holding on to 3rd place for a podium finish, but had also only had 1 pit stop and was still going on that set of tyres. Both Valtteri Bottas and Raikkonen passed him with just a couple of laps to go. However, Raikkonen tried to pass Bottas just seconds later and the two collided, sending Bottasd spinning into the barriers & leaving Raikkonen with car damage. Both drivers were unharmed, but their chance at the podium was over and Perez soared across the finish line in 3rd, gaining his second podium with the Force India team.
Lewis Hamilton took the win & Mercedes ended up securing the Constructors Championship title after Raikkonen was penalized for the collision with Bottas (30 second time penalty), moving the Finnish driver down to 8th from his original 5th position finish. This meant that Ferrari was far enough away in the constructors that Mercedes are now back-to-back title winners. However, the drivers championship is still up for grabs, with Vettel not far behind in the points. The Ferrari driver finished the race in second and continues to rack up the points and close in on Hamilton's lead in the standings.
Fernando Alonso was demoted from points after he was given 10 seconds to his final race time for exceeding track limits during the race. This was after he'd already started with a 35-place-grid-penalty for multiple engine component changes. Roberto Merhi had started with a 20-place-grid-penalty for also needing component changes.
Here are the race results after the penalties were put into place. Next up is the US Grand Prix in Austin Texas & There's always a huge fan turn out. It'll be a great one.
RACE RESULTS:
1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 25 Points
2. Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / + 18 Points
3. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 15 Points
4. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil / + 12 Points
5. Daniil Kvyat / Red Bull-Renault / Russia / + 10 Points
6. Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil / + 8 Points
7. Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Mercedes / Venezuela / + 6 Points
8. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 4 Points (Collision - Qualified as finished) (Demoted 2 places due to 30 second time penalty for collision with Bottas)
9. Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / + 2 Points
10. Max Verstappen / Toro Rosso-Renault / Netherlands / 1 Point
11. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain / (Demoted due to 10 seconds added to race time for exceeding track limits)
12. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland / (Collision - Qualified as finished)
13. Roberto Merhi / Manor-Ferrari / Spain
14. Will Stevens / Manor-Ferrari / Great Britain
RETIRED - Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / Australia / Suspension Failure
RETIRED - Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Renault / Spain / Brake Failure
RETIRED - Romain Grosjean / Lotus-Mercedes / France / Accident
RETIRED - Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / Throttle
RETIRED - Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany / Collision
RETIRED - Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden / Collision
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Article Written By: Amy Hawk
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