Sebastian Vettel accused Felipe Massa of doing favours for former Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas on the final lap of the Russian Grand Prix.

The German missed out on victory by just six-tenths of a second from the now Mercedes driver in Sochi having closed a five-second gap following his pit-stop but was held up by the Brazilian as they rounded Turn 4 for the last time.

“He did cost me,” Vettel claimed post-race. “First of all, he handed a very pleasant tow to Valtteri on the last lap, and I was in the DRS, which was tough enough to do, and then he let him by and I don't know if he knew there was another car coming. I don't think, maybe.

“Obviously Felipe did him a favour twice. Once handing him a pleasant tow and then he cost me a bit of time. But that's how it is with back-markers.”

Massa would hit back at the four-time F1 champion's comments jibing: “He's never on the radio complaining, no?

“I left completely the inside for him. I backed off before in Turn 4 and he didn't want to go. I saw that he was afraid to dive inside. I was completely on the left. I let him by straight after that. Anyway, he really likes to complain.”

Congratulating Bottas, for whom the 36-year-old postponed his retirement by a year to allow him to move to Mercedes, Massa added: “I'm so happy for him, he deserves it, for the driver he is.

“Maybe people are not talking about him at the right level. I said straight away when he signed he would do a good job, and he's doing that. Now he's a different driver because he achieved a victory.”

Fernando Alonso slammed Honda's ongoing power unit problems after failing to start a Formula 1 race for the first time since 2005 at the Russian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard's fourth retirement in as many races occurred as his McLaren came to a halt on the formation lap with an ERS problem.

Though team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne would offer some hope by reaching the checkered the flag for the first time in 2017, it did little to improve Alonso's mood.

“Yeah yeah, definitely worse. We cannot even participate like today,” Alonso replied when comparing now to 12 months ago.

“It's something that is not going right. Nothing I can do probably, the boss of the team they know what to do with their team. I am just the driver, I just come here, I drive as fast as I can, I try to help the team as much as I can. It's frustrating at times but hopefully, we can improve soon.”

The double F1 champion isn't all that optimistic, however, believing the problems within the McLaren-Honda partnership are more than just mechanical.

“We had a lot of problems in winter, we had a lot of problems in the first races, and we have problems right now. Until we change fundamental things in the team, we will keep having problems. We more or less expect this,” he said.

“The engine shut down and it was off. I don't know exactly the reason until the car is back from the garage, but unfortunately we could not even participate in this race,” he added, explaining what happened in Sochi.

“Obviously not being able to participate even in the race and not being able to finish any race of this championship is something fundamentally wrong there. We try to improve. I try to come here every weekend, drive as fast as I can, help the team as much as I can. I cannot do much more than this.”

Alonso will now shift attention back to his upcoming appearance in the Indy 500 with a private test at Indianapolis on Wednesday, but even that could detract away from the issues at McLaren.

“Yeah I focus on different things. I have Indy, I have the go-kart school, I have many other things in life,” the 35-year-old said.

“Unfortunately we are not in the right direction here, but hopefully we can improve the situation soon.”

Force India were all smiles as Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon took the team to their best result of the Formula 1 season at the Russian Grand Prix.

The duo benefitted from a late puncture for Felipe Massa to finish 'best of the rest' as Perez claimed sixth and Ocon a career-best seventh on Sunday in Sochi.

For Perez, it his 14th consecutive points finish and a result that also saw him move level on points with Daniel Ricciardo in the Drivers’ standings.

“[I'm] Very pleased, very pleased with the job the team is doing,” the Mexican said after the race.

“Sitting here and just realising that we are fourth in the Constructors' with a bigger gap and seventh in the Drivers', it's a great job considering the car we've had for the first races. It's an amazing job.”

Looking forward, the 26-year-old is hoping for a repeat of last year, when a major upgrade at the Spanish Grand Prix allowed Force India moving up the grid.

“Hopefully we can improve, we can improve the next two, three races we can move a lot further up and give a harder challenge to Williams and Red Bull,” Checo said.

“We have big hopes for Barcelona. Hopefully as everyone in here, everyone is waiting for Barcelona. It will depend on how big is our upgrade compared to the rest of the field.”For Ocon, seventh is now the best finish in his short F1 career and marked the fourth consecutive points finish since joining Force India at the start of this year.

As for team-mate Ocon, he broke a run of three consecutive 10th place finishes to begin his career at the Silverstone-based outfit and continue his own streak of points results.

“I was just not getting happy with 10th. It's very good to be coming out of that,” the Frenchman admitted.

“Starting 10th maybe made things easier, even though I didn't have a great start I managed to catch up some positions straightaway after the first three corners, so that was good.

“Then a strong performance from the team really, a great pit stop, great strategy and a very smooth weekend from free practice. Everything went as planned. Very proud of what they did today.

“We are coming into the European races and I think it will make everyone confident in the factory and with some little upgrades I think we can achieve some great stuff and hopefully a bit more.”

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas claimed it was "worth the wait" to take his first victory in Formula 1 at the Russian Grand Prix.

The Finn, who replaced retired world champion Nico Rosberg at the start of the year, took the lead at the start before holding off Sebastian Vettel after the pit stop phase to take a remarkable win in just his fourth race with the Brackley-based outfit. 

Summing up his emotions on the podium, the 27-year-old was clearly reflective after finally standing on the top step in his fifth season in the sport. 

"Amazing, it took quite a while, more than 80 races for me, but definitely worth the wait and worth the learning curve," Bottas said. 

"This strange opportunity came to me in the winter to join this team, and they made it possible today, so really want to thank the team. Without them it wouldn't be possible. It feels amazing. 

"We've had a tricky beginning of the year. The fight with Ferrari, again today, was very close. We managed to be on top, but we have to keep pushing. We have to keep finishing with both cars all the time one and two. Just very, very happy now." 

The win was also the perfect response following the difficult race in Bahrain and brings him back into the championship picture, only 23 points behind the leader Vettel.

"For me that's the only goal in my career [to win the championship],” Bottas added, as he became the fifth Finnish driver to win in F1. “We'll keep pushing for that.”

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has revealed his pride in seeing Valtteri Bottas claim his first win in Formula 1 at the Russian Grand Prix.

The two men have a long relationship, with the Austrian previously a part of the Finn's management team when he was at Williams, though he would step aside from that role following his arrival at the current Constructors' world champions at the start of this year. 

Therefore, knowing the promise and potential Bottas has shown during his F1 career, few were more delighted after he held off Sebastian Vettel to take the checkered flag in Sochi

“I'm very proud,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “At the end, there was a lot of pressure with a four-time world champion behind him, and bar one braking there was no mistake in the final laps.

“I'm very happy about the result and we're going to celebrate, that's for sure because it's his first victory.”

Toto also praised the determination of the entire Mercedes team to come back and beat Ferrari, despite the Italian team being faster for much of the weekend. 

“I'm standing here and taking the credit but I'm taking it for all the guys back at home and here that have sorted out the problem we had on Friday,” he claimed.

“We weren't particularly strong on the long runs, we weren't fast enough on a single lap, and we bounced back on Sunday when it mattered. If I were Niki [Lauda] I would take my hat off to them.

“But in the joy of Valtteri's first win, the result was also a reminder that we still have work to do,” he added.

In contrast, Bottas' team-mate Lewis Hamilton had his worst weekend of the season so far, as problems with overheating and a lack of pace meant the Briton trailed in fourth. 

“Lewis had to manage temperatures from very early on, which meant he couldn't unlock the potential of the undercut around the stops,” Wolff explained.

“After that, it was a question of managing the race and collecting the points. But it's clear we didn't give him the car to do the job this weekend and it is a priority for us to sort this out before Barcelona.

“We hoped for strategy, for a Safety Car, which would have been the only lucky punch to get back to P3, because Kimi's pace was just mind-blowingly fast.

“Once the balance on the car is not 100 per cent right and you're not able to get the tyres in the window, you lack pace and that happened today.”

Sebastian Vettel believes losing out to Valtteri Bottas at the start cost him victory at the Russian Grand Prix.

Starting from pole, the Ferrari driver would fall behind to the fast-starting Finn on the run to Turn 2, dropping into second.

A decision to stay out longer than the Mercedes before making his pit stop would allow Vettel close up in the final third of the race, but he was unable to quite get close enough to attempt a pass on Bottas, as he claimed his first Formula 1 win.

"I think our start was probably a match with Valtteri," the German said.

"Maybe he gained a bit of momentum at the beginning but he had a massive tow, I defended the inside but by the time we approached braking he was already in front and able to shut the door on me.

"So well done, and that's where he won the race, he did a superb first stint, I couldn't stay with him, he was very, very quick all race, no mistakes, so he was the man of the race."

The four-time world champion was left agitated after the race, however, as his last lap effort to catch Bottas was hampered by the 27-year-old's former Williams team-mate Felipe Massa. 

"I tried everything to catch Valtteri, maybe I thought there'd be some opportunity on the back straight," Vettel claimed.

"I was sure Felipe would lift around Turn 3, it's flat out, [I thought] he'd let me by but I think I wasn't sure what he was going to do.

"I ended up losing a bit more than I was hoping for, it doesn't matter, this is the man of the race today, big congratulations to Valtteri, his first Grand Prix win, it's his day."

Jolyon Palmer nor Romain Grosjean have accepted responsibility for their first lap collision at the Russian Grand Prix.

The pair twice made contact at Turn 2, resulting in Grosjean's Haas being pitched into the wall on the exit, bringing to an end a miserable weekend for both drivers with a crash in qualifying for Palmer leaving both men at the back of the grid.

Defending his role in the incident, the Renault driver claimed he was the victim of a squeeze as the cars concertinaed up in the braking zone.

“I had a decent-enough start then heading down to Turn 2 there was a Sauber on my outside then Romain made a very ambitious move over the kerbs on the inside from behind.

“There was no space for me to go because of the Sauber, so maybe Romain wasn't aware of that, but he kept it in, hit me, then we were both out of the race. That was a shame for both of us really,” he concluded.

Giving his side of the story, the Frenchman claimed he had no choice but to take evasive action as a result of Palmer's actions.

“We had a great start and I was on the inside of Palmer under braking,” he began. “I don't know why he turned in. I was there and then he turned in. I tried to get as much as I could on the apex, but he just hit me, spun and came back and hit me again.

"I tried to get as much as I could on the apex, but he just hit me, spun and came back and hit me again. The car was badly damaged and our race was over."

"The car was badly damaged and our race was over," the former Lotus driver added.

A post-race investigation by the stewards later deemed no action was required to penalise either driver.

Valtteri Bottas kept his cool in the closing laps to fend off Sebastian Vettel and claim his first Formula 1 win at the Russian Grand Prix.

Starting third on the grid, the Finn was able to take the lead into Turn 2 on the opening lap before matching the Ferrari blow for blow and just holding on to take the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second.

Kimi Raikkonen had a solid race in third in the second Prancing Horse, while Lewis Hamilton endured a problematic race with overheating issues and a general lack of pace, having to settle for fourth in his Mercedes.

After claiming their first front row since France 2008, Ferrari would not be able to retain their positions at the start, as the fast-starting Bottas made an excellent launch and utilising Mercedes' top speed advantage to slipstream into the lead on the run to the first braking zone. Lewis Hamilton held off the two Red Bulls and Felipe Massa to maintain fourth.

Vettel and Raikkonen would come close to contact at Turn 2 but escaped unscathed with Hamilton maintaining position ahead of the two Red Bulls and Felipe Massa's Williams.

Towards the back, Jolyon Palmer and Romain Grosjean made contact, with the Renault sliding into the side of the Haas pitching him into the wall and causing a Safety Car.

At the restart, Bottas got the jump on Vettel and would slowly pull out a five-second gap to the German as the race stabilised. It also soon became apparent Hamilton was struggling as Raikkonen consolidated third.

Behind, Max Verstappen led Massa, while the Dutchman's team-mate Daniel Ricciardo would be forced to retire within two laps as the left-rear brake caught fire on his Red Bull.

There would be little action as the field spread out, but strategy would become key as, during the pit-stop phase, Vettel decided to stay out seven laps longer than those around him and with fresher rubber, as well as a pace advantage for Ferrari on the super-soft tyre, the German began to close in on Bottas out in front.

The four-time world champion was unable to stay close enough through the twisty final sector, however, to get DRS on the main straight and that, plus a delay behind Massa on the final lap, would see Bottas to the finish line.

Behind the top four, Verstappen, who had a water leak prior the race, would finish a lonely fifth ahead of the two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, as a puncture caused Massa to drop to eighth. Nico Hulkenberg was ninth for Renault as Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10.

Down the order, Stoffel Vandoorne gave McLaren their first finish of the year but problems would continue for team-mate Fernando Alonso, who didn't even make the start due to an ERS problem on the formation lap.

Despite missing the win, it was a good day for Vettel in the championship standings, extending his lead over Hamilton to 13 points, with Bottas establishing himself in third albeit 23 adrift.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was pleased to consolidate fifth place for the team during what he called a "lonely" Russian Grand Prix.

Despite the Sochi Autodrom being one of the least-suited circuits to Red Bull on the calendar, the gap between the top three teams and the rest is such that the Dutchman was left in a void with the RB13 unable to compete with Ferrari and Mercedes.

"The start was very important today and ended up being the only action of the race for me," the 19-year-old claimed afterwards. "I managed to get past Felipe [Massa] and Daniel [Ricciardo] and from there on it was a very lonely race.

"I could see the cars in front of me pulling away and I was pulling away from the cars behind so I just tried to manage the car home."

Achieving the final goal of "managing the car home" took on extra significance after a water leak on Verstappen's car had threatened to end his race before it started.

"After the issues we had this morning luckily nothing upset me or the rhythm during the race so I just had to bring it across the line," he said.

"The mechanics did a really good job sorting the issue in such a small amount of time and giving me a car to complete the race in P5.

"The pace was not so bad in the last stint which is another positive to take away from this tough weekend," added.

"Towards the end you naturally start to turn things down on the car to be safe. We maximised the opportunities we had so now we can look forward to Barcelona, the upgrades are coming and we can hopefully start to get involved in the fight at the front."

The same could not be said for his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, as the Australian was forced to retire after just seven laps, his second DNF this season.

"After the Safety Car I looked in my mirror to see where the Force India was and I noticed that the right rear brake was on fire, I reported it to the team and they told me to bring the car back to the pits slowly", he said explaining what happened.

"Unfortunately the issue could not be fixed and I had to retire from the race. It was early in the race so I don’t know how much the Safety Car and two starts impacted us but the team will obviously investigate that.

"It’s frustrating, on a Sunday you just build up for the race and try to store up your adrenaline to use at 3pm but today it was over very quickly and unfortunately, I didn’t get as much of a fight as I would have liked.

"We don’t know how much the new package will give us until we get it on track in a few weeks but we are hoping Barcelona is the first step to getting closer to the leaders."

Lewis Hamilton has played down the significance of a disappointing fourth place finish at the Russian Grand Prix in the championship battle.

Sochi brought to an end the run of one-two finishes for him and Sebastian Vettel at the first three races, though the German would finish second behind race winner Valtteri Bottas.

The result also saw the German move 13 points clear at the top of the Drivers' standings with the next two races, in Spain and Monaco, likely to favour Ferrari, but the three-time champion is unconcerned.

“No I don’t. I don’t think about it, I’m not thinking about all of that right now," he said when asked if he had considered the title implications.

"Right now I need to just understand where speed was this weekend, where I went wrong with the setup and then come out and fight.

“[There’s] Still a long way to go, second in the championship, ten points or whatever it is behind Sebastian so it’s not the end of the world but of course we need to recover the pace that I had previously because it was a very unusual weekend.”

Indeed, Sochi was arguably one of the worst races for Hamilton at Mercedes, as he struggled to match the pace of Ferrari or his team-mate throughout the three days.

“For me, a very, very odd weekend - it has been a very, very tough I can't remember having as difficult a weekend, probably the last time was Baku,” Lewis commented.

“Ultimately [I was] not quick enough, could not put the car where I was comfortable. In the race, there was overheating, so I will just have to settle for fourth. 

“I was out of the race from the get go. I wasn't able to stay in the battle. I think I had the pace to fight with Kimi, the car was just overheating all the time.

“I'm sure we'll go back to the drawing board and try to figure it out. I think ultimately if I had better pace, then I would have been further up. Even so, hopefully, got some points at least for the team.” 

Despite his own disappointment, Hamilton was gracious towards Bottas after claiming his first F1 win.

“A big congratulations to Valtteri, he did a fantastic job and deserves the win today. He's been fast all weekend, so exceptional and great for the team,” he said.