Lewis Hamilton took Mercedes back to the top step of the podium with victory at the Russian Grand Prix.
The world champion benefitted from Ferrari inadvertently causing their own downfall in Sochi, with Valtteri Bottas able to hold off a charging Charles Leclerc to complete the 1-2.
Story of the Race
At the start, it was Vettel with the perfect launch from third on the grid as he quickly passed Hamilton and used the tow to take the lead from Leclerc into Turn 2.
Hamilton briefly appeared to have lost third to a fast-starting Carlos Sainz, but the Briton had enough under-braking to keep the position.
Drama behind as Antonio Giovinazzi was sandwiched between Daniel Riccardo and Romain Grosjean going into Turn 4, punting the Haas into the barrier and giving the Renault a puncture.
Following the resultant Safety Car, Vettel holds the lead at the restart but Ferrari quickly look to perform a switch of their two drivers before ultimately the German remains ahead with a focus on pulling away from Hamilton.
That gap doesn’t grow as much as hoped though as the Mercedes starts to close back in on the medium compound tyre.
After starting ninth, Verstappen makes his way through the field but doesn’t find it too easy against the McLaren’s and Renault’s, losing 19 seconds to Bottas in fourth before passing Sainz for fifth.
For McLaren though, their race was going well with Norris in eighth and Nico Hulkenberg’s early charge hurt by a botched first pit-stop.
Instead, it was Sergio Perez sat between them after a strong start in the Racing Point.
With the order static out front, Leclerc pits first, switching to the medium tyre, with his flying laps out of the pits enough to undercut Vettel and complete the switch that Ferrari had been wanting to do.
Disaster soon strikes when, on his out-lap, Vettel suffers an MGU-K failure and grinds to a halt in the final sector.
The resulting Virtual Safety Car allows Hamilton to pit and stay ahead of Leclerc, though Bottas remains in third.
Moments after the restart, Russell suffers a mechanical issue and skid into the barrier at Turn 8, leading to a full Safety Car.
Ferrari opts to pit Leclerc again to switch back onto softs, leaving him the task of trying to pass both Mercedes in the final 20 laps.
The Monegasque though struggles to stay close enough in the final sector to launch a realistic attack on Bottas, paving the way for Hamilton to claim his fourth Russian GP win and maintaining Mercedes’ 100% win record in Sochi.
Bottas hangs on to second with Leclerc a frustrated fourth as his teammate costs him a likely victory for the second straight weekend.
Verstappen has a lonely run to fourth following the Safety Car as Red Bull teammate Alex Albon recovers from the pit-lane to fifth after also gaining by the timing of his pit-stop.
McLaren enjoys a good day in their bid for fourth in the Constructors’ as Sainz takes sixth to lead the midfield with Norris eighth.
Perez also backs up Racing Point’s progress by splitting the Papaya machines in seventh.
Kevin Magnussen at one point ran sixth thanks to his pit-stop under the VSC, but slipped down to ninth and would fall out of the points due to a five-second penalty.
That promoted Hulkenberg upto P9 for Renault with Lance Stroll completing the top 10.
Daniil Kvyat just missed out on points at his home race in P11 with Magnussen slotting in 12th.
Kimi Raikkonen jumped the start and would finish 13th on a tough weekend for Alfa Romeo with Giovinazzi 15th, behind Pierre Gasly’s Toro Rosso.
Following Russell’s mystery failure, Williams took no chances by ending Robert Kubica’s race early, as Ricciardo joined Vettel and Grosjean in enjoying an early bath.
Full results from Sunday’s race can be seen below:
