Lewis Hamilton benefitted from Mercedes’ decision to implement team orders as he was gifted the win at the Russian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion had been following his teammate Valtteri Bottas throughout the first stint but, after briefly falling behind title rival Sebastian Vettel during the pit-stop phase, the Brackley-based team took no risks and ushered the Briton in front of his Finn to claim a fifth win in six races.
For the Ferrari driver, one of his best chances to attack was at the start with the long run to the first braking point into Turn 2 but while his initial launch was good, it would be Hamilton who got the slipstream from polesitter Bottas enabling him to pull ahead and claim second into the right-hander.
Vettel had to settle for third as the pack behind just about made it through the tricky sequence unscathed.
The big mover was Max Verstappen as the birthday boy made his way up from 19th to fifth within the first nine laps having been as high as eighth after the opening four.
His pace on the Soft compound tyre was also equal to the leaders once in clear air and that made him a problem for the Mercedes’ and Ferrari’s as they tried to stretch out their first stint on the fragile Hypersoft.
As they managed the Pirelli rubber, it meant the top three largely shadowed each other in this phase but as the lap times began to slip, Bottas would be the first to pit switching to the Soft tyre but coming out behind the Red Bull.
Vettel followed a lap later from third but Hamilton did not and his extra lap on the used tyre saw him come out just behind the Ferrari much to his annoyance.
Fired up by his team’s misjudgement, Lewis quickly closed in on the German, who also made an error approaching Turn 12, and looked to make a move into Turn 2 only to be strongly rebuffed.
Around the long Turn 3, however, the Mercedes could stay close enough to allow Hamilton the chance to dive down the inside into Turn 4 and make up the crucial position on his title rival.
Behind the leaders, Kimi Raikkonen sat in fifth with Daniel Ricciardo making his way more slowly through the field but eventually made it up to sixth.
Charles Leclerc produced another excellent drive in seventh, having made a bold move on Kevin Magnussen early and pulled away from the Haas.
Instead, the Dane had to deal with the two Force India’s, who had a diplomatic race using team orders with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez taking it in turns to try and pass the surprisingly slow Magnussen.
Out front, Verstappen’s pace remained equal with those now behind him after the pit-stop and what his presence did do was cause Bottas, Hamilton and Vettel to bottle up with rarely more than 3.5 seconds covering the three cars.
Fears of a blister on Lewis’ left-rear tyre led to the inevitable use of team orders by Mercedes, however, with Bottas letting his teammate by into Turn 13 on Lap 25.
From that point on, whatever Sebastian tried, the Brackley-based team had an answer with the three drivers running equidistantly in the second half of the race.
The Red Bull remained a factor, however, and as Max’s pace began to dip, there was a brief moment when Hamilton considered a pass and almost hit the Dutchman before eventually doing the sensible thing and waiting until he pitted.
Fitted with fresh Ultrasofts for the final 10 laps, it was thought Verstappen would close back in on the leading quartet but the pace wasn’t as good meaning he had to settle for fifth behind Raikkonen
Ricciardo’s inability to make the same rapid progress as the Dutchman was later revealed to be because of front wing damage and, as a result, leaving the Australian 50 seconds behind his teammate by the checkered flag in sixth.
Leclerc came home seventh with Magnussen holding off Ocon and Perez as they completed the top 10.
Renault gambled by opting not to run in Q2 in qualifying and then looked to match Red Bull’s strategy of starting on the Soft tyre, but it would backfire as Nico Hulkenberg only came home 12th with Carlos Sainz a lowly 17th.
The Spaniard finding himself amongst the McLaren’s and Williams’ that brought up the field with Fernando Alonso 14th and Stoffel Vandoorne 16th.
Sergey Sirotkin’s hopes for a strong home race ended in disappointment as the Russian finished last of the 18 cars.
The only retirements would be the two Toro Rosso’s as both Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley suffered brake problems in the opening laps.
A full look at the results can be seen below:
