@ValtteriBottas takes comfortable #RussianGP victory after @LewisHamilton penalty. #F1

Valtteri Bottas cruised to a comfortable Russian GP victory ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton third after taking a double-penalty for pre-race practice start infringements.

Hamilton ran two practice starts on his sighting laps to the grid at the Sochi Autodrom including one near the end of the pit-lane exit, which was against the instructions issued in the pre-Grand Prix race procedure notes by FIA Race Director Michael Masi.

The championship leader went into the race under investigation, with the verdict given during the initial stint as he tried to defend on the C5 red side-walled soft tyres ahead of Bottas and Verstappen on their medium compounds.

When the 53 lap Russian Grand Prix began, pole-sitter Hamilton got a great run off the line as Bottas moved by Verstappen on the run through the kink of the first corner, with the Briton moving to defend the inside of the braking zone into turn two.

Bottas pushed around the outside and momentarily got his nose in-front, but lost momentum over the kerbs on the outside and the Finn caught a brief slide moving over the kerbs, which allowed Hamilton to re-claim the lead running through the fast long-left turn three.

Verstappen was one of several drivers who went into the turn two run-off area and was passed by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo going into the right-hander of turn four, but immediately re-took the place back at the next right hander, as Ricciardo then lost fourth to team-mate Esteban Ocon as the Australian slid out of turn seven.

But the Grand Prix saw a suspension as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz crashed following Verstappen through the mandatory path to re-join the track into turn three, with the Spaniard hitting the wall on the outside of the marker-boards heavily with it’s front-left and the MCL35 racer sliding back across the track, forcing some drivers to check up on damage.

Moments later, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc clipped Racing Point’s Lance Stroll with his front-left as they exited the fourth corner and the RP20 was sent into the wall and out of the race, as the safety car was deployed.

The race resumed on lap six, with Hamilton easily maintaining hold of the lead as there was little drama when the safety car came in and the drivers floored back to full-speed.

During the initial stints, Hamilton and Bottas swapped fastest lap times in the low 1:41’s and high 1:40’s, but the former was able to increase his gap.

But the news came in that the world champion was handed two five-second timed penalties for his pre-Grand Prix infringement, which meant he had to wait ten seconds before Mercedes could serve his F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer at his pit stop.

Hamilton pitted on lap 16, two laps after telling his team not to bring him in as he posted two fastest lap times in succession in the 1:39’s, where he built a lead of 2.7 seconds.

He emerged outside the top ten, but crucially ahead of Ricciardo’s R.S.20 racer, who stopped a few laps earlier and was the undercut threat the Silver Arrows had to cover – much to the Briton’s frustration.

Bottas then picked up his pace, setting quick laps in the low 1:39’s, as he brought his C4 yellow-marked medium tyre advantage to good use and moved clear of Verstappen – who was posting a string of personal best efforts, but a chunk slower than the Mercedes each tour.

Bottas remained on track until the 26^th lap, a tour later than Verstappen who came in to switch the mediums for hards, and once the Finn had put on his own set of the white-branded rubber, he came out with a gap of 0.7 seconds over the Dutchman, with Hamilton 15.4 seconds off of his race-leading team-mate.

The top three were well spread out, with the gaps getting larger through the opening laps of the second stint, as Bottas rapidly extended his lead above twelve seconds, whilst Hamilton fell back to over ten seconds behind Verstappen.

The fastest lap of the race from Bottas on the 35^th tour, increased his lead to 13.1 seconds, but as the Mercedes driver adjusted his pace once more, Verstappen cut down the gap a bit, but the Finn remained comfortable in P1.

Bottas’ lead came down to 5.5 seconds on lap 50, as he controlled his pace and then had to make his way through traffic, with Verstappen doing the same in the closing stages.

The two leading drivers swapped fastest laps on the final tours, with Bottas taking the bonus point as then crossed the line 7.729 seconds clear of Verstappen to claim the Russian GP victory.

Hamilton was ten seconds behind Verstappen for most of the final tours but dropped further at the end and wound up 15 seconds adrift of the Red Bull.

BWT Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who fell behind the Renault’s at the start, came home fourth after taking advantage of Ocon and Ricciardo getting stuck behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel after their early stops, and reached the chequered flag 7.8 seconds off of Hamilton.

Ricciardo settled for fifth despite being hit with a five-second timed penalty for running over the turn two kerbs when Ocon attacked, and then passed, Vettel in the middle part of the race.

The Australian was able to make a large gap to remain ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc once the penalty was given, with the Monegasque-youngster climbing up the field from 10^th after completing a long initial stint on the mediums – at one point up as high as second before he came in for the harder compounds.

Ocon took seventh place, in-front of home Grand Prix hero Daniil Kvyat, who ran a similar strategy to Leclerc but the AlphaTauri driver started the race on the hards.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon, who pitted earlier under the safety car.

Both Gasly and Albon opted for two-stop strategies and enjoyed a battle with McLaren’s Lando Norris – who ended the race in 15^th after taking his own final stop later on having pitted with Albon at the start – in the closing tours.

Albon was another driver to receive a five-second timed penalty for cutting the second corner kerbs and not respecting the bollards – which were obliterated at one stage by Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who drove through them, causing a brief virtual safety car deployment so the broken boards could be cleared.

But Albon had plenty of time in-hand to keep Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi to take the final point’s place.

The Top Three

Russian GP Winner – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+: “Once I was in clean air, the pace was awesome. I never give up; it was a good day. I just need to try and keep the momentum, and there are quite a few races to go still…” 

2^nd – Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16: “I was slower on the mediums but once we went on the hards we were more competitive. To split the Mercedes cars, I’m happy with that. They were faster, I did everything I could. I’m very happy with second after two DNFs.”

3^rd – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+: “It doesn’t matter, it’s done now. just take the points I’ve got and move on now. Congratulations to Valtteri.”

Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020 Race Results Classification (53 Laps)

* Provisional results

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1054/russia.html

Click here for the 2020 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.

Round 11 of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Nurburgring for the Formula 1 Aramco Grosser Preis Der Eifel 2020 from Friday October 9-Sunday October 11.

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