After Lewis Hamilton claimed victory on the streets of Singapore to extend his championship lead, round 16 of the 2018 FIA Formula 1 World Championship returns to the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia this weekend for the Formula 1 2018 VTB Russian Grand Prix. This is the fifth edition of the Russian Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship.

 

 

A look at the Sochi Autodrom

 

 

The Sochi Autodrom formerly known as the Sochi International Street Circuit and the Sochi Olympic Park Circuit is a street circuit located in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.

 

The track is similar to that of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada and Sydney Olympic Park Circuit in Australia as it runs around a venue used for Olympic competition. Opened on September 21 2014 and designed by German Architect Hermann Tilke, the circuit was built around venues used for ice hockey, speed-skating, curling, short track etc. as well as the stadium in which the 2014 Winter Olympic Games open and closing ceremonies were held.

 

The layout itself has been likened to a mix between the Valencia Street Circuit and the Korean International Circuit which blends medium and low-speed corners with long fast sections, with the signature corner being the long, fast, left-hand arc around the Medal Arena. It is the third longest circuit on the Formula 1 behind the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and the Silverstone International Circuit in the UK. In their first visit to Sochi, the cars were hitting top speeds of 332kph on the 650 metre straight between the first and second turns with Lewis Hamilton averaging 213kph as he claimed pole for Mercedes.

 

The Sochi Autodrom is 5.848km (3.634 miles) in length with 19 corners and runs in a clockwise direction.

 

Race distance is 309.732km (192.459 miles) in length with 53 laps in total.

 

Kimi Raikkonen holds the fastest lap record with a 1:36.844 set in last year’s Russian Grand Prix in his Scuderia Ferrari SF70-H.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most Russian Grand Prix victories with two.

 

Mercedes are the most successful Constructor at the Russian Grand Prix with six victories.

 

Last Four Russian GP Winners

 

 

2017: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2014: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.

 

Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them to Russia, the pink side-walled P-Zero Hypersofts, the purple-marked P-Zero Ultra-Soft tyres and the yellow-marked Soft tyres alongside the green-branded Intermediates and blue-marked Full Wet rubber in case of rain.

 

Sebastian Vettel has gone with a more aggressive tyre choice compared to title-rival Lewis Hamilton for the Russian Grand Prix weekend.

 

The German who is 40 points behind Hamilton in the Driver’s Championship after the Singapore Grand Prix, has opted for nine sets of the hypersofts for the race in Sochi.

 

Hamilton will have two sets fewer of the more gripper, less durable hypersoft rubber than Vettel with seven at his disposal.

 

Hamilton also has one set of softs and ultrasofts in contrast to his rival.

 

Red Bull pairing Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo will follow the same strategy as Vettel while team-mate Kimi Raikkonen has selected eight sets of the hypersoft compounds.

 

Renault duo Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz have gone the most aggressive selecting ten sets of the pink-marked hypersoft tyres.

 

DRS Zones

As in 2017, there will be two DRS Zones. The first detection zone will be just after the start-finish straight with the activation point located just after Turn 1. The second detection zone will be before Turn 9, with the second activation point just after the same corner.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Singapore GP Rewind – Hamilton cruises to victory, extends title lead

 

 

Lewis Hamilton sealed a comfortable win at the Singapore Grand Prix to extend his championship lead to 40 points over rival Sebastian Vettel as another tactical blunder from the Scuderia costed the German a chance of victory.

 

Vettel ended the race in third behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

 

Hamilton and Vettel made great starts as the Singapore Grand Prix got underway and the pole-sitting Silver Arrows of Hamilton bolted away through the first three corners as Verstappen became under pressure from Vettel in an early battle for second place.

 

Drama followed behind them as the two Force India’s tangled with Sergio Perez nipping his team-mate Esteban Ocon into the outside wall at turn three ending the Frenchman’s race early and brought out the safety car.

 

Before race control equalised the field, Vettel got a better exit at the fifth corner to go side-by-side of Verstappen and passed the RB14 on the outside into turn seven.

 

With that, most of the top ten remained in starting grid order with Valtteri Bottas holding fourth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Roman Grosjean.

 

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Renault’s Carlos Sainz who were running ultrasofts gained two positions on lap one at Nico Hulkenberg’s expense and Ocon’s early retirement.

 

The race went running again on lap four, but the frontrunners were taking it easier on the hypersofts by extending their opening stint as much as possible and running almost 11 seconds off their qualifying pace.

 

As they passed the first ten laps the pit window was wide open as Vettel blinked first and pitted on lap 14 and took on a set of ultrasofts.

 

The stop became a disaster for Vettel as he came out behind the Force India of Perez and was held up for two laps.

 

Meanwhile Hamilton and Verstappen pitted one lap after the other to put on the more durable soft rubber with an easier run to the end.

 

Hamilton returned back to the net lead of the Grand Prix with Verstappen’s Tag Heuer-branded Renault engine stuttering as he exited the pits, but the Dutchman just got ahead of Vettel.

 

The pitstop saw Hamilton have a three second lead over Verstappen as Ricciardo was the last of the frontrunners to pit on the twenty-seventh lap.

 

Vettel was frustrated in third telling the team “We were again too late. We will not make it to the end.”

 

As in Monaco, the drivers who started outside the top ten with a free tyre choice to their advantage benefited over some of the others in-front who began on the hypersofts.

 

When Perez, Hulkenberg and Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean switched their hypersoft rubber, they emerged behind the backmarker Williams pairing of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, who both started on the soft compounds and were not ready to stop.

 

This brought the second major incident of the race when Perez became frustrated with Sirotkin and swerved at the Russian as he finally made it through at turn 17 on the 33^rd lap, suffering a puncture in the process and allowing Hulkenberg to get by.

 

As Grosjean followed the RS18 of Hulkenberg, the pairing impeded Hamilton as he came by to lap them, momentarily allowing Verstappen to go into attacking range of the Mercedes.

 

Once they cleared the pairing, Hamilton increased his lead back to three seconds and remained in control until crossing the line to take his 69^th career victory, with the gap reaching 8.9 seconds clear of Verstappen who came home in second place and Vettel finished a further 30.9 seconds down in third.

 

As Hamilton, Verstappen, Vettel and Bottas managed their tyres to the end, a fight for fourth escalated when in the closing stages when Ricciardo charged in on Raikkonen’s Ferrari, who also came close on Bottas. But nothing changed as Bottas took fourth place.

 

Alonso finished best of the rest in his McLaren after starting 11^th on the grid with the Spaniard taking advantage of his long ultrasoft run to gain positions off Perez and Grosjean and undercut fellow Spanish compatriot Sainz for seventh as he made his sole stop on lap 38.

 

Sauber’s Charles Leclerc ended the race in the points behind Sainz in ninth place and ahead of Hulkenberg’s Renault who completed the top ten.

 

The other Sauber of Marcus Ericsson finished in 11^th place and in-front of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne who was 12^th and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly who took 13^th.

 

Stroll’s Williams came home in 14^th place and ahead of Grosjean’s 15^th placed Haas and Force India’s Perez who crossed the line in 16^th place.

 

The other Honda-powered Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley finished a low 17^th and in-front of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Sirotkin’s Williams who both finished two laps down at the rear.

 

The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton comes to the Sochi Autodrom on top of the Driver’s Standings with 281 points and forty clear of title-rival Sebastian Vettel who is second on 241 points while Kimi Raikkonen sits third and a further 107 points behind the Briton on 174 points.

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport returns to Russia on top of the Constructor’s Championship on 452 points with closest rival Scuderia Ferrari 37 behind in second place on 415 points while Red Bull Racing sits third on 274 points and a further 178 points behind the Silver Arrows.

 

2018 Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship Standings

1. Lewis Hamilton – 281 Points.
2. Sebastian Vettel – 241 Points.
3. Kimi Raikkonen – 174 Points.
4. Valtteri Bottas – 171 Points.
5. Max Verstappen – 148 Points.
6. Daniel Ricciardo – 126 Points.
7. Nico Hulkenberg – 53 Points.
8. Fernando Alonso – 50 Points.
9. Kevin Magnussen – 49 Points.
10. Sergio Perez – 46 Points.

 

2018 Formula 1 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 452 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 415 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – 274 Points.
4. Renault Sport F1 Team – 91 Points.
5. Haas F1 Team – 76 Points.
6. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 58 Points.
7. Racing Point Force India F1 Team – 32 Points.
8. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 30 Points.
9. Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – 21 Points.
10. Williams Martini Racing – 7 Points.

 

The Formula 1 2018 VTB Russian Grand Prix weekend begins Friday September 28 with Free Practice 1 and 2, Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday September 29 and the 53 lap Race Sunday September 30.