@LewisHamilton claims surprise #RussianGP victory as @ScuderiaFerrari’s race implodes. #F1

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton claimed victory at the Russian Grand Prix in surprising Silver Arrows one-two as Ferrari’s race imploded.

Sebastian Vettel refused to let Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc back into the lead after flying past the latter and Hamilton from a lightning quick start and slipstream on the rundown into turn two on the opening lap, but the German eventually retired from the Grand Prix after suffering an MGU-K failure.

Leclerc got back in-front of Vettel and into the net lead of the race at this point by the benefit of the undercut, but the latter pulled off on track, which deployed the Virtual Safety Car.

This allowed Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas to take advantage of pitting during the cautionary period, which converted into a surprise one-two finish for the Silver Arrows as Leclerc came home in a disgruntled third.

Vettel got an impressive start from third place at the start, getting by Hamilton immediately and then slipstreaming Leclerc on the rundown into the second corner, grabbing the lead.

The race was equalised quickly after the safety car was deployed due of a three-car tangle involving Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean, Renault F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

Giovinazzi was stuck between both cars braking for the fourth corner, made inside contact with Ricciardo and sent the Renault into Grosjean, whose VF-19 racer slammed into the outside barriers.

After the Haas was cleared, the war of words at Ferrari began when the Scuderia had ordered Leclerc not to battle Vettel if the German used the slipstream to move in-front at the start and agreed to swap drivers back when the race went green. You can watch how all the Ferrari drama unfolded at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm9jh6333hM

However, one week after Leclerc was left furious by Ferrari’s strategy giving Vettel victory in Singapore, Vettel ignored orders to let the Monegasque youngster by, and then pulled away from his frustrated team-mate.

Leclerc was the first of the front-runners to pit and used his four laps on a fresh set of yellow-marked medium compounds to mount very quick pace meaning he jumped in-front of Vettel when he stopped on lap 26.

Shortly after returning on track, disaster struck for Vettel as he suffered an MGU-K failure and pulled his SF90 racer off at turn 15.

This deployed the virtual safety car and was a double-blow for Ferrari, as Hamilton and Bottas remained on track while Leclerc was outside the Mercedes pit-stop window in the event of a full safety car.

Hamilton and Bottas dived straight into the pits as Leclerc circulated the Sochi Autodrom at the required reduced speed, switching to the red-branded softs, emerging first and third respectively.

ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell suffered a strange crash under the virtual safety car due to an unknown failure, which turned the VSC period into full safety car conditions.

Ferrari decided to sacrifice Leclerc’s position to swap his mediums to softer rubber, dropping the Monegasque youngster to third behind Bottas but eliminated Mercedes’ tyre advantage over the sole Ferrari driver in terms of age and compound.

However, Leclerc could not mount a serious battle with the Finn at any point after the race resumed.

That left Hamilton to claim his 82^nd Formula 1 career victory in unpredicted circumstances as the Briton extended his World Driver’s Championship lead over team-mate Bottas to 72 points with five Grands Prix remaining.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen had a quiet race to come home in fourth place, with the Dutchman starting ninth after being hit with a five-grid placed penalty for installing a new Honda V6 Internal Combustion Engine and lost touch with the front-runners as he gradually moved his way up to fifth in the early stages.

He used VSC conditions to put on medium compounds and reached the chequered flag nine seconds off Leclerc.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Alexander Albon completed the top five despite starting the race from pit-lane, charging from the rear of the top ten during his second stint.

He relegated McLaren’s Carlos Sainz to sixth place, denying the Spaniard a top-five finish for the Woking-based squad – although he still kept the best-of-the-rest honours after leading the midfield fight for the entire proceedings.

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez overhauled Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen to finish seventh, as the latter settled for eighth but was demoted to ninth at the chequered flag.

Magnussen got hit with a five-second time penalty for leaving the track at the second corner after his attempt of defending seventh position from Perez was dashed.

The other McLaren of Lando Norris was promoted to eighth as Renault F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg fell too far back to also move in-front of Magnussen and settled for tenth.

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll finished outside the top ten in 11^th place and ahead of home favourite Daniil Kvyat who finished 12^th and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who took 13^th.

The second Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly ended the Russian Grand Prix 14^th and in-front of the aforementioned Alfa of Giovinazzi who finished at the rear.

ROKiT Williams Racing’s Robert Kubica was the other retirement of the race, with the Grove-based outfit ended his race straight after Russell’s crash to “conserve parts.”

The Top Three

Winner – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+: “Firstly, an incredible job from all the guys, not giving up. Just keeping up with [Ferrari] was an incredibly hard task. But we didn’t give up and kept pushing.”

2^nd – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+: “I think starting fourth, going into second is not bad. It’s not a win, but we did win today. It’s not so bad. We believed we could do it, but we need to raise our game in qualifying.”

3^rd – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF90: “At least we are quite consistent, at least we are back on the podium. A shame for the team not to have both cars up here. I will always trust the team, but the tactic was me giving the slipstream – which happened, but I need to speak to the team after that.”

Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2019 Race Results Classification (53 Laps)

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 322 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 249 Points.
3. Charles Leclerc – 215 Points.
4. Max Verstappen – 212 Points.
5. Sebastian Vettel – 194 Points.
6. Pierre Gasly – 69 Points.
7. Carlos Sainz – 66 Points.
8. Alexander Albon – 52 Points.
9. Lando Norris – 35 Points.
10. Daniel Ricciardo – 34 Points.

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 571 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 409 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 311 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 101 Points.
5. Renault F1 Team – 68 Points.
6. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 55 Points.
7. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 52 Points.
8. Alfa Romeo Racing – 35 Points.
9. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 28 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 1 Point.

Round 17 of the 2019 FIA Formula 1 World Championship heads to the legendary Suzuka International Racing Course in Mie Prefecture, Japan for the Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2019 from Friday October 4-Sunday October 6.

Missed out on what happened this weekend? You can catch up on Qualifying, McLaren’s return to Mercedes power in 2021, Free Practice Two plus latest Paddock news and FP1 all at the following links:

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@McLaren return to @Mercedes power from 2021 onwards. #F1

@Max33Verstappen outpaces @Charles_Leclerc in #RussianGP FP2. #F1

@Charles_Leclerc leads @Max33Verstappen in #RussianGP FP1. #F1