Double blow for Hamilton; Bottas gets his second win: Russian GP analysis
Valtteri Bottas took his second win of the season at the Sochi Autodrom, Max Verstappen finished P2 in his Red Bull and pole man Lewis Hamilton recovered to P3 after serving 10-second time penalty for practice start infringement.
London, 3 Oct 2020: Lewis Hamilton took pole position as Max Verstappen split the Mercedes cars in P2 and Valtteri Bottas lined up in P3 for the Round 10 FIA F1 World Championship last Sunday.
Alongside him was Sergio Perez of Racing Point. Renault and McLaren lined up in chequerboard pattern with Daniel Ricciardo in P5, Carlos Sainz in P6, Esteban Ocon in P7 & Lando Norris in P8. Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri started the race in P9. Alex Albon qualified a dismal P10 in his Red Bull but started P15, due to a 5-place grid penalty for changing the gearbox. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc lined up in P10, Gasly’s teammate Daniil Kvyat in P11. Lance Stroll had a mechanical issue in qualifying and therefore, could only start as high as P12 ahead of Williams’ George Russell in P13. Sebastian Vettel started in P14 after crashing his car in qualifying. Romain Grosjean and Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen started in 16th& 18th respectively, with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi between them. The last row was occupied by Kimi Raikkonen and Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi.
Hamilton was already at a disadvantage regarding strategy as he had to start on the soft tyre, compared to Bottas and Verstappen who started o the mediums. This was due to Hamilton’s initial lap getting deleted due to track limits in Q2, then Red Flags barring him from setting the second lap.
The fastest strategy was a one stop, from medium tyres to hard tyres.
The race start was eventful. Bottas caught the slipstream from Hamilton and passed Verstappen. Behind Sainz went wide at Turn 2 and therefore, had to go through the bollards to join the track. In doing so, he hit the circuit wall and was out. His teammate Norris ran through the debris and damaged the steering of his car. Ahead at Turn 4, Leclerc tagged the rear wheel of Strolls Racing Point, thus, sending him spinning into the barrier. The safety car was called out.
The safety car came in on lap 5 and racing resumed with Hamilton in the lead, trailed by Bottas and Verstappen. Meanwhile, Russell, Norris and Albon had pitted under the safety car for hard tyres. Sergio Perez slotted into P5 after overtaking Ricciardo as Ocon was running in P4. On lap 7 Mercedes got the confirmation that Hamilton will get a 10-second time penalty (2×5-seconds).
Lewis Hamilton pitted on lap 16 for hard tyres, serving the penalty in the process and emerged in P11. Ricciardo had pitted one lap before to try and undercut Perez but came out in traffic and was unable to gain time on Perez. Ocon pitted on lap 18 and slotted behind Hamilton but ahead of Ricciardo. Perez managed to overcut Ocon on lap 20 as he too pitted for hard tyres.
Eventually Verstappen pitted on lap 25 for Hard tyres and Bottas followed suit one lap later. Bottas holding a steady 7-second gap to Verstappen. Hamilton emerged in P3 but 10-seconds behind Verstappen due to his penalty. Renault employed team orders and switched Ocon and Ricciardo, Ricciardo now ahead. In that process, Ricciardo cut turn 2 and got a 5-second time penalty. Leclerc who had pitted on lap 28, was behind Ricciardo and looked like he could take the advantage of his penalty.
Bottas scored his second victory of the season as Verstappen in P2 and Hamilton in P3 completed the podium. Perez had an uneventful race but scored good points for Racing Point in P4. Ricciardo maintained P5 as he finished well ahead of Leclerc making the time penalty of no consequence. Leclerc dragged the Ferrari to P6, their best result since the 70th Anniversary GP in Silverstone. Ocon got P7 as Renault managed another double-points finish. Kvyat and Gasly finished in 8th and 9th respectively, Kvyat coming very close to overtaking Ocon in the final laps. Albon occupied the final points paying position.
Vettel finished in P13, behind Ferrari PU customer Alfa Romeo’s Giovinazzi and Haas’ Magnussen in P11 & P12 respectively. Raikkonen crossed the finish line in P14, ahead of Norris in McLaren. The Williams cars finished P16 & P18, Latifi finishing ahead of Russell as Grosjean split them in P17.
Bottas won his first race since the season opener in Austria as Mercedes continued their dominant run this season. They have taken every pole position this season, 8 of them going to Hamilton. Mercedes have also won every Russian GP in the history of F1. Red Bull expected themselves to struggle at Sochi, having never achieved a podium finish here prior to 2020. Verstappen was able to split the Mercedes in qualifying and the race. On the other side, Albon struggled with the balance of the car as he barely made his way to the top 10. Ferrari brought upgrades to the under nose cape, barge boards and rear wing. These upgrades were more to do with correlation of data than performance. The upgrades performed as expected by the simulation which will give them a direction to develop their car. Ferrari have a long way to go if they want to catch the likes of Renault, McLaren and Racing Point.
Renault have unlocked the pace from their car since the Belgian GP. They got another double points finish. The drivers are happy with the setup and balance of the car. They seem to be on par if not better than McLaren when it comes to race pace. Encouraging signs for them then, for rest of the season and next year. McLaren showed improved performance compared to the Tuscan GP, especially in qualifying. They were running two different cars, Norris had the new Mercedes style slim nose whereas Sainz was running with their older specification of broader nose. The performance difference is yet unknown, but McLaren confirmed it is part of a bigger upcoming upgrade package and they were correlating the simulation data. As Sainz crashed out and Norris picked up damage their true race pace could not be seen this race. Racing Point are arguably the fastest midfield team as Perez managed P4 in the older specification of the RP20. Stroll once more had the upgraded version but unfortunately DNF’d due to Leclerc tagging him on the opening lap.
AlphaTauri too achieved a double points finish as they are making most of the opportunities awarded to them. Their car still lacks the pace to challenge the upper midfield teams consistently but given the right circumstances, they are able to beat them. Alfa Romeo have made strides as they are making it to Q2, but the lack of straight line performance still hurts them. Haas’ car has balance issues with both drivers complaining about it in free practice, particularly Grosjean being vocal on the team radio. Lack of upgrades this year and straight line performance of the Ferrari PU is accentuating their problems. Williams were encouraged by their performance at Sochi compared to last year, which proved the improvements they have made this season. Russell once more made it to Q2 as well. They struggled with tyre temperatures, therefore, could not make headway in the race. They have also managed to reduce the drag on their car, making full use of the class leading Mercedes PU to give them a higher straight line speed.
Very well articulated! Outstanding novice journalism