Motor racing-Team by team analysis of the Russian Grand Prix

MCLAREN (Lando Norris 15, Carlos Sainz retired) Sainz started sixth but crashed out on the opening lap at turn two after running off and misjudging his speed when he tried to return, hitting the wall and bringing out the safety car.


Reuters | Updated: 27-09-2020 23:13 IST | Created: 27-09-2020 23:06 IST
Motor racing-Team by team analysis of the Russian Grand Prix
Representative image. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Team by team analysis of Sunday's Russian Formula One Grand Prix in Sochi, round 10 of the season (listed in championship order): MERCEDES (Valtteri Bottas 1, Lewis Hamilton 3)

Bottas's ninth career victory, second of the season and second in Russia. The Finn also set the fastest lap and is now 44 points behind Hamilton. Hamilton started on pole, his 96th, but collected two five second penalties for pre-race practice start infringements. The race was the Briton's 150th for Mercedes, who still have a 100% winning record in Russia. RED BULL (Max Verstappen 2, Alexander Albon 10)

Verstappen returned to the podium after two successive retirements. He dropped to fourth at the start but quickly retook Ricciardo for third and moved up when Hamilton served his penalty. Albon started 15th after a grid drop for a gearbox change and struggled on the tyres. MCLAREN (Lando Norris 15, Carlos Sainz retired)

Sainz started sixth but crashed out on the opening lap at turn two after running off and misjudging his speed when he tried to return, hitting the wall and bringing out the safety car. Norris started eighth but lost out at turn two when he had to slow to avoid Sainz. The Briton pitted at the end of the first lap to switch to hard tyres but could not go the distance on them as hoped. RACING POINT (Sergio Perez 4, Lance Stroll retired)

Perez had a lonely race and never looked like challenging for the podium. The points allowed Racing Point to close on McLaren, now only two ahead. Stroll was tagged on the right-rear tyre by Leclerc on the opening lap and spun into the wall. RENAULT (Daniel Ricciardo 5, Esteban Ocon 7)

Ricciardo was third into turn one but could not hold it. He was handed a five second penalty after running wide at turn two. Renault have now scored more points than in all 21 races of last season and are closing in on Racing Point and McLaren. Ocon let Ricciardo by on lap 26. FERRARI (Charles Leclerc 6, Sebastian Vettel 13)

Leclerc started 10th and left it late to pit, on lap 29. He then managed the hard tyres to the end and got ahead of Gasly and Ocon. Vettel crashed in qualifying and started 14th in his 250th start in F1. ALPHATAURI (Daniil Kvyat 8, Pierre Gasly 9)

Kvyat took some points in front of his home crowd after starting 11th. Gasly ran as high as seventh and had some good battles with Albon, Norris and Raikkonen. ALFA ROMEO (Antonio Giovinazzi 11, Kimi Raikkonen 14)

Raikkonen made his 322nd F1 start, drawing level with all-time record holder Rubens Barrichello of Brazil. HAAS (Kevin Magnussen 12, Romain Grosjean 17)

Magnussen started 18th but gained nine positions on the opening lap and ran as high as sixth. He did 33 laps on the hard tyres. Grosjean started 16th and made two stops. WILLIAMS (Nicholas Latifi 16, George Russell 18)

Latifi started in last place after a gearbox change incurred a penalty. The Canadian made one stop. Russell made three stops, the first when the safety car was deployed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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