Valtteri Bottas yesterday won the Russian Grand Prix for Mercedes after teammate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton collected two time penalties for infringements before the race had even started.
Hamilton, who started on pole position in Sochi hoping for a 91st Formula One victory to equal Ferrari great Michael Schumacher’s all-time record, finished third behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The Briton’s lead over Bottas shrunk to a still healthy 44 points after 10 of 17 races, with the Finn collecting a bonus point for driving the fastest lap.
Photo: Reuters
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“Never give up. It’s a good day,” said Bottas, who addressed his critics in more basic terms over the team radio as he took the checkered flag.
“It’s nice to get a win. It’s been a while and I need to try and keep the momentum,” Bottas said. “There’s still quite a few races to go, so you never know. I’ll keep pushing, I wont give up and we’ll see how it ends up.”
The win was the Finn’s second of the season, and first since the Austrian opener in July.
Hamilton’s hopes were dashed when stewards issued two 5-second penalties for making practice starts outside the designated area as he headed to the grid.
“Where’s that in the rule book?” he asked the team, and called the situation “ridiculous.”
Hamilton had asked Mercedes over the radio if he could perform the starts there, and was told he could. It was the second time in three races that a team blunder cost the British driver a shot at victory.
“Not the greatest day ... I take the points that I got and move on,” said Hamilton, who also collected two penalty points on his license that leave him just two away from a one-race ban.
Dominant Mercedes continued their record of winning every Russian Grand Prix since it was first held at the 2014 Winter Olympics venue.
Mexican Sergio Perez was fourth for Racing Point, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo fifth for Renault and Charles Leclerc sixth for Ferrari.
Frenchman Esteban Ocon took seventh for Renault, while Russian driver Daniil Kvyat finished eighth, pleasing the biggest crowd of the season, and first of any size since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kvyat’s AlphaTauri teammate Pierre Gasly was ninth and Red Bull’s Alexander Albon took the final point in 10th.
Additional reporting by AP
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