In Pictures: Russia 2021
100th win for Sir Lewis Hamilton!
Friday started as expected with Bottas and Hamilton interchanging fastest laps in both practice sessions, with Valtteri Bottas the fastest of the two Mercedes. Red Bull decided to change power unit in Max Verstappen RB16B, same as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Both drivers starting the Grand Prix from the back of the grid.
Saturday saw lots of rain in the morning but ended up clearing around noon, just in time for qualifying, which started with everyone on intermediate tires, except Alonso in full wets. The battle for Pole Position continued all the way to the end on an ever-drying track and what final laps we had. Lewis Hamilton had set the fastest time, and by a large margin, in a still wet track. Williams’ Russell was the first driver to try on slick tires, this pushed everyone to get into the pits for softs. Then, with a few minutes left into the session Hamilton made an error and clipped the pitlane wall, breaking his front wing.
The final few seconds were exciting to say the least with an amazing Lando Norris getting Pole Position from Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari and George Russell in the Williams. Hamilton ended up fourth.
The last time we had a McLaren, Ferrari, and Williams the fastest three in qualifying was at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix!
On Sunday, Mercedes announced a ‘tactical’ power unit change for Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes, his fifth, so because of that, he started the race in 16th place after due penalties.
The race started with a hungry Carlos Sainz overtaking Pole-sitter Lando Norris at turn 2. Hamilton, who had fell to seventh at the start, pitted on Lap 27, before Norris, but came out in a bit of traffic. Meanwhile, in the back, Leclerc, Bottas and Verstappen were overtaking cars left and right.
Once the pitstop sequences had finished by Lap 38 it was Norris leading a rapid Hamilton. The pair were just one second part in the closing stages. And then the rain hit but both Hamilton and Norris stayed out after others pitted for inters and it was the Mercedes man who made the decision to pit first, switching with three laps left as Norris stayed out, a first ever F1 victory almost within touching distance. The McLaren driver did his best to keep the lead but, with the rain getting heavier by the second, he eventually slid off the track and Hamilton passed him for P1.
At the end, it was Lewis Hamilton taking his record 100th win in Formula 1 with a phenomenal Max Verstappen, who climbed all the way from the back to finish a fantastic 2nd and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz taking the final spot in the podium. Lando Norris eventually finished 7th and was voted Driver of the Day.
““A big thank you to the fans here. It’s taken a long time to get to 100 and I wasn’t even sure it would come. Lando did such an amazing job. I’m incredibly grateful to the team here and at the factory””
““Wow, we will definitely take that result! It was tricky to make the call to go to intermediate tires but we had to make that call in the end. To come from last to second is amazing. With the penalty we had it’s a great result for us. I definitely didn’t expect it when I woke up this morning””
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.“This was a tricky but positive weekend for me, with a good quali and a strong race where I gave absolutely everything. We made a perfect start from the dirty side, braking late into turn 2 and risking it on the outside of Lando to get into the lead. Unfortunately we suffered from graining and couldn’t hold P1 for much longer and had to pit early. After the first stop, we had a very good stint, managing the Hard tyre in traffic and then pushing in clean air, on course for a reasonably comfortable P3 before the rain came and made everything a lot trickier. With the used Hard it was clear to me we needed to box for Inters and together with the team we made the right decision at the right moment, regaining P3!””
