Race Report - Russian Runaway

Lewis Hamilton ran away with the victory in the inaugural Russian Grand Prix. The only driver who could have challenged him was his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. And, indeed, Rosberg took a shot at the lead just after the start but botched his attempt, flat spotted his tires as he skated off the track, and had to pit for new tires.

Even if Rosberg had grabbed first place he probably would have still not won. Hamilton was quicker all weekend and would have had a faster race pace. After pitting for a new set of the medium (Prime) compound Pirellis on lap one, Rosberg stayed on the same set of tires for the rest of the race. Such is the speed of the Mercedes that he finished second.

Mercedes won its first ever constructors' championship, but the drivers' championship is still wide open with three races to go, and with 100 points available - remember the last round in Abu Dhabi pays double points - and thus this contest should go down to the wire.

"It was a good day and an amazing weekend," Hamilton said after his 31st win. "Firstly I'm so proud to have contributed to the work of this great team, to get the first constructors' championship for Mercedes-Benz is a huge achievement. Massive congratulations to the guys back in the UK and Germany, its history for us. Today I had to manage the tires a lot through the race; managing the fuel wasn't too bad. The car felt great and I didn't have to push too hard."

Valtteri Bottas took second place on lap 2 in his Williams. He slowly faded back behind Hamilton and eventually lost second as Rosberg sliced his way from last to second. But Rosberg could not close in on Hamilton.

"At the end, when Nico was behind, I needed to match his times, which I did," Hamilton said.

Rosberg rued his first lap error.

"Today was a really tough race for me," he said. "I just messed up in the first corner. I simply braked too late, which was unnecessary. So I flat spotted my front tires and it was impossible to continue due to the vibrations. I had to pit, and on the Prime tire I had great pace. In the middle of the race I thought the degradation would start to increase.

"But very soon it was stable and I was able to push a lot. Then I managed to overtake Bottas. Also still at the end I was able to push, but the team asked me to control the pace as everyone was worried about dropping at the very end of the race. P2 was damage limitation. I really look forward to the last 3 races of the year with this outstanding championship car."

Pirelli's choice of the medium (Prime) and soft (Option) compound slick tires proved to be a bit conservative. Both compounds

"At the end of the day it was the same for everybody," Fernando Alonso noted. "It was difficult to know what the asphalt or the temperature would be. The choice was maybe a little bit conservative. We were able to push the entire race because sometimes when we have softer tires we push one lap and then we save tires. It was not the case this weekend, so it was not a problem."

Bottas set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap on a well worn set of the medium tires.

"We went into the race today with the mentality that we were going to fight Mercedes for the win," said Bottas who moved from sixth to fourth in the championship, "but their pace in the race surprised us a bit and in the end we need to be satisfied with third place and another podium.

"I was keeping pace with Hamilton at the beginning but in the middle of my first stint the rear tires started to go away and that allowed him to create a gap. In the second stint I didn't realize Rosberg was quite as close as he was and his move caught me a bit by surprise, but he had more pace at that point anyway as my prime tires were taking a good ten laps to switch on so he would have caught me regardless. I was closing in the final laps as my tires were getting better but he had managed to create too big a gap."

The McLarens looked good all weekend and Jenson Button ran third and eventually finished fourth ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen.

"I reckon we got the maximum out of the car," Button said. "I had a little scare at Turn Three on lap one, when Fernando (Alonso) and I got very close to each other, but apart from that it was a pretty straightforward race. It was odd that we were able to run so many laps on a single set of tires today. The Primes (tires) felt like they could have gone on for ever - it was a bit like going back to 'old school' racing in that respect.

"The track surface in Austin (Texas) is very similar to the track surface here, as it happens, so I look forward to seeing how we fare out there in terms of tire wear. It's been a tough year for us but over the past few grands prix it's been clear that we've been improving."

This was Magnussen best finish since he got second in the season opener.

"I decided to go flat-out from the start," said the rookie who had to take a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, "in an effort to make up as many positions as possible from my P11 grid slot, and it worked; I had a great lap one, and then moved up to P5 very quickly. After that, though, it cost me dear because I had to do a lot of fuel-saving, especially in the second half of the race.

"Even so, it was a pretty uneventful afternoon for me. It was almost like a chilled-out Sunday drive, in fact, because I was easing off the power 200 meters before the corners in an effort to save fuel. I was really surprised that no one was able to catch me, in fact; I guess the guys behind me must have been experiencing the same problem."

McLaren has now moved ahead of Force India to take fifth place in the constructors' championship.

"It shows that our car is steadily improving," Magnussen said. "So it's been a good weekend. We've been a bit quicker than we'd expected to be, which was great. Now we need to push really hard so as to carry that improved form forward for the rest of the season."

Fernando Alonso drove a fairly lonely race in his Ferrari to finish sixth after fending off a late challenge from Daniel Ricciardo.

"It was a difficult weekend for us," he said. "There were the worries and the thoughts for Jules (Bianchi). In the race and all weekend in general we were not super competitive here, so we also struggled in the race. We did manage to do a good start and then we were not able to maintain that pace. At the end I had a little fight with Daniel. Both of us were saving fuel. It was not boring but a race that was not enough goals to fight for to become enjoyable."

Ricciardo wound up seventh ahead of his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel.

"Starting the race the tire was already blistered, it had quite a bit from qualifying, so it wasn't looking too healthy and the first stint made it worse; I could see it starting to come apart, so we had to pit quiet early," Ricciardo said. "Then on the Prime the tire lasted well and we had good pace and could match Alonso, but couldn't get past."

Early in the race, when Ricciardo trailed Vettel, Red Bull did not issue team orders.

"There was no discussion about switching," Red Bull's sporting director Christian Horner told reporters after the race. "Obviously it was very early in the race anyway, and so many things can unfold. It didn't make any sense at that point."

Ricciardo got ahead of Vettel during the pit stops.

"I had a good start and then a tough battle with Daniel," Vettel said, "but from then onwards the speed was nothing special, we had the same issues as we had in qualifying. I was alone for a lot of the race, the beginning was entertaining, but after that it wasn't that busy."

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (Force India) rounded out the top 10. Daniil Kvyat thrilled the Russian fans by qualifying his Toro Rosso fifth for his home grand prix, but he faded back to 14th.

"It was a tough race," Kvyat said. "Apart from the fact that I could not find immediately the right grip, we had to care too much about our fuel consumption compared to the others. This is something that we will have to understand, so as not to lose performance for this reason in the future. Last but not least, I also had to pit again towards the end of the race, losing even more positions.

"I would have liked to do much better here in Russia, in front of my own crowd, which really made me feel their great support. Regardless of the disappointing final result, it was great to race in such an amazing structure, with an excellent organization."

The inaugural Russian Grand Prix was indeed a success at the new track and venue in Sochi. Formula 1 now takes two weekends off before the next round in Austin, Texas, USA.