Sochi GP: Lewis wins 100th race, Lando doomed by rain
Lewis Hamilton becomes the first driver to win 100 F1 races as he crossed the line at Sochi. Lando had a fantastic race but was cursed by rain in the final laps. Max Verstappen managed to somehow get an incredible P2 while starting P20.
King Lewis at Sochi
Sochi has been a good hunting ground for Mercedes, having won all the race here. Both the Mercs looked good in the practice session. However they botched things up in the wet Quali session with Lewis crashing against the pit-lane entry wall and messing the strategy. Lewis was P4 at the start whereas Mercedes took a gamble with Bottas, giving him another fresh engine and invoking a grid penalty to tactically hold off Max at the back.
The start did not go well for Lewis as he played it safely to avoid any mishaps. He lost 3 places at the start and was stuck behind the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo for a long time. However his car came alive after the pit-stop when he switched to the Hards. He quickly passed other slow cars but was not able to overtake Lando in the same Mercedes powered McLaren. However lady luck was on his side as he took the right gamble to pit for Inters as the rain started to increase. Lando on the other hand was reluctant to pit and wanted to carry on till the end. But the rain became strong enough to warrant a pit-stop. He was sliding everyone and a shunt seemed imminent. Eventually he pitted for Inters but lost too much time by then and finished P7, nowhere close to where he would have preferred.
Great job by Max, Checo was unfortunate
Red Bull took the engine penalty for Max here as they knew the track doesn’t suit their car well. This was a damage limitation race for Max and he would be very happy with the P2 end result. He started well from P20, overtaking slower cars quickly and even managed to overtake Bottas without much effort. However he had tyre issues soon and wasn’t able to move beyond P7, stuck behind Daniel Ricciardo. However rains turned things around. He pitted at the right time for Inters and was able to finish on the podium. Max is just 2 points behind Lewis in the Driver’s Championship.
Perez was doing a good job in Red Bull and had reached till P3 but then rain played havoc with his strategy. Him pitting and coming out eventually cost him multiple places, finishing P9. He must be very disappointed.
Sainz on podium for Ferrari
Sainz managed yet another podium for Ferrari. He had a great start to the race. Starting P2, he got a wonderful slip-stream behind Norris and was able to overtake him at turn 2. Norris eventually overtook him again in the middle of the race. The second half was not that great for him but the rains came as a blessing as finished P3.
Daniel Ricciardo drove a wonderful race, keeping Lewis him in the first half and then Max in the second. He would be happy with the P4 finish.
Valtteri Bottas has a bad race right till the end, before it started to race. He was stuck at P14 for most of the race. However he pitted at the right time and somehow finished P5.
Alonso had a mega-race too. He was quick throughout and finished a respectable P6. In a complete surprise, the recovering Kimi Raikkonen managed to get some points for Alfa Romeo as he finished P8 in the hectic end of the race. George Russell had a great start too from P3 but the Williams just did not have the race pace. He finished with a sole point at P10.
Sochi Race Classification : Lewis got his 100th race win with Max at P2 and Carlos P3
