“I was glad when I opened my eyes I was fine”, he said.
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Lewis Hamilton was disappointed that a potential on-track battle for victory in Russian Federation never fully materialised.
But Hamilton claimed a much bigger prize than the Ferrari drivers – the winner’s trophy from Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Vettel moved up to second place overall.
On his enhanced title prospects Hamilton said: “I never get to the point where I think it’s done and dusted”.
But Raikkonen was under investigation for a collision that cost fellow-Finn Valtteri Bottas third place for Williams and it was just a question of what kind of a penalty he was given. The loss of points for Ferrari meant Mercedes have clinched a second straight constructors’ crown.
That enabled Bottas to pass Perez around the outside of Turn 13 on the penultimate lap, with Raikkonen following him through to demote the Mexican to fifth in the space of just two corners. He clearly didn’t think that was possible, responding: “I love your sense of humour”.
“It is a great, great, great feeling so I feel very proud when I am up there and I see the smiles on everyone’s faces”.
Perez’s third place was the best finish this year for Force India, while Raikkonen limped home in fifth behind the second Williams of Felipe Massa.
Sauber’s Felipe Nasr was seventh ahead of Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado, with Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso taking the final two points positions for McLaren.
Sainz was airlifted by helicopter to hospital in Sochi and was detained overnight for observation, but made clear in his tweets that he hoped to recover and return to race.
Following Rosberg’s retirement from proceedings, Hamilton was forced to nurse a rear-wing issue late in the race.
Rosberg started on pole but retired on lap seven with a throttle problem and dropped to third in the standings.
“The idea is not for the barriers to come on top of you or the auto go under, so it is something we need to understand”, added the German Ferrari driver.
“It is a bit of a worry especially as the pedal was coming more and more in my direction and in the end I had to lift my complete leg off the pedal to come off the throttle”.
And the Stevenage-born racer is now on the brink of claiming his third F1 word title.
The gap was 9.5 seconds by lap 25 as Hamilton supremely controlled things from the front. It does not change my approach. “Going for it mentally”, he said. No other driver is in contention. With a maximum of 100 points still available, Hamilton could retain the title at the next race in the United States on October. 25.
With Nico Rosberg on pole position and championship-leading team mate Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row, there is every chance of another Mercedes one-two securing the title in style. Both were left stranded, bringing out the safety vehicle.
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It was an eventful race for a few, perhaps most notably Romain Grosjean, who fell victim to a massive solo crash just twelve laps into the race. Despite the violence of the impact, Grosjean was uninjured.
