Starting second on the grid, Hamilton tried to overtake Rosberg at the opening two corners, but backed off as the pole-sitter held position.
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Rosberg, who trails his Mercedes team-mate by 48 points with five races remaining, will lead off the field for the second consecutive race after securing his third pole of the season in Sochi on Saturday. That was how the session would continue, but Rosberg looked to simply have nailed the set-up and grip on this tricky surface at the Sochi Autodrom.
Lotus’s Grosjean walked away unharmed from the lap 12 crash despite the impact which left his vehicle in pieces.
Mercedes have been the dominant force in Formula One for two seasons.
Around 55,000 fans came to watch the second-ever Russian Grand Prix. Bottas’ expletive remarks on the team-radio said it all.
Pirelli had hoped their tyre nomination for this race – which is one step softer than a year ago – would get the teams back in the two- to three-stop window, but the Italian manufacturer now expects many teams to adopt a one-stop strategy, with the cool ambient temperatures and smooth track surface contributing to limited degradation. “I really hope for a clean race, it will be a great battle with Lewis”.
Although they tend to be stronger on tracks with longer straights, Force India put in a solid performance at qualifying, with Nico Hulkenberg in P6 and Sergio Perez in P7 ahead of tomorrow’s race.
In his maiden outing on home soil a year ago Daniil Kvyat qualified a brilliant fifth before fading to a lacklustre 14th in the race. Suddenly, Rosberg complained to his team about his throttle pedal being broken.
And the Stevenage-born racer is now on the brink of claiming his third F1 word title. His vehicle was switched off and that was about it for him.
Even though Rosberg’s attempt a year ago had not worked out, Hamilton said he was confident he could pass his teammate in Sunday’s race.
The safety vehicle was in at the end of lap three, but Rosberg was already reporting a issue from within his Mercedes cockpit.
By lap 15 four drivers had retired namely Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Grosjean and Ericsson.
There is a chance Raikkonen could be penalised for causing the crash that led to Bottas’ retirement, and that may see Mercedes clinch the Constructors’ Championship. “It’s not nice when there is a problem with the throttle pedal”. At one point I wasn’t able to steer anymore as I had to lift my foot too much and touched the steering wheel with my knee. I don’t take what we have for granted and I think the team has done an incredible job. “I never write anything off”.
It remains a possibility that it may yet come to them here, as in a dramatic final lap Raikkonen clashed with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, taking the latter out. Sainz was then handed a 5-second penalty for crossing the white line at the pit entry, the Spaniard was in P11.
His father, former world rally champion Carlos Sainz wrote on Twitter “Just talked to Carlos”. The Williams was now running in 11th place behind Sainz.
Hamilton extended an immediate 2s lead over Bottas which became 10s by lap 25. Ferrari was however more than happy as both cars were within a podium victory with 20 more laps left.
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Vettel is 66 points adrift of Hamilton, who could now win the world title for a third time in U.S. in a fortnight’s time. Nasr then pitted from P2 allowing the original order to resume.
