Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff denounced social media conspiracy theorists after a Russian Grand Prix weekend during which Germany’s Nico Rosberg won his seventh race in a row and world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton endured more engine problems.
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The race started in dramatic fashion, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel crashing out at Turn 3 after contact with team Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat, bringing out the safety auto as Rosberg led from Raikkonen and team Williams’ Valtteri Bottas.
Only three other drivers in F1 history have achieved that feat – Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel – and all went on to win the championship that year.
Hamilton had reduced the gap between him and Rosberg to seven seconds by the 36th of the 53 laps but his challenge was then slowed by a water pressure problem.
The German extended his lead in the drivers’ standings to 43 points with another controlled performance in Russian Federation to head home teammate Lewis Hamilton for his seventh consecutive F1 win.
Kvyat misjudged his braking point and hit the back of the red vehicle twice on the opening lap to leave Vettel in the wall and fuming. And with the safety auto out as the debris was being swept away, it was Rosberg who headed the order, with Kimi Raikkonen second, followed by the two Williams drivers – Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.
Hamilton is now trailing Rosberg by 43 points in the Drivers’ standings.
Nico Rosberg made easy work of turning his pole position at the Russian Grand Prix in to a convincing win, making it four wins on the trot, but Lewis Hamilton was probably the star driver for Mercedes, turning his bad luck in qualifying in to a second place.
“It’s been an awesome weekend, the car’s been fantastic”, said Rosberg. Lewis is going to come back of course. “We have an incredible vehicle and all we want to do is win races”. For Vettel, there was no disguising the German’s anger at his first lap crash as he delivered an expletive-strewn tirade over the Ferrari team radio while around him cars slithered and crashed amid flying debris. “I don’t dislike him”. It’s unbelievable to go into the European races with four wins and I really look forward to Barcelona now.
Mercedes had flown in a fuel system part by private jet ahead of the race in the rush to fix Hamilton’s auto following a power unit failure in qualifying. The Williams drivers took home fourth and fifth place, while Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen each registered their best finishes of 2016 with sixth and seventh.
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The next race on the calendar is the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks.
