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.
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He had closed to seven seconds behind Rosberg and was entertaining thoughts of winning the race when the team told him to back off because his engine was losing water pressure.
Rosberg, who has finished runner-up to triple champion Hamilton in the last two seasons, has won the first three races of the campaign – six in a row including the last three of 2015 – and leads the Briton by 36 points.
After rumours circulated that there is a certain degree of favouritism towards Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg rather than Lewis Hamilton, team boss Toto Wolff has debunked the theory.
The Finn ended up completing the podium despite being tangled up in skirmishes with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg leads the British world champion by 43 points after Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix.
“There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I couldn’t win it, I had the pace”, said Hamilton.
The safety vehicle was called for, with Hamilton moving from tenth to fifth on the opening lap.
Nico Rosberg continued his ideal start to the 2016 season with victory at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi. He added: “The way the grid is, it does help me out a lot, for sure, to get the win tomorrow”.
But a defiant Wolff said: “I think it is very hard to take people seriously out there when they are lying on their beds with their laptops on their chests, and they are sending out those abusive messages”. “I don’t dislike him. But at the moment I am enjoying it”.
Raikkonen’s team-mate Vettel was taken out by two separate clashes with Kvyat on the first lap.
Hamilton said that reprimand, after he had been to see stewards to argue his case, was “ridiculous”. The German has also had a reliable vehicle whereas Hamilton had to start from the back in China after a power unit failure in qualifying.
“The reason why I’m being vocal about it is that I want to protect those guys because they’re being hit by comments that are just inexcusable and unfair – abusive without any reason”.
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McLaren’s Fernando Alonso had his best finish of the season with sixth place though he was still more than a lap behind the leader. Also, I am running out of engines as the races go by.
