Hamilton 1st, Verstappen 2nd…sounds like a pretty regular race then, no?
Lewis Hamilton finally completed his extraordinary century of Formula 1 victories, after taking the lead with three laps remaining of a thrilling Russian Grand Prix.
Most of the race was led by Lando Norris. The 21-year-old McLaren driver took an impressive maiden pole position on Saturday in changeable conditions but lost the lead to his good friend Carlos Sainz on the long run to the first real corner of Turn 2.
Norris stalked the Ferrari for 12 laps before reclaiming the lead and then showed maturity far beyond his years, showing no signs of stress as he led a grand prix for the first time.
Meanwhile, in the title battle, Hamilton – who had qualified fourth – had been boxed in at the start and found himself in sixth, behind the leading pair, future teammate George Russell, Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo.
The group formed a DRS train and would remain in the same order for the first stint of the race.
Hamilton’s title rival Max Verstappen had started from the back after taking an engine penalty – a decision that was already on the cards but was cemented by the Dutchman’s three-place grid penalty for his clash with Hamilton at the previous race.
The Red Bull scythed through the field in the opening laps – disappointingly for Mercedes, even making short work of Valtteri Bottas – and found himself just three positions and two seconds behind his rival approaching the halfway point.
Of the drivers at the front, Sainz, Russell and Stroll pitted early on, with the rest extending and the title rivals pitting together on lap 26.
Having been released, Hamilton had finally been able to demonstrate his pace and succeeded in jumping all the former passengers of the DRS train except Stroll, who he swiftly dispatched two laps later.
It was not long until he had also caught and passed Sainz, leaving an eight-second gap to Norris with a little over 20 laps remaining.
Things were not going so well for Verstappen, who – having started on the hard tyre and then pitted unusually early – was struggling on the mediums and had fallen behind Fernando Alonso into seventh place.
The gap at the front reduced rapidly, but once the Mercedes had moved within two seconds of the McLaren, it once again demonstrated its distaste for dirty air. That, twinned with the papaya car’s prodigious top speed, meant that Hamilton was unable to get close enough to make a move with the laps counting down.
But then the rain began to fall.
By lap 47 of 53, the parts of the track closest to the Black Sea were significantly wet. Norris had a moment of oversteer and ran wide, but a cautious Hamilton – with one eye on the championship battle – remained narrowly behind.
It was now all about whether to risk the change to intermediate tyres, with parts of the track becoming increasingly treacherous but other areas still dry.
Norris was not interested in giving up the lead and stayed out. Hamilton ignored his team’s first call to come in, but a second call saying that the rain was going to increase convinced him to come in with four laps remaining.
The rain did increase. Norris committed to his decision but the downpour became torrential and as the McLaren slithered off the road two laps later, Hamilton sailed past and he accepted that he had to pit.
The running order turned on its head as those who had stayed out lost not seconds but minutes to the drivers on intermediate tyres.
Verstappen – who had pitted early – jumped from seventh to second, Bottas from 14th to fifth and Kimi Räikkönen from 13th to eighth, whilst Sergio Pérez fell from fourth to ninth and Charles Leclerc from eighth to 15th.
Sainz hung onto third, to claim his fifth podium, with Ricciardo three seconds down the road in fourth. Norris was, at least, able to recover to seventh and a bonus point for the fastest lap, but was understandably heartbroken, having come so close to what would have been a thoroughly deserved maiden victory.
The young Briton demonstrated his immense talent, however – as he has for much of this season – and can be sure that his time will come.
Hamilton may be at the other end of his career now, but showed he is far from past it as he became the first ever Formula 1 centurion. A mind-boggling achievement.
The next big milestone would be the record-breaking eighth world title, but he will have to work even harder for that after Verstappen’s surprise second place.
The Impact on the Championship
Whilst the day belonged to Hamilton and his momentous achievement, Red Bull perhaps leave Russia the happier of the two title-contending teams.
Team Principal Christian Horner had said they would be content if Verstappen could work his way up to fifth from the back of the grid and keep the points swing to Hamilton to around 15.
So, leaving Sochi with just seven fewer points than the new championship leader is a huge win for the Austrian team.
Their main man should now be fine for power units through to the end of the season, whilst the expectation is that Hamilton will have to take a penalty for a fourth engine at some point between now and Abu Dhabi.
After two races where Red Bull expected to see a Mercedes 1-2 and Hamilton build a considerable lead in the standings, Verstappen sits just two points behind.
As for the remainder of the season, it very much depends on how many of the scheduled races take place as planned. Mexico and Brazil have historically been Red Bull circuits, but the jury remains out on whether the F1 circus will be able to travel to either considering the current Covid restrictions.
There are some unknowns – such as the new track in Saudi Arabia and a race likely to take place in Qatar – and the remaining tracks are too close to call.
Basically, the situation remains as it has been for most of the year: this title could go either way.
The Russian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Will Verstappen take an engine penalty and start from the back? Yep.
With rain due on Saturday, when will qualifying actually take place and will it spring any surprises? Despite torrential rain on Saturday morning, it went ahead at the scheduled time and sprung plenty of surprises.
Is Ricciardo now going to be back to his best with the added confidence from Monza win? Fourth place was a good result, but Norris was back to being comfortably on top throughout the weekend.
