It was a Mercedes one-two for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at the Russian Grand Prix, as the duo made the most of an unlucky weekend for a revitalised Ferrari team.
While it might sound strange to say the result was a surprise given Mercedes’ dominance in 2019, it was Ferrari who most fans had expected to take a one-two after Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc led the field after the first lap.
A strong start from Vettel saw him power to the front of the pack and the German made the most of Leclerc’s slipstream to jump from third to first.
Ferrari’s team radio then proved to be the main talking point of the race, with the Ferrari team bosses asking Vettel to let Leclerc take the lead based on a pre-race agreement. However, Vettel was much quicker and Leclerc was unable to find an opportunity to pass leaving the young gun frustrated but still in second.
The discussion over who would lead the race quickly became inconsequential following the first round of pit stops, with Vettel forced to retire with mechanical dramas – his retirement on track caused a virtual safety car (VSC).
For Ferrari, the retirement and the VSC essentially allowed Hamilton and Bottas a free pit stop and the duo jumped Leclerc to lead the rest of the race.
It was a frustrating day for CAMS Ambassador Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian forced to retire after contact on the opening lap.
Ricciardo came together with Romain Grosjean and Antonio Giovinazzi, and while he was able to continue for several laps, ultimately the damage was done and Renault decided to park Ricciardo after he struggled to find the pace.
“Unfortunately, our race was pretty much over from the start. I had too much damage on the car to carry on, which is a shame,” Ricciardo said.
“It was a bit chaotic through Turn 2 and I had the inside line for Turn 4 where I thought I was safe. I got hit and had a puncture and damage to the floor. I’ll look at it with the perspective that if I qualify higher up the grid then I’m less likely to be in the bad stuff. I’ll take responsibility for that, but in terms of the accident, I was just a passenger.”
Hamilton was understandably elated with the victory.
“This win feels like it has been a long time coming and it was just an incredible job from the whole team: never giving up, pushing forward, always trying to be innovative,” Hamilton said.
“It’s incredibly inspiring to be part of that and amazing to have this result today considering how quick the Ferraris were in that opening stint.”
Japan is next on the calendar for the Formula 1 crews, with the race taking place on the same weekend as Bathurst on 11-13 October.
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