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World championship leader Lewis Hamilton started from the lead in the Russian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen behind him and his teammate Valteri Bottas behind.
The Finn got off to a great start, immediately ahead of Verstappen and while he also attacked Hamilton, the Briton ultimately retained his first place.
On the field, however, Carlos Sainz broke his McLaren, and Leclerc pushed Stroll, who also hit his car on the bench, and the Safety Car arrived.
The safety car left on lap six and, shortly after, very bad news came for Mercedes and Hamilton:
A 10-second penalty was imposed on the six-time world champion for finishing his test drive in the wrong place before the race.
There was no excitement in the lead early in the race, but even more so: Ricciardo battled Okon, Albon Norris. Hamilton exited at the end of lap 16 to change a wheel, during which he unloaded his penalty, then the tires hardened and came back in 11th place behind Vettel.
By lap 21, thanks to wheel changes by the other riders, as well as some overtaking, the British were already in fifth place, but were roughly 40 seconds behind compared to the leading Bottas-Verstappen pair, by so they could practically give up the victory of the race.
However, Hamilton could have set the absolute record for Michael Schumacher had he won,
the German has a 91 advantage over Hamilton’s 90 victories.
Bottas entered the area at the end of lap 26, one later than Verstappen, but both comfortably maintained their first and second places. Hamilton, meanwhile, was third, but many more could not expect older tires and a major disadvantage.
In addition to the time disadvantage, others may have been concerned about the World Cup leader, he also received a penalty point, so he already has nine in total, and if that number reaches 12 within a year, the driver will be expelled from a race.
Ten laps before the end, Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton were on the imaginary podium, followed by Pérez, Ricciardo and Leclerc, but the Australian Renault driver was also penalized 5 seconds for not returning to the track in the prescribed manner in one case.
Some debris fell on the track in the hair of the race, the organizers slowed the pace with a virtual Safety Car, but cleaned the asphalt in one lap so that the battle could continue. However, the excitement was left behind in the last laps,
Bottas, with a great run, confidently won the race ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton.
With his current success, the Finnish driver has reduced the lead over Hamilton by 11 points, which is still 44 points.
The world championship season will continue in two weeks in Nürnbungringen with the Eifel Grand Prix.
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