Well… we called it! An early safety car set the pace for what was a pretty mundane race for the latter 50 laps. It was a bad day for Mclaren fans, a great day for Bottas fans, and a confusing one for Hamilton fans. But any time Hamilton isn’t first means that the race had to have been at least somewhat interesting…
Opening Lap Safety Car
After a relatively clean first few corners, an awkward collision between Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz took both drivers out of the race early. Lewis Hamilton also received 2, 5 second time penalties for failed practice starts. Despite being 10 seconds behind, he still managed to finish with a podium.
Other than the Hamilton time penalty and the Sainz-Stroll crash, the race was mostly controlled. Time penalties were given before the race the Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi for gearbox changes, as well as a penalty for Daniel Ricciardo for now following a race director instruction. Finally, Roman Grosjean got a time penalty for smashing through the cardboard blockades.
For what the race lacked in action, it clearly made up for in time penalties. The racers in the points finish were pretty normal, with Charles Leclerc in 6th being the biggest surprise of the race. But once again, Mercedes wins in Russia being still the only constructor to ever a Russian Grand Prix.
Next we head to Germany and the Nurburing, for what looks to be a fantastic Eifel Grand Prix.
