It was a race within a race. A back-and-forth conversation at Ferrari figured prominently in how the Russian Grand Prix turned out.
SOCHI, Russia—September 29th—Sebastian Vettel won the Singapore Grand Prix last week, and Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom would have been two consecutive wins for the German. But it didn’t happen. Vettel’s car suffered an MGU-K failure on lap 28. That failure brought out the safety car, giving Lewis Hamilton the lead and–just as importantly–an opportunity to make a pit stop for tires.
Lewis Hamilton: “What an effort, guys! That is exactly what we needed. We never give up.”
The Briton went on to win by 3.8 seconds over Mercedes’ teammate Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who began the race from the pole, finished in third.
Vettel shot out at the start on the opening lap, passing Hamilton and Leclerc. There was a team arrangement for Vettel to pull aside and let teammate Leclerc pass him. But Vettel was not having any of it. By lap 17, Vettel had increased his lead by 3.6 seconds and told Leclerc over the radio ” to catch up!”
When Vettel finally began to lose tire wear (on lap 27), he pitted. Hamilton took over the lead following an earlier stop by Leclerc. But just one lap after Vettel’s pit stop, the German signaled that his MGU-K system had failed. He pulled off the course, initiating a virtual safety car. Just as that was happening, George Russell in his Williams encountered brake failure and crashed into the barriers at turn eight. That ended the virtual warning and put out a full safety car period. This gave many drivers, along with leader Hamilton, the chance to make their final tire change of the day.
Nobody can take over positions during that time, which meant that Hamilton still held the lead–even when the safety car period was over on lap 33, Hamilton remained in front beating teammate Bottas, who barely held off Leclerc for second place.
Besides Vettel and Russell, other retirements included American Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean. He collided with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi on the opening lap, throwing the Frenchman into the barriers. The incident also involved Daniel Ricciardo, who drove only a few more laps before retiring the car due to heavy floor damage. Robert Kubica also left the race as a result of team orders. They feared that his car might have the same brake issue as Williams’ teammate Russell.
For Red Bull and McClaren, the race was a big success. Red Bull scored double points as Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon took fourth and fifth, respectively. McLaren also hit a double with Carlos Sainz finishing sixth and Lando Norris ending up in eighth.
Hamilton is now 73 points ahead of teammate Bottas with five races to go in the 2019 season. “I try not to think about the championship and take it one race at a time,” Hamilton responded when asked about the title.
Japan is next on the F1 schedule (Sunday, October 13). Hamilton won’t clinch the championship there, but the odds are that he’ll win the prize on October 27 in Mexico.
