How F1 got the race it wanted in Russia

Formula 1 can be so good sometimes, and often in the places you least expect.

For years the Hungarian Grand Prix was usually a race to forget, but the last two have arguably been the best Hungaroring contests we've ever witnessed.

Last year's inaugural Russian GP was dull, especially once Nico Rosberg flat-spotted his tyres trying to pass Lewis Hamilton after the start, but in 2015 we enjoyed the sort of race F1 could do with producing more often.

Not at the very front of course. The stuck throttle on Rosberg's Mercedes, which technical chief Paddy Lowe put down to a failure of the pedal's damping system, put paid to any hopes of a full-blooded fight for victory, while Sebastian Vettel took more than half the race to get clear into second after a slow start, by which time Hamilton was out of reach and controlling the pace.

But behind these two - now tied together on 42 grand prix wins thanks to Hamilton's ninth victory of the season - the battle for the final podium position lit up what, for now, remains a daytime race on the southeastern coast of Russia.

Sochi is still bedding in as a racetrack © LAT

The Sochi circuit is still new, and relatively unused compared to others on the calendar. There is a suspicion that bitumen is still working its way out of the asphalt, which - combined with the lack of long corners here - makes it more difficult for the cars to generate tyre temperature than usual.

That means the usual fear of massive overheating of the Pirelli rubber isn't so prevalent, and degradation is minimal, meaning the normal careful management of the rears is not so necessary.

Combined with the smooth surface and general lack of long corners, the result is that drivers can lean much harder on the tyres than at other races. But the rubber can still wear out over a stint, which would ultimately prove crucial in settling the outcome of this podium fight.

There were three contenders in this contest, who all enjoyed/endured very different races, but all three converged to set up a thrilling conclusion to the race.

THE FAVOURITE: VALTTERI BOTTAS

Bottas was the man who should have been king. The Finn was a standout performer at this race last year, qualifying his Williams third and chasing gamely after Hamilton through the first stint once Rosberg was out of the way.

He ultimately finished third in that grand prix, and must have fancied his chances of repeating his podium result in this one, after outqualifying both Ferraris for the second race in a row.

Bottas was in an early battle with the Ferraris © XPB

His race didn't start so well, as Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari made a superior getaway from the third row of the grid and stole third with a lunge down the inside at Turn 2.

Bottas perhaps made a small error by opening the door into the braking zone, but he was also delayed slightly by Hamilton's Mercedes checking its speed directly in front in an attempt to get a run on Rosberg, which allowed Raikkonen to sneak through.

It didn't take long for Williams's own flying Finn to correct the situation. Williams suspects the ERS deployment of the Mercedes engine (even the customer one) is still slightly superior to the Ferrari, and Bottas was able to sweep back past Raikkonen round the outside into Turn 2 immediately after the restart following the first safety car period (called into action after Nico Hulkenberg's spinning Force India collected Marcus Ericsson's hapless Sauber on the first lap).

Bottas rose to second when Rosberg retired, then initially closed the gap to Hamilton, before Mercedes instructed the world championship leader that he was doing "too good a job" saving fuel. Hamilton put his foot down and effortlessly pulled away...

A second restart on lap 17 of 53, following a safety car period to clear debris and repair barriers following Romain Grosjean's huge crash at Turn 3, allowed Vettel to jump his Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen. They went side-by-side into Turn 2, neither prepared to yield, but Raikkonen had to concede the place into Turn 4 having run wide onto the Turn 2 run-off to keep ahead.

Perez again used his tyre-management talents © XPB

Bottas held a 3.320-second advantage over Vettel at the end of lap 18, but by lap 25 that was down to 0.802s. Next time around Bottas dived for the pits, but Williams was slow removing his left-rear wheel. He rejoined in traffic, which helped Vettel jump him when the four-time world champion made his own stop four laps later.

The chance to finish second was thus lost, but the chase for that final podium spot was still very much on. Except for one thing (well, maybe two)...

THE GAMBLERS: SERGIO PEREZ AND DANIEL RICCIARDO

Safety cars can often help spice up a race, especially if they cause teams a strategic headache and create the conditions whereby slightly slower cars can run ahead of faster ones.

The timing of Grosjean's crash, and the safety car period that followed, opened up a pitstop window that most refused to jump through. A lack of running in practice (thanks to diesel spills, heavy rain, and a big crash for Carlos Sainz Jr) meant no one had a clear idea how long the tyres could last here.

The teams knew degradation would be low, of course, but could anyone make a set of the harder tyres last for 41 laps without them wearing out?

We were about to find out, as crucially Force India's Perez (running fifth) and Red Bull's Ricciardo (seventh) dived for the pits and "rolled the dice", as Red Bull boss Christian Horner put it.

"We were one of the few cars to box and I thought 'well'..." said Perez. "The restart, going behind Felipe [Massa] and [Felipe] Nasr, I was just stuck there and couldn't get them, so I decided to save my tyres."

Once the majority of the field made their solitary pitstops under normal racing conditions (Sauber's Nasr was the last to stop on lap 34 of 53), Perez found himself running third. Vettel had breezed past for second on lap 32, using the Ferrari's DRS to gain a run and then slipping down the inside of the Force India at Turn 13.

Ricciardo fends off Raikkonen © XPB

But an unlikely podium finish still looked possible for Perez, if he could keep his front tyres from wearing out completely, particularly the front-right, which was under massive stress as rubber tore itself from the tread through the long, fast left-hander at Turn 3.

Ricciardo was close behind in fourth for a time, inadvertently helping protect Perez from the charging Williams of Bottas, until the Finn used his DRS to finally sweep by the Red Bull into Turn 2 with eight laps to run. Three laps later, Raikkonen's Ferrari went around the outside at the same corner.

Ricciardo was therefore realistically out of the podium fight, even before he pulled his Red Bull off at Turn 8 with a mechanical problem.

"The left-rear was moving under braking and I thought my brake disc was broken," rued the Aussie. "We don't know if it was suspension related, but I had a strange oversteer [too] and was spinning the wheels."

With Ricciardo out of contention there were now three drivers left in the battle to be third, and one in particular was homing in faster than the others...

THE VILLAIN: KIMI RAIKKONEN

After his superb opening lap, Raikkonen clearly felt as though this race was slipping away from him after getting jumped at each of those restarts.

The Ferraris raced each other hard © LAT

"On both restarts I just didn't have the speed on the straight," explained the Finn. "Maybe it was the tow. He [Vettel] got past me, fair enough."

But the 2007 world champion composed himself and got on with the job of salvaging his situation. He came close to repassing Bottas after making his sole pitstop on lap 31, but Bottas had just enough margin in hand to remain ahead as the Ferrari rejoined.

Raikkonen nearly rammed into the back of the Williams at Turn 3 on his out-lap, but avoided the collision and then tracked Bottas closely.

He almost made it past the Williams on lap 36, when Ricciardo's defensive driving at Turn 2 forced Bottas to back off through Turn 3. Raikkonen dived inside Bottas at Turn 4 but ran wide on the exit, then tried again at Turn 5, but failed to make it stick.

The Ferrari remained within a second of the Williams until lap 43, at which point Bottas pumped in a couple of fast laps and then successfully attacked Ricciardo's Red Bull to buy himself some breathing space.

Raikkonen botched his own first attempt at passing Ricciardo, running too deep on the outside line into Turn 2 and taking to the run-off area, which forced him to concede track position back to the Red Bull through Turn 3.

Having finally made the move stick on lap 48, Raikkonen unleashed the pace of his Ferrari and set the fastest lap of the race.

It had been a messy race for the Finn, but a podium was still on the cards. He was the outside bet, but of the three remaining contenders he possessed the fastest car...

THE THRILLING CONCLUSION

Five laps to go, three cars separated by just 4.210s, with the slowest car at the head of that train. By the end of lap 51 of 53 that spread was down to 1.196s, and Bottas was within 0.679s of the Force India.

Williams reacts as Raikkonen takes its man out © LAT

Williams told its man to "go to mode one" approaching the end of the lap, handing Bottas some extra engine power to attack Perez. But Bottas made a mistake exiting the final corner, and the need to correct a snap of oversteer allowed Perez off the hook.

Temporarily...

Bottas got another run on his rival using DRS along the back straight and dived inside the Force India at Turn 13. Raikkonen saw his moment to attack too and swept around the outside of Perez through the left of 14.

With one lap to go, Perez's podium dream looked over, his tyre management masterclass undone.

"It was very difficult to hold them back," Perez explained. "At the stage my tyres were I couldn't brake very hard or very late, because I was at risk of flat-spotting them and retiring from the race."

Ultimately it wouldn't matter, as Raikkonen became the villain of the piece by lunging down the inside of Bottas at Turn 4 on the final lap and punting the Williams into the wall.

The move didn't really look on, but perhaps Raikkonen was encouraged by the fact he'd raced his fellow Finn so closely without drama earlier in the race.

"I don't think it was something completely stupid what I tried," reckoned Raikkonen. "I would have made the corner, but usually when there's two cars there are many ways of looking at it.

"I went inside, and I think he never realised I was there. In the last point I knew he was turning in and I tried to go more to the inside, and I had to brake harder to try to avoid it.

"But I was next to him already, and obviously then there was contact. It's an unfortunate thing. You never want to have accidents, but that's racing and things happen."

Unsurprisingly, a furious Bottas saw things differently.

"I don't think it was a racing incident," he said. "I didn't see anyone there and I was in front, and then suddenly someone hits me.

"I should be on the podium, but I'm here with zero points instead. That's just disappointing."

As the Ferrari limped to the finish in fifth place (which became eighth once the stewards applied a 30s penalty in lieu of a 10s stop-go for Raikkonen's part in the incident), Perez stole back through to claim that final podium spot and justify Force India's strategic gamble.

It was a breathless conclusion to a great battle, which featured close racing, overtaking, strategic variation and a healthy dose of controversy. Exactly the sort of race Formula 1 needed.

It's just a shame it was for third place rather than first.