Russian Grand Prix race day

By: Geoff Creighton

Summary


	Hamilton wins the Russian Grand Prix, bringing Mercedes' three-race win drought to an end
	Bottas resists pressure from Leclerc to hold onto second
	Leclerc completes the podium after Vettel retired with MGU-K failure and Ferrari team orders strategy fell apart
	Race interrupted by two full safety-car periods and one VSC to recover the stricken Ferrari

Status: Stopped

15:57 Leclerc: "At least we are quite consistent, at least we are back on the podium. A shame for the team not to have both cars up here. I will always trust the team, but the tactic was me giving the slipstream - which happened, but I need to speak to the team after that."

15:56 Bottas: "I think starting fourth, going into second is not bad. It's not a win, but we did win today. It's not so bad. We believed we could do it, but we need to raise our game in qualifying."

15:54 Hamilton: "Firstly, an incredible job from all the guys, not giving up. Just keeping up with [Ferrari] was an incredibly hard task. But we didn't give up and kept pushing."

15:52 Magnussen managed to eke out a ninth with his five-second penalty, only losing a spot to Norris - who absorbed Hulkenberg's pressure like a well-engineered sponge.

15:50 "That's exactly what we needed," exclaims Hamilton over the radio. He's a happy bunny after that, as Mercedes capitalised on Ferrari's woes expertly.

15:49 Sainz is best of the rest once more for McLaren ahead of Perez, while Norris, Magnussen - whose late pace was enough to keep him in the points despite a time penalty - and Hulkenberg complete the points.

15:48 Verstappen ended up a lonely fourth, nine seconds away from the podium, with Albon salvaging fifth after that late charge.

15:47 Bottas ends up second, 3.8s down on his team-mate, with Leclerc 1.3s further back in third.

15:47 Lewis Hamilton brings Mercedes' three-race wait for a victory to end by winning the Russian Grand Prix!

15:46 Leclerc set a 1m36.193s on his last lap, so is four tenths short of Hamilton's best.

15:45 Hamilton starts the final lap with close to five seconds in hand over Bottas, with Leclerc a further 1.6s back.

15:45 1m36.3s was Leclerc's target, but it might be out of reach now as Hamilton sets a 1m35.761s.

15:44 "Can we cool down next lap, more or less cool down, to push for fastest lap?" Leclerc asks.

15:43 Magnussen might just rescue a point - as it stands, with five seconds added to his time, he'll be just slithers ahead of Stroll.

15:42 Leclerc had a little wobble in the final sector on the previous lap, and is now two seconds behind Bottas. Surely that's deal done.

15:40 Hamilton is told Verstappen may be able to pit and go for fastest lap (and presumably warned not to go for it again himself).

15:40 Albon grabs fifth from Sainz, but that might conspire to end any chances of a free stop for Verstappen.

15:39 Five laps to go, and Hamilton is 5.3s ahead of Bottas.

15:38 Mercedes is wise to that, and informs Bottas that Leclerc has requested full power.

15:37 One last attempt to get second for Ferrari? "Give me everything you have" says Leclerc, who is just outside DRS range to Bottas ahead.

15:37 That's a time penalty for Magnussen for leaving the track at Turn 2 and not shuffling around the bollards. No points for Haas today, it seems.

15:36 Hamilton sets another new fastest lap, as Bottas, Leclerc and Verstappen all set personal bests.

15:35 But, Sainz's radio call might be a bit of a hurry-up, as Albon is bearing down on him.

15:35 "Max is struggling ahead, let's go get him", Tom Stallard tells Sainz. That said, Sainz is circulating about 1.3-1.6s slower than Verstappen...

15:34 "We're losing an abnormal amount of time at Turn 13, anything we can help you out with?" Red Bull asks Verstappen.

15:33 Magnussen goes wide at Turn 2, letting Perez now take seventh from the Haas driver.

15:31 Hulkenberg is all over Norris, but can't break the impasse. Stroll is also firmly in this fight for ninth.

15:31 Hamilton is 4.1s clear of Bottas, who has a bit of a buffer back to Leclerc once more, as the final 10 laps approach.

15:31 But Albon now clears Magnussen into turn 13, getting DRS and steaming past. Perez is now in a position to attack the Danish driver.

15:30 Another new fastest lap from Hamilton, who sets a 1m36.467s.

15:29 That said, Magnussen's defense against Albon has put them both into the 1m40s. This is letting Sainz scamper away into a strong fifth.

15:28 Mercedes asks Hamilton to change strategy mode as Bottas is "under a lot of pressure". The gap between them is four seconds.

15:28 Sixth-placed Magnussen's pace has dropped into the 1m39s, while the cars either side of him are still clocking in the 1m38s, so he's between a rock and a hard place.

15:25 "Gap 0.9s, you will have DRS," Leclerc is informed.

15:24 Leading positions with 15 laps to go: 1 Hamilton; 2 Bottas+3.1s; 3 Leclerc +4.3s; 4 Verstappen +7.1s.

15:24 A slow-burning battle for fifth is underway; Sainz is a little bit slower than Magnussen, who in turn is a couple of tenths off of Albon's pace.

15:22 Another monster lap from Hamilton. A 1m36.639s puts him three seconds clear of Bottas.

15:21 Another new fastest lap puts Hamilton 2.6s clear of Bottas, who has shaken off the challenge of Leclerc for now.

15:21 Hulkenberg snatches 10th from Stroll with DRS into Turn 2, as Gasly loses a place at the same corner after a botched overtake on Kvyat lets Raikkonen trickle through.

15:20 Verstappen's pace still looks a bit shy of the leaders', but he's keeping a decent watching brief, two seconds back, in case anything tasty happens.