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Was Hamilton's Sochi defeat inevitable even without penalties saga?

As the Russian GP headlines focused on Lewis Hamilton's two practice start penalties, Valtteri Bottas ran almost unchallenged to a much-needed win for his title hopes. But a crucial advantage from qualifying might have resulted in the same outcome anyway

Alex Kalinauckas Sep 28, 2020, 3:45 PM

Unusually, a Russian Grand Prix was set to be one to watch closely. How events transpired in the 2020 Sochi race will indeed mean it lives long in Formula 1's collective memory, but for very different reasons than had been expected when the field woke up last Sunday morning.

Lewis Hamilton was starting from his 96th F1 career pole, but he wasn't exactly happy about it. Two things had rather irked the world champion.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.