Rosberg wins RussianGP from Pole

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes led from the Pole to win the Russian GP 2016 as his main competitors were battling troubles.

Rosberg’s team-mate and luckless Lewis Hamilton drove a great race from the 10th position and challenged him for a race win. Hamilton had reduced the gap to Rosberg to 7.5 seconds by the 36th lap but then the water pressure in his car started falling. So he somehow nursed his car back to the finish line and he would be happy to salvage 2nd place in this race. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari finished in third place.

Lewis Hamilton later said that he was absolutely in no doubt that victory was within his grasp till the water pressure problem derailed him from his quest. He said “I had the pace but I had a problem with the engine again, so I had to back off”. However he also praised the team for the effort they put in solving the problem after qualifying. "Firstly I'd like to thank the guys who flew over from the factory last night, and my mechanics who worked from 2am to get my car ready, because without them I wouldn't even have got to this point. It happened, I just had to try and nurse it home and I'm grateful I finished. We just need to do a better job. It seems to be my side of the garage having a hard time, but I have absolutely every confidence and faith in them”.

Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari was hit by Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull and had to retire from the race. Given his teammate Kimi scoring a podium finish Vettel would be ruing his luck.

Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa of Williams scored 4th and 5th positions. This ensures that Williams is poised for a strong finish in the Constructors championship.

Fernando Alonso of McLaren made a superb start and scored his first points of the season when he finished in 6th position. However, he was down by a lap. Kevin Magnussen who was the reserve driver for McLaren last year and was unceremoniously released by them is driving for Renault this year and scored his first points this year as he finished in 7th position.

Romain Grosjean of Haas, the team that has made its debut this year in F1, scored 4 points as he finished in 8th position. This is the third time in four races that he has scored points for Haas. Sergio Perez of Force India was 9th and scored 2 points. Jenson Button of McLaren scored the last available point by finishing in 10th position.

Nico Rosberg leads the 2016 championship with 100 points. He is followed by the defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton at 57 points. Rosberg has now seven race wins in a row and is tied with Michael Schumacher. In the Championship race, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari is third with 36 points and his teammate Sebastian Vettel is fourth with 33 points.

There are 17 more races to go and we expect a spirited fightback by Lewis Hamilton. May the better driver win.

#RussianGP 2016 Results

Rosberg scores RussianGP Pole as Hamilton Suffers

Rosberg scores Russian Pole as Hamilton suffers

Nico Rosberg easily raced to the pole in the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi as luckless Lewis Hamilton couldn’t race in Q3 due to power unit problem.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished second and 0.706s slower than Rosberg. However, he has changed a gear box unit and it means 5 slot penalty. So Sebastian Vettel drops down to 7th.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams came third. Now he will be promoted to 2nd in the starting line up for tomorrow’s race.

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari finished in fourth and now will start in third place. Along side Kimi Raikkonen will be his former teammate Felipe Massa of Williams.

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull and Sergio Perez of Force India will start in 5th and 6th places respectively.

Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull, the local lad and favourite of the Russians will start in 8th place after Sebastian Vettel.

Max Verstappen will start in 9th. Lewis Hamilton had qualified for Q3 based on his Q2 timings but couldn’t race in Q3. So he finished 10th. We will wait to see if he drops down further in the starting grid due to any changes to his power unit. In the last race in China, Lewis started from the pit stop and finished in 7th position. However, he was hit by one of the cars. He would be hoping that he doesn’t get involved in any accident which further mars his race.

Hamilton said it is the “same failure as I had last race. I went back out in Q2 at the end to get a better lap and lost the same power as I lost in China. Nothing I can do”.

Lewis Hamilton is 39 points behind Nico Rosberg. So today's car problems adds to his challenges and his hopes of winning this years title may be vanishing.

#RussianGP Qualifying 2016

Hamilton coasts to inaugural Russian Grand Prix win

Lewis Hamilton started on pole however his teammate Nico Rosberg who started second did his best to overtake Lewis. Rosberg ran wide and took lot of speed to turn 2 to overtake Lewis Hamilton. However, he also flat spotted his tyres and had to pit for changing his tyres.

The Sochi International Street circuit hosting the Russian F1 Grand Prix had a clean and smooth surface so tyre degradation was less. The cold climate also helped in lowering the tyre degradation. However expecting one set of tyres to last 51 laps was ambitious to say the least. Nevertheless the Mercedes team kept of telling Rosberg that he can get the third and final podium position by beating Jenson Button. It initially seemed that it was more to do to keep Rosberg's motivation up. When Rosberg started complaining that he is having tyre degradation by lap 22, it appeared that he has to pit again. However there was a bit of racing as Rosberg upped his pace and even overtook Valtteri Bottas for the second position on lap 31 and he confirmed that his tyres have become better. However, Williams team told Bottas that they were confident that Rosberg can't make the tyres last for such a long time. Rosberg continued to lap faster than every other driver till lap 39 and had opened a gap of about 5 seconds. Valtteri Bottas did a late charge but couldn't overtake Nico Rosberg. After the silly move in the opening lap which resulted in the flat spotting of tyres, Rosberg used his head and drove a great race to secure the second position.

The overall race was a bit dull, except for the superior pace of the Mercedes which helped in Rosberg come back from the grid to P2. Otherwise it was mostly a procession as the tyre degradation was minimal and didn't act as a variable.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams came third. Jenson Button of McLaren did a good race to finish 4th. He is at the moment not sure if he can find a race seat next year in a good car. His teammate Kevin Magnusses came in 5th followed by Fernando Alonso of Ferrari in 5th. Then came the Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel in 7th and 8th positions. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari scored 9th and was followed by Sergio Perez in 10th and last points paying position.

The Caterham team confirmed that Kamui Kobayashi's brakes were overheating so he had to retire after 22 laps in Russian F1 Grand Prix. The lone Marussia of Max Chilton had earlier retired after 10 laps.

Results in Russian F1 Grand Prix 2014

1. Lewis Hamilton         Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg            Williams
3. Valtteri Bottas            McLaren
4. Jenson Button            Mercedes
5. Kevin Magnussen      McLaren
6. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari
7. Daniel Ricciardo        RedBull
8. Sebastian Vettel         RedBull
9. Kimi Raikkonen         Ferrari
10. Sergio Perez             Force India
11. Felipe Massa            Williams
12. Nico Hulkenberg      Force India
13. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso
14. Danil Kvyat              Toro Rosso
15. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber
16. Adrian Sutil              Sauber
17. Romain Grosjean      Lotus
18. Pastor Maldonado     Lotus
19. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham

Retirements in Russian F1 Grand Prix 2014

Kamui Kobayashi              Caterham        Lap 22
Max Chilton                       Marussia         Lap 10

Hamilton on pole in inaugural Russian Grand Prix

Hamilton on inaugural Russian Grand Prix pole

Lewis Hamilton scored the pole position in the inaugural Russian Grand Prix at Sochi ahead of his teammate and world championship rival Nico Rosberg of Mercedes. Hamilton was 200th of a second faster than his teammate. Hamilton set a time of 1m 38.513 seconds. Rosberg set a time of 1m 38.713 seconds.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams came in third with a time of 1m 38.920 seconds. No one else could come within the 1m 39 seconds mark. Bottas did a mistake and had to settle for third else he could have easily beaten Nico Rosberg. His teammate Felipe Massa was not so fortunate as he faced some engine issues and had clearly less power. Massa was eliminated in the Q1 of the Russian F1 Grand Prix qualifying and came in 18th. It would be an uphill battle for him as the overtaking chances in this circuit is expected to be less.

As expected McLaren was closer in pace and Jenson Button came in P4 with a time of 1m 39.121 seconds. Button who is widely expected to be dropped from McLaren next season is showing his class and should do well in the race tomorrow.

Kvyat of Toro Rosso finally strung a good lap to came in 5th with a time of 1m 39.277. Being a Russian driver he would have warmed many a hearts in this Russian F1 Grand Prix. Kvyat who is going to Red Bull next year, came ahead of both the Red Bull drivers as well. His teammate Jean-Eric Vergne came will start in 10th.

Kvyat was followed by Kevin Magnussen of McLaren in 6th with a time of 1m 39.629 seconds. Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull came in at P7 with a time of 1m 39.635 seconds. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was P8 with a time of 1m 39.709seconds followed by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen in P9 who set a time of 1m 39.771seconds. Jean Eric-Vergne of Toro Rosso was P10 at 1m 40.052. He was ahead of Sebastian Vettel of RedBull who will start in P11 tomorrow.

Vettel was followed by the Force India duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez in 12th and 13th positions respectively. The Force India duo were followed by the Sauber drivers Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil in 14th and 15th positions. Romain Grosjean of Lotus was P16 followed by Marcus Ericsson of Caterham in P17.

Felipe Massa was P18 followed by Kamui Kobayashi of Caterham in P19, Pastor Maldonado of Lotus in P20 and Max Chilton of Marussia in P21.

Marussia is only running one car in this race as a mark of respect for Jules Bianchi who is battling for survival due to a severe head injury incurred in the race in the Japanese Grand Prix last sunday.