Bottas wins the Russian GP, Hamilton couldn't catch Verstappen for P2

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27 September 2020 at 13:57
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Valtteri Bottas has won the Russian Grand Prix. The Finnish driver wins his second race of the season, with Hamilton having to wait at least an extra week to equal Michael Schumacher's career win record. The World Championship leader couldn't close the gap on Max Verstappen and had to settle for third. 

Hamilton received a 10-second time penalty for making a practice start outside of the designated area before the race had even begun. With the punishment, Hamilton battled his way through the field but had too much work to do to clinch second. 

Bottas started from third but managed to overtake second-placed Verstappen on the run down to turn two. He ran an extended stint on the medium tyres before switching to the hard compound. The Mercedes driver cruised through to victory and won his 9th Formula 1 race. 

Sergio Perez finished 4th to claim the 'best of the rest' place. Daniel Ricciardo had an eventual race and finished fifth, while Charles Leclerc had another strong day in a struggling Ferrari car to complete the top six. 

While Hamilton missed out on equalling Schumacher's record, Kimi Raikkonen started his 323rd Grand Prix to equal Ruben Barrichello's record of most starts.

Chaotic start

Before the race had started, pole sitter Hamilton was under investigation after he made a practice start at the end of the pit lane. The six-time world champion picked up a ten-second time penalty.

By the time the drivers reached turn two, Bottas was in a position to challenge Hamilton but ran slightly wide. Both Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez crashed on the opening lap to bring out a safety car. Red Bull Racing opted to pit Alex Albon for the hard tyres.

At the restart, Hamilton decided to push between corners 15 and 16, while Bottas was still in a corner and unable to accelerate immediately. As a result, Bottas was too far behind to take advantage of the tow on the straight. Verstappen maintained his third-place, with the two Renault drivers behind.

On lap 15, Sergio Perez blasted his way past Daniel Ricciardo to take fifth place. Meanwhile, Hamilton was setting fastest laps on the soft tyres while Bottas was trying to close the gap on mediums.

In the pits

Mercedes pitted Hamilton on lap 17. They opted for the hard tyres, but the Brit had to serve his 10-second time penalty. On the radio, Hamilton said: "This is ridiculous". He rejoined the track in 11th, just behind Sebastian Vettel. Crucially, Hamilton made light work of the Ferrari driver and stayed ahead of the Renaults after their pitstop.

At the front, with an extended medium tyre stint, Bottas opened the gap to 10.2 seconds between himself and Verstappen. Verstappen put on the hard tyres on lap 26 and ended up 6 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Mercedes covered off the undercut by pitting Bottas on the next lap. He returned to the track in the lead.

Renault oped to switch Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon around, but Ricciardo pushed track limits by running wide at turn two. An incident the stewards investigated and awarded the Australian with a five-second penalty.

Battles

With 6 laps remaing, Albon, Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly had a battle for ninth place. Albon, who spent the day fighting through the field, couldn't get past Norris who was on extremly old tyres. As he lost out, Gasly took advantage and got past. 

Evenrtually both Gasly and Albon made their way past the McLaren driver.