General
What time does the 2021 Russian Grand Prix start?
- GPblog.com
Lando Norris has secured pole position for Saturday's Russian Grand Prix. Behind him line up Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and Williams driver George Russell. A good start is essential on this circuit. The stretch to the first corner is very long and there is a lot of space to gain. For Max Verstappen the first lap is therefore very important to gain as many places as possible and not to get too far behind rival Lewis Hamilton who starts from P4.
When does the Russian GP start?
The Russian Grand Prix will start at 13:00 on Sunday afternoon. The drivers will do 53 laps on the circuit of Sochi. The finish is expected around 14:30 with a dry track. When it starts raining the laps will take longer and the race will last longer.
Also this edition of the Russian GP will be exciting. On Friday we saw that Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in his Mercedes and that for Verstappen a third time was the best he could achieve in FP1. On Saturday afternoon Valtteri Bottas did not manage to take pole position but Lando Norris was too fast for everyone. Max Verstappen decided not to set a fast time since he will start from the back of the grid together with Leclerc due to his grid penalty. The race will be very exciting up front. Because of the long straight to turn 1 the whole field can shift and there can be some nice fights.
Chance of rain
Even though Mercedes is unbeaten here since 2014, it remains difficult to predict who will win on Sunday. There is a big chance of rain. This means it can go either way. We know Verstappen and Hamilton are excellent rain drivers but with a drying track tyre choices are essential and the team plays a big role. In short, it will be an action-packed race.