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Dan Ticktum lead from start to finish to claim his second Sprint Race victory of the season and close the gap between himself and the championship protagonists, Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou.
Juri Vips held onto his second place, and after Liam Lawson’s retirement, Robert Shwartzman inherited third to secure a home Grand Prix podium.
Starting Grid
Dan Ticktum qualified 10th for Sunday’s Feature Race which meant he started from reverse grid pole position with Juri Vips alongside the Brit on the front row of the grid.
Row two was made up of Hitech’s Liam Lawson and Prema’s Robert Shwartzman as they were third and fourth respectively. Jake Hughes had a fantastic qualifying session with the HWA driver fifth, Ralph Boschung in sixth, Theo Pourchaire in eighth, Jehan Daruvala in ninth and Oscar Piastri in 10th.
Marcus Armstrong narrowly missed out on the top 10 as the New Zealander started from 11th, Christian Lundgaard in 12th, Richard Verschoor in 14th, Bent Viscaal in 15th, Lirim Zendeli in 16th, Roy Nissany in 17th, Guilherme Samaia in 18th, Marino Sato in 20th and Alessio Deledda in 22nd.
Guanyu Zhou and Felipe Drugovich did not start the race after the former spun and saw his engine cut out with the latter colliding heavily with the barrier. David Beckmann and Enzo Fittipaldi started the race from the pit lane.
As It Happened
The drivers got the race underway under the Safety Car as the soggy Sochi circuit started to dry up. After two formation laps, a rolling start saw Ticktum lead the drivers over the start/finish line.
In the early stages, no risks were being taken as everyone made their way around the track. Zendeli made the first overtake of the race as he overtook Viscaal for 13th with Samaia moving up ahead of Nissany into 15th.
The DAMS of Nissany fell down another place as Sato moved up to 16th on lap three with the track constantly drying up.
After five laps of the race, the top 10 were unchanged as Ticktum was out in front ahead of Vips in second and Lawson in third. Shwartzman followed in fourth, Hughes in fifth, Boschung in sixth, Pourchaire in seventh, Daruvala in eighth, Piastri in ninth and Lundgaard in 10th.
Viscaal made an error into the turn 15-16 chicane as the Trident driver lost the engine and retired from the race as the Virtual Safety Car was released.
At the restart, Piastri looked to make the move for eighth but the championship leader went wide as he fell down the order.
Lawson was another retiree from the race as he hit the wall which ended his podium hopes with the Virtual Safety Car released.
After yet another restart, Daruvala moved up to fifth ahead of Boschung and Pourchaire. Shwartzman and Hughes battled for the final podium position as the Brit momentarily claimed the position but the Prema driver snatched the position back into the turn 13-14 chicane.
In the latter stages of the race, Boschung locked up a couple of times into turn two as he came under pressure from Lundgaard. However, the Swiss driver kept the Dane at bay and held onto sixth place.
As the drivers looked to gain the two bonus points for the fastest lap of the race, Daruvala caught the inside kerb at the turn 15-16 chicane which saw him spinning down the order.
In the end, it was Ticktum who held on from start to finish as he won the Sprint Race with Vips and Shwartzman completing the podium.
Hughes claimed a brilliant fourth place, Pourchaire in fifth, Boschung in sixth, Lundgaard in seventh, Verschoor in eighth, Piastri in ninth and Zendeli in 10th.
What’s Next?
After failing to score points in the Sprint Race, championship leader Oscar Piastri has the chance to score vital points and extend his points advantage as he starts the Feature Race from pole position. The Aussie is joined on the front row by Jehan Daruvala with Guanyu Zhou not far behind in fourth.
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