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Lewis Hamilton capitalised on Lando Norris’ strategic gamble, which backfired with three laps to go to claim his 100th race victory. The seven-time world champion finished ahead of Max Verstappen in second and Carlos Sainz in third.
The Mercedes driver reclaims the championship lead by two points after winning his first race since the British Grand Prix.
Starting Grid
Lando Norris started from pole position for the first time in his F1 career after an excellent lap at the end of Saturday’s Q3 session. He was joined on the front row of the grid by his former McLaren teammate Carlos Sainz.
On row two, George Russell qualified third, ahead of his 2022 Mercedes teammate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton who lined up fourth.
Daniel Ricciardo fronted row three and lined up alongside sixth-placed Fernando Alonso. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll started in seventh and was partnered on row four by Sergio Perez.
On row five, Esteban Ocon started ninth, alongside Sebastian Vettel who lined up in 10th. AlphaTauri locked out row six as Pierre Gasly started 11th with Yuki Tsunoda in 12th.
Row seven was occupied by Kimi Raikkonen and Haas’ Mick Schumacher who started in 14th. Nikita Mazepin started his home Grand Prix from 15th place as he was joined by Valtteri Bottas on the eighth row after the Finn took a grid penalty for an engine component change.
Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi started ahead of Nicholas Latifi, who picked up a grid penalty after a power unit change. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and championship leader Max Verstappen started from 19th and 20th respectively after their engine changes.
As It Happened
As the lights went out, Norris and Russell got the best starts as the McLaren man held onto the lead but Sainz claimed first on the brakes into turn two.
Hamilton who started fourth fell down to seventh after the opening lap as Stroll, Ricciardo and Alonso all got ahead of the Brit.
On lap two, Hamilton and Alonso battled for sixth through turns three and four. The Alpine man ran the Mercedes driver out wide at turn three, but the Brit managed to dive up the inside at turn four and reclaim sixth place.
Moments later, Alonso lost out on another position as Perez got himself up into seventh.
Verstappen used the DRS assistance to dive down the inside of Bottas at turn 13 to move up to 14th. The Dutchman replicated this move two laps later to get past Gasly for 13th.
At the end of lap 12, Stroll was the first driver to pit and fit a set of hards. The perfectly executed undercut helped the Canadian to jump Russell into a net-third place.
Meanwhile, Norris moved back into the lead up the inside of Sainz at the turn 12 kink thanks to the extra speed he gained from his rear win being open.
Verstappen got himself into the points scoring positions as he got past the Aston Martin of Vettel on lap 13.
After losing the race lead, Sainz pitted at the end of lap 14 to fit the hard compound tyre and exited the pits narrowly ahead of Stroll, who had just set the fastest lap of the race.
From lap 16, Verstappen started to close in Hamilton. The Dutchman went on a three-lap streak setting consecutive fastest laps as he hunted down the Brit.
At the end of lap 22, second-placed Ricciardo pitted going from mediums to hards, but a slow stop saw the Aussie re-join in 14th behind Ocon.
At the end of lap 26, just past the halfway point of the race, Hamilton and Verstappen both pitted. The Mercedes driver, who went from mediums to hards, exited the pits in ninth as the Dutchman, who was running the alternate strategy, fell to 12th.
It didn’t take long for Verstappen to get past Russell. With the assistance of DRS, the Red Bull driver moved into 11th before turn two on lap 28.
Leader Norris boxed at the end of that lap, and after an efficient stop, he re-joined in fourth only behind Perez, Alonso and Leclerc who were yet to pit.
At turn two on lap 30, Hamilton leapfrogged Sainz into sixth and soon after checked off Gasly who he overtook around the outside at turn 12.
At the end of lap 32, Mick Schumacher was called into the pits with a hydraulic leak as the German became the first retiree from the race.
Meanwhile, Norris moved back into the podium positions as he went down the inside of Leclerc into turn three.
Leclerc fell another place on lap 35 as Hamilton breezed past the Ferrari down the straight with DRS. The Monegasque driver then pitted, going from the hards to mediums and a slow stop caused him to fall down to 13th.
On lap 36, both Perez and Alonso pitted, seeing Norris return to the lead, ahead of the hot-heeled Hamilton who was charging down the McLaren man.
Norris looked to hold onto his race lead as he set the race’s new fastest lap with Hamilton rapidly chasing him down.
On lap 42, Leclerc made the move for ninth as he got past Russell down into turn four.
Perez was finally able to get past Ricciardo on lap 44. The Mexican used DRS to lunge up the inside of turn 13 before making the move stick around the outside of turn 14.
Moments later, the trackside fans frantically put up their umbrellas as the rain started to fall. On lap 47, Norris went deep into turn five which allowed Hamilton to close in as the Mercedes man got ever closer.
Exactly a lap later, Norris went wide again. This time into turn seven as drivers started to pit for intermediate tyres with five laps to go.
At the end of lap 48, Verstappen, Sainz and Ricciardo all pitted for intermediates. A lap later so did second-placed Hamilton as race leader Norris stayed out to brave the final four laps on slicks.
With three laps to go, Norris looked to be struggling on the slick tyres as he skating around the Sochi Autodrom. A lap later, the McLaren man went on at turn five which gifted the lead to Hamilton with Verstappen moving up to second.
Leclerc suffered a similar fate to Norris at turn five as he couldn’t get the car stopped and the Monegasque driver fell down the order after a late charge on the medium tyre.
In the end, it was Lewis Hamilton who won the Russian Grand Prix ahead of Verstappen in second and Sainz in third.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers was Ricciardo, Bottas, Alonso, Norris, Raikkonen, Perez and Russell in 10th.
In the drivers’ standings, Hamilton retakes the lead of the standings on 246.5 points, two points ahead of Verstappen. Sainz’s podium takes him to 112.5 points, leapfrogging his teammate Leclerc into sixth.
In the constructors’ standings, the gap now stands at 33 points between Mercedes and Red Bull.
What’s Next?
F1 takes a two-week break before touching down in Turkey for the Turkish Grand Prix, held at the popular Istanbul Park, where Hamilton and Verstappen will once again battle it out to take the lead of the drivers’ standings.
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