What we learned from the Russian GP

Sport360 staff 23:08 01/05/2017
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    • While Valtteri Bottas might have run away with his first Grand Prix win in Russia, Sochi, there were plenty of takeaways from the Russian Grand Prix 2017.

    With the Championship race now back on track, here’s a look at what all we learned from an exciting, close race that took place on Sunday.

    IT WENT BADLY WRONG FOR HAMILTON

    Lewis Hamilton was at a complete loss to explain why he was so far off the pace in Russia. He finished a yawning 36 seconds behind Bottas and 25 seconds adrift off third-placed Kimi Raikkonen.

    The writing however, had been on the wall. Hamilton was nowhere in practice and then qualified nearly six tenths of a second behind pole-sitter Vettel and more than half-a-second adrift of Bottas.

    Hamilton was slow in Singapore and at the Japanese Grand Prix last year, too, but even then, the deficit of defeat to Nico Rosberg was not as big as in Sochi.

    UNWANTED PROBLEM FOR MERCEDES

    For all of Hamilton’s problems, his poor show must take nothing away from Bottas who registered the first victory of his career at attempt number 81.

    Bottas was expected to play second fiddle to Hamilton, but he has now out-qualified him for two successive races and moved to within 10 points of his team-mate in the title battle.

    This provides Mercedes with a mighty problem in that they cannot justify team orders if Bottas is doing the business. Yet it will be music to Vettel’s ears as his path to the title will be all that more simpler if Bottas and Hamilton continue to take points off each other.

    ENOUGH IS ENOUGH FOR BOULLIER

    A furious Eric Boullier insisted that it is not acceptable for a team of McLaren’s might to see another of their cars absent from the start of the race.

    First it was Stoffel Vandoorne in Bahrain, and then Fernando Alonso in Russia after his desperately poor Honda engine conked out on the way to the grid.

    Alonso has failed to finish any of the opening four races, and the sight of him walking back to the McLaren garage was depressing, not just for the Spaniard and his McLaren team – but for the sport, too.

    F1 is being deprived of watching one of its finest talents in action in what should be his pomp.

    IT’S RADIO GAGA FOR RAIKKONEN

    Kimi Raikkonen’s radio transmissions have become a thing of F1 folklore and the Finn provided much hilarity again on Sunday.

    After Raikkonen rejoined the circuit following his one and only pit stop, he was informed by his Ferrari team that he was nine seconds adrift of Bottas – the man who he had been trailing for the entire race. This however, was news to Raikkonen.

    “What do you mean we are behind Bottas?” He then added: “How did we end up behind him? Why did we not stop earlier?” Delivered in deadpan style, his engineer replied: “He was leading the race, Kimi.”

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