Brought to you by TheJudge13 contributor Mattpt55
Ambient 18° Track 27° Humidity 46% Wind 1.5 m/s
Prelude
3 points over Ferrari was all Mercedes needed to claim WCC honours today, as gloomy weather dominated the paddock. Carlos Sainz was given medical clearance to race and with several out of place cars it was possible that some small modicum of racing might happen in Sochi.
Summary
In words that will surprise no one, Lewis Hamilton has claimed yet another suffocating win, his 42nd equaling Sebastian Vettel. Surprise 1 is that Vettel took P2 as Rosberg suffered a throttle damper failure (tinfoil alert) early in the race that forced his retirement. Surprise 2 was the unexpected podium for Sergio Perez thanks to the temporary loss of sanity by both Valterri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen going into T1 of the final lap, resulting in Bottas being out of the race and Raikkonen limping in P5, barring the steward’s verdict. The biggest surprise, though was the sudden and unexpected decision by many drivers to play bumper cars instead of F1.
A huge shunt at the start caused by Nico Hulkenberg’s brought a lap 1 Safety Car, which would see additional duties when Romain Grosjean thoroughly destroyed his car on lap 14. A late Safety Car was only avoided when a marshal ventured on to track to retrieve Carlos Sainz’ rear wing endplate, which had flopped loose on track. Thankfully a fairly alert Vettel was able to avoid the marshal and deliver an acerbic response at the same time.
Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes and stay tuned for a slightly more detailed look at the race.
Have fun arguing Raikkonen v Bottas in the comments (nicely) and stay tuned for the update!
********Update********
It’s all Kimi’s fault. Apparently he’s been watching too many Verstappen highlights and got it in his head if he just drove at the corner fast enough, much like the Delorean in Back to the Future, he would travel in time and arrive at the corner ahead of Bottas. Sadly, he was completely wrong and is demoted into 8th as a result of a 30 second penalty assessed against him for causing a collision. The demotion also clinches the WCC for Mercedes, at least according to Sky who are reporting that they think that’s the case, unless their maths are wrong. Good luck working that one out!!!
“He has won already unless he doesn’t finish the rest of the races, and even if he doesn’t he has probably still won it. Personally I feel for the fans because I remember the period … [when I would]… watch the start of the race and then going to sleep, and then waking up when it ended because I already knew what would happen. I am pretty sure a lot of people were doing that today.”
Only good thing about knowing how these races will end ahead of time is going to the bookies and putting your money on it. From start to the first corner is still exciting because you never know what can happen and Maldonado but after the 1st lap it’s sleepy time with some middle of the pack racing to be done around the pit stops
Interesting race, and worth the early lunch. At last, a TV director who follows the action, and no lingering shots of Z list celebs. Nico and broken throttle pedal – two words – quality control. So Toto says Mercedes are undecided about the development direction of the new engine,(read as – problems), are things beginning to slightly unravel in the land of Oz?
Picov Andropov was really Putin his life in jeopardy by Russian across the track to get the broken wing.
Karma…….
Imagine how that’d have looked in the papers…
…a Russian killed by an Italian car, driven by a German, during an English run sport, regulated by the French.
Soooo delicious.
Except for the whole death part, but to quote Felipe Massa, “for sure, yes, it would be not so good, I think, yes, for sure.”
I enjoyed this one. Even though I had little hope after what happend last year. This was a good way to prove me wrong.
I expect some props for Perez just as Hulk gets when he does well, staying out of trouble and collecting places as drivers drop out. Also, many of the TJ13 contributors think he’s “a douche”, the most recent example had His Honour calling for him to stay at FI “since they want him” but he was literally hoisted up in arms by his team. Vettel seemed genuinely happy to see him there.. What gives?