Russian Grand Prix 2019
Fresh off their first one-two finish of the season in Singapore, Ferrari were once again looking in great shape at the Russian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc had claimed his fourth pole in a row, although team-mate Sebastian Vettel jumped from third to first after the first corner.
However, things quickly unravelled for the Prancing Horse, which allowed Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to halt Ferrari’s momentum as they continued their remarkable run of success in Russia.
The brewing drama within Scuderia which started simmering in Singapore escalated further in Sochi as Vettel seemingly ignored team orders, to Leclerc’s frustration.
With the Formula 1 season slowly winding down and the world championship more or less Hamilton’s to lose, the growing tension between the Ferrari team-mates figures to be the most interesting storyline moving forward.
Highlights of the game
For the second race running, the starting grid saw Hamilton in second, sandwiched in between the two Ferraris of Leclerc on pole and Vettel in third. The Russian Grand Prix 2019 odds on one of those Ferrari’s finishing on the top step of the podium were quite favourable.
Vettel — fresh off his confidence-boosting win in Singapore — made Russian Grand Prix 2019 highlights right away as got off to a brilliant start which saw him overtake both Leclerc and Hamilton to take the lead.
After an early safety car following a crash involving Sebastian Grosjean and Daniel Ricciardo, the two Ferraris resumed racing in front of the pack.
Ferrari informed Leclerc through the team radio that Vettel would eventually let him pass, but the four-time world champion apparently had other ideas.
Instead of ceding the place to Leclerc as planned, Vettel was busy pushing the pace and setting fastest laps to build up a big lead on his team-mate.
While Leclerc claimed to be understanding of the situation over the radio, it still had to have been quite frustrating for the 21-year-old. But the team assured him that they would make the swap later on in the race.
Vettel had built up a lead of over four seconds on Leclerc, who was the first to make his stop on lap 22. The German then entered the pits four laps later, allowing Hamilton to take over the lead.
But after just a couple of laps back out, disaster struck for Vettel and Ferrari as an engine problem suddenly knocked him out of the race.
Things would go from bad to worse for the Scuderia as they brought Leclerc in for another pit stop to get him on the same tyres as Hamilton. That stop saw the Ferrari driver drop down to third behind the two Silver Arrows.
From that point on, Hamilton would put the hammer down as he quickly built up a four-plus-second lead over team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Meanwhile, Leclerc couldn’t quite get close enough to Bottas in second.
That would be the story of the race for the final 10 or so laps. Hamilton would go unchallenged for the remainder of the race, while Leclerc essentially waved the white flag on chasing second.
It was a rather anticlimactic ending to what began as an exciting Russian GP and a hugely disappointing one from Ferrari’s perspective. But for Hamilton and Mercedes, it will go down as a massive success as he takes another big step toward clinching the world championship.
Key statistics
With this latest one-two, Mercedes’ domination of the Russian Grand Prix continues. Since the race’s inclusion to the F1 calendar in 2014, Mercedes have now won all six races in Sochi. Hamilton has four of those wins, with Bottas and Nico Rosberg claiming one win each.
Aside from those six wins, Mercedes also have four one-two finishes in Sochi: in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2019.
Hamilton has now passed Michael Schumacher as the all-time record holder for the most races led today. He has led in 143 Grands Prix, breaking his tie with Schumi, who’s at 142.
Hamilton has also extended his streak of consecutive points finishes to 28 races. He’s just six races shy of breaking his own record of consecutive scoring finishes, which stands at 33.
What’s next?
The 2019 Formula 1 season is now down to its final five races. The first of which will be the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka in a couple weeks’ time.
The SBOBET odds should fancy the Mercedes drivers to replicate that success as Hamilton and Bottas also finished one-two in last year’s race.
Meanwhile, Leclerc will look to improve upon last year’s performance, which was cut short due to mechanical failure.
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