HAMILTON WINS SOCHI, TEAM ORDER IN GAME

Lewis Hamilton won the Russian Grand Prix extend his Drivers’ Championship lead over title rival Sebastian Vettel to 50-points, after Mercedes called on race leader Valtteri Bottas to move aside in order to defend against a threat from eventual third-place finisher Vettel.

Pole position man Bottas held his advantage at the start and controlled the early phases of the race, with Hamilton coming under strong pressure from third-placed Vettel. Vettel briefly managed to get past Hamilton after the drivers’ single pit stops but when the title leader reclaimed second with a brave move soon after.

Mercedes took the decision to switch their drivers’ positions. Bottas slowed at the end of lap 42 and Hamilton eased past to take the lead and eventually his 70th career win. Bottas was left to take second place, keeping Vettel at bay until the flag.

When the lights when out at the race start, Bottas held his advantage and took the lead ahead of Hamilton. Vettel made an excellent start and drew level with Hamilton, but the Briton quickly picked up a tow from Bottas’ car and managed to hold onto P2 ahead of the German and Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen.

It was Red Bull, however, who made the biggest gains in the opening laps, with Max Verstappen making a stunning start to rise from P19 on the grid to 13th place at the end of the first lap. The Dutchman’s charge up the order continued and by lap eight he was powering past Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, to claim a remarkable fifth place. Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was also making progress, though his fight was made more complicated by front wing damage picked up when he hit debris on the opening lap.

By lap 10, however, the Australian had climbed from P18 on the grid to P10. Bottas now led Hamilton by eight tenths of a second, with Vettel 2.8 off the lead. Bottas pitted on lap 12 and then on lap 13 Vettel then made his single pit stop on lap 13, looking to undercut Hamilton.

The Ferrari driver took on soft tyres in a 2.8s stop and rejoined behind Bottas. Ahead on track, Hamilton was encountering traffic and losing time. Mercedes reacted and pitted the championship leader. Hamilton emerged alongside the quicker Vettel and the German swept past. Vettel’s advantage didn’t last long. Hamilton was quickly on the attack and on lap 15 made a move in Turn 2. Vettel defended aggressively and blocked the pass, but Hamilton was immediately on the offensive again and in Turn 4 he dived down the inside and stole the place once more.

When Räikkönen became the last of the lead drivers to pit, on lap 18, vertappen took the lead. The Ducthman’s pace on his starting soft tyres, while solid, served to back up the cars immediately behind and second-placed Bottas began to come under pressure from Hamilton. Crucially, Vettel now began to close on Hamilton. The threat from Ferrari again forced Mercedes to react, and Bottas was told to let Hamilton past. On lap 42 the Finn obliged and as Max continued to lead, the Finn became the third-placed bulwark between the title leader and Vettel.

With Hamilton now in control, the only question was where would Red Bull finish. Having gone deep into the race on starting soft tyres, the team was now targeting aggressive finishes from its drivers on softer compound tyres. Ricciardo pitted on lap 39 to take on ultrasoft tyres, as well as a new nosecone to replace one damaged at the start of the race. He rejoined in P6.

Verstappen then made his stop on lap 43, also for ultrasofts, and he rejoined in P5, 14s behind Räikkönen. The expected pace advantage from the ultrasofts didn’t materialise, however, neither Red Bull driver couldn’t find the pace needed to reel in Räikkönen.
 
On lap 53, then, Hamilton took his 70th career win ahead of Bottas with Vettel taking third place. Räikkönen held onto fourth place, while Verstappen and Ricciardo took fifth and sixth place respectively. Seventh place went Charles Leclerc with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen in eighth. The final two points places were occupied by the Force India’s of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez.

2018 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX - SOCHI 53 laps, 304.356km., Weather:Sunny
CLASSIFIED:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	1ч27:25.181
2.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 2.545
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+ 7.487
4.	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	+ 16.543
5.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 31.016
6.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	+ 1:20.451
7.	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	+ 1:38.390
8.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 1 lap
9.	Esteban Ocon	Force India	+ 1 lap
10.	Sergio Perez	Force India	+ 1 lap
11.	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+ 1 lap
12.	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	+ 1 lap
13.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	+ 1 lap
14.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	+ 1 lap
15.	Lance Stroll	Williams	+ 1 lap
16.	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	+ 2 laps
17.	Carlos Sainz JR.	Renault	+ 2 laps
18.	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	+ 2 laps
FASTEST LAP: VALTTERI BOTTAS - 1:35.861
NOT CLASSIFIED:
19.	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	technical
20.	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	technical
2014 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h51:43.021 2015 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h37:11.024 2016 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1h32:41.997 2017 Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG - 1h28:08.743 2018 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h25:27.181 @MkFormula1 - Republic of Macedonia

***AFTER 16 RACES***
DRIVERS:
1.	Lewis Hamilton	306
2.	Sebastian Vettel	256
3.	Valtteri Bottas	189
4.	Kimi Raikkonen	186
5.	Max Verstappen	158
6.	Daniel Ricciardo	134
7.	Nico Hulkenberg	53
8.	Kevin Magnussen	53
9.	Fernando Alonso	50
10.	Sergio Perez	47
11.	Esteban Ocon	47
12.	Carlos Sainz JR.	38
13.	Pierre Gasly	28
14.	Romain Grosjean	27
15.	Charles Leclerc	21
16.	Stoffel Vandoorne	8
17.	Marcus Ericsson	6
18.	Lance Stroll	6
19.	Brendon Hartley	2
20.	Sergey Sirotkin	1
CONSTRUCTORS:
1.	Mercedes AMG	495
2.	Ferrari	442
3.	Red Bull	292
4.	Renault	91
5.	Haas	81
6.	McLaren	58
7.	Force India(new owner)	35
8.	Toro Rosso	30
9.	Sauber	27
10.	Williams	7
DQ	Force India(old owner)	52