LEWIS HAMILTON ENDED FERRARI WINNING STRIKE

Mercedes maintained its perfect record at the Russian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton taking the team' sixth win in Sochi overall and his fourth ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Ferrari’s challenge was undone by a DNF for Sebastian Vettel and a safety car period that dropped Charles Leclerc to third place at the flag.

НAt the start of the race Vettel made a superb start form third on the grid and was past front-row starter Hamilton before they reached Turn 1. Vettel then got a tow from pole-sitting team-mate Leclerc and stole the lead through Turn 2.

Further back, though, there was a collision involving Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo. The incident resulted in Grosjean exiting the race, while both Ricciardo and Giovinazzi required pit stops for repairs.

The collision brought out the Safety Car and under the caution Vettel led Leclerc with Hamilton in third place ahead of Carlos Sainz who had passed Bottas at the start.

When the Safety Car left the track Vettel held his advantage over his team-mate, a situation that appeared to cause some friction, as Leclerc had apparently expected the German to allow him to retake the lead after affording Vettel a tow after the start.

Leclerc was eventually told that the pass would take place later in the race, information that seemed to mollify the fiery Ferrari youngster. Leclerc was the first of the leading pack to pit, with the Monegasque driver stopping for medium tyres on lap 22.

He rejoined in fourth place behind Bottas (who had earlier got back past Sainz) and then began to set fastest laps.

Despite complaining of fading rear tyres Vettel stayed out until lap 26 and when he finally dived into the pits to take on medium tyres the lead changed hands as promised, with Leclerc flying past to take the lead. Vettel’s time in action after his stop was brief.

By the time he reached Turn 15 of his first lap out from the pits his Ferrari had given up and an engine issue saw him pull over at the side of the track.

That brought out the Virtual Safety Car and then when Williams’ George Russell crashed out under the caution, the physical SC was deployed.

When the order shook out, Mercedes had profited hugely. The free stop and pace under the VSC allowed both Hamilton and Bottas to jump ahead of Leclerc, with Hamilton now leading.

Leclerc was now third ahead of Max Verstappen who had climbed from ninth on the grid. Sainz was fifth ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll and the second Red Bull of Alex Albon who had made it into the points after a pit lane start.

Albon then began an impressive march forward, starting after the re-start when he passed Stroll and Pérez on in the space of two laps before bypassing Norris on lap 34 to to claim P7. Albon then began to hunt down Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and at the end of lap 42 he launched a late-braking attack into Turn 13 that worked perfectly.

With P6 claimed he next set off after Sainz who was on the medium tyre. And the Thai racer capped a brilliant afternoon with an equally brilliant move past Sainz at the start of lap 49. He pulled alongside the Spaniard on the sweep through Turn 3 and then powered past on the entry to the next corner to seal fifth place.

And that was how the order remained until the chequered flag. Leclerc pushed hard to get past Bottas, but the Finn resisted the pressure and after 53 laps Hamilton crossed the line to take his ninth win of the season and the bonus point for posting the fastest lap on lap 51.

Bottas was second ahead of Leclerc while Verstappen and Albon took fourth and fifth places respectively. Sainz took sixth place for McLaren ahead of Pérez.

Norris added to a positive result for McLaren with eighth place, while Magnussen managed to hold on to P9 despite incurring a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage earlier in the race.

The final point on offer went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.

2019 RUSSIAN GP - SOCHI 53 laps, 304.356km., Weather: Sunny
CLASSIFIED:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	1ч33:38.992
2.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 3.829
3.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 5.212
4.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 14.210
5.	Alexander Albon	Red Bull	+ 38.348
6.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren	+ 45.889
7.	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point	+ 48.728
8.	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 57.749
9.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 58.779
10.	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	+ 59.841
11.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	+ 1:00.821
12.	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	+ 1:02.496
13.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo	+ 1:08.910
14.	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	+ 1:10.076
15.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 1:13.346
FASTEST LAP: LEWIS HAMILTON - 1:35.761
NOT CLASSIFIED:
16.	Robert Kubica	Williams	technical
17.	George Russell	Williams	crash
18.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	technical
19.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	collision
20.	Romain Grosjean	Haas	collision
HYBRID ERA - SOCHI 2014 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1ч51:43.021 2015 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1ч37:11.024 2016 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1ч32:41.997 2017 Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG - 1ч28:08.743 2018 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1ч35:11.611 2019 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1ч33:38.992 @MakFormula1 - Republic of Macedonia

***CLASSIFICATION AFTER 16/21 RACES***
DRIVERS:
1.	Lewis Hamilton	322
2.	Valtteri Bottas	249
3.	Charles Leclerc	215
4.	Max Verstappen	212
5.	Sebastian Vettel	194
6.	Pierre Gasly	69
7.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	66
8.	Alexander Albon	52
9.	Lando Norris	35
10.	Daniel Ricciardo	34
11.	Nico Hülkenberg	34
12.	Daniil Kvyat	33
13.	Sergio Pérez	33
14.	Kimi Räikkönen	31
15.	Kevin Magnussen	20
16.	Lance Stroll	19
17.	Romain Grosjean	8
18.	Antonio Giovinazzi	4
19.	Robert Kubica	1
20.	George Russell	0
CONSTRUCTORS:
1.	Mercedes AMG	571
2.	Ferrari	409
3.	Red Bull	311
4.	McLaren	101
5.	Renault	68
6.	Toro Rosso	55
7.	Racing Point	52
8.	Алфа Ромео	35
9.	Haas	28
10.	Williams	1