On two occasions in the build up to the race Hamilton performed practice starts outside of the designated area. The incidents were place under investigation ahead prior to the start and a brace of five-second penalties were served during the opening phase of the race.
Hamilton served the penalties during his sole pit stop and dropped from the top of the order to 11th place. He eventually rose to third place behind fellow front-row starter Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing.
Further back Carlos Sainz was also forced to use the run-off at Turn 2 but the McLaren driver lost control as he did so and he hit the barrier, breaking his front left suspension and scattering debris as he slid back onto the track. Moments later, in Turn 4, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made contact with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll with the result that the Canadian was bounced out of the race.
Racing resumed at the start of lap six and Hamilton held his advantage over Bottas and Verstappen, with the Renaults of Ocon and Ricciardo in fourth and fifth place respectively. Hamilton was then handed his sanctions and Mercedes elected to pit the race leader on lap 17 where he served the penalties before taking on hard tyres. When he rejoined it was in 11th place, behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
Meanwhile, at the back of the field Alex Albon was involved in a thrilling battle with old Formula 2 rivals Lando Norris and George Russell. Albon first used the slipstream and DRS to pass Norris and then on lap 13 he forced Russell into an error and after the Williams driver locked up Albon powered through to P16. Albon then profited from pit stops from cars ahead to rise to 11th place behind Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen who had started on hard tyres. However, the Thai driver’s march towards the points would be shortlived and he later slipped back again after pitting again at half distance for a set of medium tyres.
Verstappen made his sole pit stop on lap 26, taking on hard tyres in an excellent 1.9s stop. Bottas followed suit at the end of the next lap and resumed in the lead with Leclerc in second ahead of Verstappen. The Ferrari driver was next to pit and after hard tyre starter Daniil Kvyat finally pitted on lap 31, Hamilton rose to third place, eight seconds behind Verstappen and 20 behind Bottas.
As the race entered its final third, Albon again began to move up the order and he returned to the points when a Virtual Safety Car for damaged bollards in Turn 2 prompted AlphaTauri to pit Pierre Gasly for a second time. The caution was short, however, and when it ended Albon was able power past Gasly as the Frenchman trundled towards the pit exit. However, with fresh medium tyres on board Gasly was soon fighting his way back and when Albon tussled with Lando Norris, the AlphaTauri driver closed in and passed Albon under DRS to take P10.
Norris hard tyres were shot, however, and within a handful of laps Albon forced an error from the McLaren driver. Norris locked up heavily on lap 48 and Albon power past to finally edge into the points positions. With just five laps remaining the order settled and Bottas duly took his ninth career victory ahead of Verstappen who claimed his 38th podium finish and team’s 178th.
Behind third-placed Hamilton, Perez took a well-deserved fourth place ahead of Ricciardo while Leclerc also put in a strong performance to take sixth place for Ferrari. Ocon took seventh place and there was a double points finish for AlphaTauri with Kvyat taking eighth ahead of team-mate Gasly.
| 2020 Russian Grand Prix – Race 53 laps, 304.356km., Weather: Sunny |
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| CLASSIFIED: | |||
| P. | DRIVER | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
| 1. | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes AMG | 1h34:00.364 |
| 2. | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 7.729 |
| 3. | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG | + 22.729 |
| 4. | Sergio Pérez | Racing Point | + 30.558 |
| 5. | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | + 52.065 |
| 6. | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1:02.186 |
| 7. | Esteban Ocon | Renault | + 1:08.006 |
| 8. | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | + 1:08.740 |
| 9. | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1:29.767 |
| 10. | Alex Albon | Red Bull | + 1:37.860 |
| 11. | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1 lap |
| 12. | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1 lap |
| 13. | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 14. | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo | + 1 lap |
| 15. | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1 lap |
| 16. | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1 lap |
| 17. | Romain Grosjean | Haas | + 1 lap |
| 18. | George Russell | Williams | + 1 lap |
| FASTEST LAP: VALTTERI BOTTAS - 1:37.030 | |||
| NOT CLASSIFIED: | |||
| 19. | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | Collision |
| 20. | Carlos Sainz Jr. | McLaren | Collision |
|
HYBRID ERA - SOCHI 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 - 1h35:11.611 2019 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h33:38.992 2020 Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG - 1h34:00.364 @MkFormula1 - REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA |
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| CLASSIFICATION 10/17 RACES | |||
| DRIVERS: | |||
| 1. | Lewis Hamilton | 205 | |
| 2. | Valtteri Bottas | 161 | |
| 3. | Max Verstappen | 128 | |
| 4. | Lando Norris | 65 | |
| 5. | Alex Albon | 64 | |
| 6. | Daniel Ricciardo |
63 | |
| 7. | Charles Leclerc |
57 | |
| 8. | Lance Stroll | 57 | |
| 9. | Sergio Perez |
56 | |
| 10. | Pierre Gasly | 45 | |
| 11. | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 41 | |
| 12. | Esteban Ocon | 36 | |
| 13. | Sebastian Vettel | 17 | |
| 14. | Daniil Kvyat | 14 | |
| 15. | Nico Hulkenberg |
6 | |
| 16. | Kimi Räikkönen | 2 | |
| 17. | Antonio Giovinazzi | 2 | |
| 18. | Kevin Magnussen | 1 | |
| 19. | Nicholas Latifi | 0 | |
| 20. | George Russell | 0 | |
| 21. | Romain Grosjean | 0 | |
| CONSTRUCTORS: | |||
| 1. | Mercedes AMG | 366 | |
| 2. | Red Bull | 192 | |
| 3. | McLaren | 106 | |
| 4. | Racing Point(-15) | 104 | |
| 5. | Renault | 99 | |
| 6. | Ferrari | 74 | |
| 7. | AlphaTauri | 59 | |
| 8. | Alfa Romeo | 4 | |
| 9. | Haas | 1 | |
| 10. | Williams | 0 | |
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