2021 Formula One Russian Grand Prix

Russian Grand Prix.jpg
Formula One is back in action this weekend for the Russian Grand Prix, with the drivers and constructors championships still very much in contention.

The epic drivers championship battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton continues this weekend in Russia. One of the tightest F1 points battles in memory ended in a collision last time out, with the Red Bull and Mercedes drivers colliding at Monza and ending the race for both.

Fan opinions were predictably mixed on who was at fault in the incident, but the stewards sided with Hamilton and handed Verstappen a 3-place grid penalty for the upcoming Russian Grand Prix in Sochi. This is a site the Mercedes could hold a slight advantage in versus Red Bull, so the three grid places could prove significant.

The Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago proved to be an exciting race on a number of fronts, and no one was more happy with the outcome than McLaren team and their supporters. Daniel Ricciardo silenced many of his critics who had accused him of being past his prime and claimed victory at Monza. He was joined on the podium by his teammate Lando Norris, who solidified the 1-2 finish for McLaren. Ricciardo also claimed the fastest lap late in the race, showing that the team had more speed in their car on tap if needed. This was a big statement for the team.

Valtteri Bottas is in his final season at Mercedes, but he’s performing well. He claimed the final podium spot in Italy behind the McLarens, and importantly for his current team he was two positions ahead of Sergio Perez. This has opened up the hotly contested constructors championship to an 18-point Mercedes lead.

The excellent constructors battle between McLaren and Ferrari this season has cooled slightly after the dominant McLaren outing at Monza. But, a strong showing from Ferrari at Sochi could take a significant chunk out of the 13.5-point advantage McLaren currently holds.

Near the back of the field, Nikita Mazepin will be looking to perform well to his home crowd, and has some good news to carry into this race with the recent announcement of the renewal of his Haas contract through 2022. He and teammate Mick Schumacher are the only two drivers who have yet to score a point this season, so don’t hold your breath for Mazepin to emulate Hamilton and Verstappen’s home win results this season.

Who do you think will take victory at Sochi this weekend? Will the 3-place grid penalty have a significant impact on the end result of the race? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo credits: Haas F1 Team
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

Damage Inc
zwiss said:
Are you 12 years old or so?
Mercedes CHOSE Hamilton because he was the one of the best.
I am NOT a Hamilton fan, and I don't give a sh*t who is the best of all time... but Lewis is one of the greatest... even if I do NOT like him. He almost was WC in his first year and won his 6th race...
Click to expand...
Most reasonable people think Lewis is brilliant.

The issue is some think he's crap and some think he's a driving god, those two groups are idiots!
 
Damage Inc
davehenrie said:
As can I. And that is why I said he looks like me as well. Doesn't matter if they have blonde hair, black hair, blue eyes, or brown. We all look the same unless you want us to all look different. Put Lewis and Max in plain cover-alls, plain helmets, plain gloves, etc. Gear them up with the HANs device, the visor, the fireproof suits and those dainty shoes. Then place these two inside two identical but unmarked cars. With the F1 Cockpit reaching up past their shoulders, with their unmarked helmets, with their gloves, how can ANY of us tell them apart? I mark and honor people for what they achieve, not if they are as blonde as a Viking, resemble a Ninja, or any other meaningless outer feature. It is what they do that matters. I know a complete A-hole who happens to share my skin color...does that mean I have to honor him? Does that mean I have to be like him? Fortunately no. I'm glad you have a favorite. Keep cheering for him because of what he does. My boyhood idol was a chubby 3rd generation driver who always was polite and said the right things. Then things stopped going his way and he became a divorced drunk deadbeat. But because I share ONE absolutely meaningless feature, I should continue to praise him? Naw.
Lewis is an amazing talent. So is Max. So are others from other generations. Enjoy them. Relish in their successes, don't box yourself in by REQUIRING they match one characteristic of yours before you can enjoy what they have achieved, and what they are achieving.
Click to expand...
I too couldn't give a rats crack what colour someone is, I judge people on their behaviour. I admire loads of people not my skin colour and I hate loads who share my skin colour. A douche is a douche regardless of what colour their skin is. I didn't Like Schumacher and didn't regard him as the GOAT....I couldn't give a crap about stats then and likewise now I don't regard Lewis as the GOAT. Yet because I argue that Lewis is not the GOAT I'm often called a racist, purely on the basis of my skin colour, so in effect I am being negativley judged by the colour of my skin which is what racists do.
 
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muzikant
Damage Inc said:
Max has a car arguably faster (on some tracks) than Lewis'. Seeing as F1 is mainly about the tech, he who has the faster car has the best chance of winning the WDC.
Click to expand...

that's not true if you look at perez vs bottas the merc is still the fast car. LH's mistakes and Max's good riding
 
Damage Inc
muzikant said:
that's not true if you look at perez vs bottas the merc is still the fast car. LH's mistakes and Max's good riding
Click to expand...
Don't forget I said on some tracks and not all! ;) I also think the RB is built around Max's style (as is normal), Perez has been unlucky and he has to learn the foibles of the car, Bottas has been in that Merc for 4-5 years so should be better than Perez at this point IMO. Either way RB AND the Merc are rocket ships, Mclaren and Ferrari just not close enough and the rest FAR behind!
 
muzikant
I understand what you're saying but Sainz is also new to Ferrari and is surprisingly ahead of Leclerc in the championship. and of course the RB and merc are on a different level. Lewis and Max are both exceptional talents too
 
Appie Kuipers
zwiss said:
If Max wins a few championships, there will also be morons like you to say he had no opposition, always had the best car, was a cheater etc..
It's the same bullshit all the time.
I guess the world needs imbeciles too.
I rest my case.
Click to expand...
So if you don’t see that Mercs were way faster then the rest? imbecile? wow:devilish:
 
McGherkin
Premium
Rhythm is a dancer,
this thread is f*****g cancer,
it's just the same old boring chat, oh.
Had enough of the voices,
that make the same old noises,
I don't care who is GOAT,
whoah oh, Verstappen?
whoah oh, Is it Hamilton's car, yeah?
whoah oh, it's MaFIA
It goes ohh ooooh oooh oohhhnnn.
 
paracletus
[quote/]Formula One is back in action this weekend for the Russian Grand Prix, with the drivers and constructors championships still very much in contention./quote

A comment about the race:
It was quite good to watch in fairness. Some competetive race pace from mclaren especially, huge difference compared to last year.
Massively disappointing for Norris. A slight misjudgement about the weather was costly.
 
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ZuneGuy
Richard Wilks said:
You still try to paint the decision of going to Mercedes as if he knew how much success Mercedes would have. So now Hamilton besides driver is a pyschic, or predicts the future? Nobody knew how mercedes would dominate the sport. Nobody. So it wasn't "smart" in that regard. He ran away from Button and Mclaren, and wanted to get more money. Simple as that. Mclaren didn't think he deserved it. Simple as that. Live with this, it hurts to think the hero that "looks like you" is not perfect. But thats how it is.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that he knew the grass was greener, especially since he was going to the team that once supplied his former team with engines. So, he got the money that he wanted, and he went to a place that knew that they had it all together, and for them all that was left was the right driver to get them where they wanted to be, and that driver was Lewis.

You see Mercedes came to him, not the other way around. He was very much wanted by Mercedes so he went. It doesn't matter whether it was for money or not. He was wanted, they paid him what he was looking for, and the rest is history. Maybe It pains you, but he has had an incredible career with Mercedes.

Lewis's talents and skill are what made Mercedes want him, so he put himself in that seat. Now you'll have to find some way to live with that - personally I think that a combination of therapy and pills may help.

P.S. - He doesn't have to be the perfect person, just a perfect enough driver.... or a bit more.

Most F1 wins

Lewis Hamilton - 100

Michael Schumacher - 91

Sebastian Vettel - 53

Alain Prost - 51

Ayrton Senna - 41

Fernando Alonso - 32

Nigel Mansell - 31

Jackie Stewart - 27

Percentage wins

Juan Manuel Fangio - 46.15% from 52 entries

Alberto Ascari - 39.39% from 33 entries

Lewis Hamilton - 35.59% from 281 entries

Jim Clark - 34.25% from 73 entries

Michael Schumacher - 29.55% from 308 entries

Jackie Stewart - 27% from 100 entries

Ayrton Senna - 25.31% from 162 entries

Alain Prost - 25.25% from 202 entries

This is nothing but a mere taste of the hundreds of records though.
 
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ZuneGuy
davehenrie said:
As can I. And that is why I said he looks like me as well. Doesn't matter if they have blonde hair, black hair, blue eyes, or brown. We all look the same unless you want us to all look different. Put Lewis and Max in plain cover-alls, plain helmets, plain gloves, etc. Gear them up with the HANs device, the visor, the fireproof suits and those dainty shoes. Then place these two inside two identical but unmarked cars. With the F1 Cockpit reaching up past their shoulders, with their unmarked helmets, with their gloves, how can ANY of us tell them apart? I mark and honor people for what they achieve, not if they are as blonde as a Viking, resemble a Ninja, or any other meaningless outer feature. It is what they do that matters. I know a complete A-hole who happens to share my skin color...does that mean I have to honor him? Does that mean I have to be like him? Fortunately no. I'm glad you have a favorite. Keep cheering for him because of what he does. My boyhood idol was a chubby 3rd generation driver who always was polite and said the right things. Then things stopped going his way and he became a divorced drunk deadbeat. But because I share ONE absolutely meaningless feature, I should continue to praise him? Naw.
Lewis is an amazing talent. So is Max. So are others from other generations. Enjoy them. Relish in their successes, don't box yourself in by REQUIRING they match one characteristic of yours before you can enjoy what they have achieved, and what they are achieving.
Click to expand...
To put it plainly, it is as the great James Baldwin once said "There is something between us, because we share the same shorthand." No matter how successful Lewis is, or how much has has done, he is still a problem for people when the helmet comes off, so you see they are very different under the uniforms that they wear. This fact has been proven time and time again during some European soccer match, and once again in the sport of Formula One on June 3, 2021.

Please don't tell me about some people, but not all, or that some people are what you call "A-holes", and some are not because the fact that it happens at all is enough, especially since it doesn't happen in reverse where a person who look like me is yelling these highly objectionable things at people who don't share my attributes - it doesn't happen.

I can relate to Lewis, there is something between myself, and people like him, and money and fame don't mean **** in this regard. Now let us please close this topic down, as it could unhinge some people.

I'll do me, you do you. You like Verstappen if that pleases you, but he just doesn't fit my mold. As I said to someone else, I don't talk about Verstappen out of the blue ever because he never comes into my thoughts as an athlete.
 
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Richard Wilks
ZuneGuy said:
I'm sure that he knew the grass was greener, especially since he was going to the team that once supplied his former team with engines. So, he got the money that he wanted, and he went to a place that knew that they had it all together, and for them all that was left was the right driver to get them where they wanted to be, and that driver was Lewis.

You see Mercedes came to him, not the other way around. He was very much wanted by Mercedes so he went. It doesn't matter whether it was for money or not. He was wanted, they paid him what he was looking for, and the rest is history. Maybe It pains you, but he has had an incredible career with Mercedes.

Lewis's talents and skill are what made Mercedes want him, so he put himself in that seat. Now you'll have to find some way to live with that - personally I think that a combination of therapy and pills may help.

P.S. - He doesn't have to be the perfect person, just a perfect enough driver.... or a bit more.

Most F1 wins

Lewis Hamilton - 100

Michael Schumacher - 91

Sebastian Vettel - 53

Alain Prost - 51

Ayrton Senna - 41

Fernando Alonso - 32

Nigel Mansell - 31

Jackie Stewart - 27

Percentage wins

Juan Manuel Fangio - 46.15% from 52 entries

Alberto Ascari - 39.39% from 33 entries

Lewis Hamilton - 35.59% from 281 entries

Jim Clark - 34.25% from 73 entries

Michael Schumacher - 29.55% from 308 entries

Jackie Stewart - 27% from 100 entries

Ayrton Senna - 25.31% from 162 entries

Alain Prost - 25.25% from 202 entries

This is nothing but a mere taste of the hundreds of records though.
Click to expand...
Are you trying to get personal? i live fine with Hamilton and know much better than you his career as i already proved :)

Maybe you need the pills, because you can't stop replying to me, despite me debunking you in every post i make.

Oh more statistics, and he isn't the top driver in one of the them, interesting :)

You know what else is interesting? F1 when he doesnt have a highly dominant car. I want to see you around here next race if Hamilton doesn't win, or are you going to disapear like you usually do? :)
 
Richard Wilks
ZuneGuy said:
To put it plainly, it is as the great James Baldwin once said "There is something between us, because we share the same shorthand." No matter how successful Lewis is, or how much has has done, he is still a problem for people when the helmet comes off, so you see they are very different under the uniforms that they wear. This fact has been proven time and time again during some European soccer match, and once again in the sport of Formula One on June 3, 2021.

Please don't tell me about some people, but not all, or that some people are what you call "A-holes", and some are not because the fact that it happens at all is enough, especially since it doesn't happen in reverse where a person who look like me is yelling these highly objectionable things at people who don't share my attributes - it doesn't happen.

I can relate to Lewis, there is something between myself, and people like him, and money and fame don't mean **** in this regard. Now let us please close this topic down, as it could unhinge some people.

I'll do me, you do you. You like Verstappen if that pleases you, but he just doesn't fit my mold. As I said to someone else, I don't talk about Verstappen out of the blue ever because he never comes into my thoughts as an athlete.
Click to expand...
You are threading dangerous territory now. Its one thing to talk around here of F1, another of racism, and specially to imply the things you are implying here. Maybe you should just calm down a bit, and stay on topic.

If you support him just because of his racial genetics you are not a fan of the sport. And the likes of you it's whats wrong in our society still unfortunally. And i won't touch this matter anymore.
 
zwiss
Appie Kuipers said:
So if you don’t see that Mercs were way faster then the rest? imbecile? wow:devilish:
Click to expand...
Of course they were.. but still Lewis is NOT a mediocre driver.
You are a moron if you think it's ONLY the Merc.
That's my point.
It's always the same ****: those that are successful have to be taken down...
My point is: people will bash Max too as soon as he wins the championship.
That's a shame.
 
ZuneGuy
Richard Wilks said:
You are threading dangerous territory now. Its one thing to talk around here of F1, another of racism, and specially to imply the things you are implying here. Maybe you should just calm down a bit, and stay on topic.

If you support him just because of his racial genetics you are not a fan of the sport. And the likes of you it's whats wrong in our society still unfortunally. And i won't touch this matter anymore.
Click to expand...
I think that it is a case of you not reading, or reading into this what you want, especially since I gave you a list of other drivers that I have supported, or am currently supporting. Since you don't seem to listen, let me repeat why I like Lewis Hamilton once again.

I like the sport of F1, and I like Lewis Hamilton because he in particular is in the sport, he's a bad man with incredible driving skills, he's like no one who's ever been in the sport, and I like, and appreciate the fact that he looks like me - why, because it is an encouraging thing to see, hopefully for kids who also look like him.

Now, the fact that he looks like me does make him truly unique in the sport. He is the only black driver in history, and he's the only driver to openly suffer racial abuse at the hands of those who do not like the way that he looks in this sport. If you have a problem that one of the reasons that I like him is because he looks like me then I can't imagine what to tell you to soothe you. I have the perfect right to be proud of someone who looks like me, has done everything that he has done in the sport, and still manages to be a thorn in the side of people like yourself.

That's why I like him in particular - plus, the skill man, the skill. Lewis is the best driver on the grid to me, and has been his whole career period. Now I am ready to tie a knot in this topic before bedlam ensues.
 
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ZuneGuy
Richard Wilks said:
Are you trying to get personal? i live fine with Hamilton and know much better than you his career as i already proved :)

Maybe you need the pills, because you can't stop replying to me, despite me debunking you in every post i make.

Oh more statistics, and he isn't the top driver in one of the them, interesting :)

You know what else is interesting? F1 when he doesnt have a highly dominant car. I want to see you around here next race if Hamilton doesn't win, or are you going to disapear like you usually do? :)
Click to expand...
The only thing that I have seen from you is your devotion to try and belittle the career of the most skilled driver on the grid - Lewis Hamilton, that's it. You have failed to impress me, or impress upon me that you have any true knowledge of anything substantial. In my eyes you haven't substantiated anything that you have spewed, oh sorry I mean, said.

Let me clue you in on something, Lewis is my most honored driver in the sport. He has all the success that makes me proud of him, therefore I don't even have to comment, or reply to, or say anything because his career speaks for itself - IN VOLUMES. There is NOTHING that you can do, or say to change or affect the outcome of his career, and as such I don't have to say anything. I hope for his success and he has it by the boatloads. You see, this is fun for me. It's like Ali sparring in the ring with a weaker opponent, and I am enjoying it immensely.

Another thing that I like about Lewis is that his career makes people green with envy, jealous to the point of insanity. It is their mission to speak against the skill, the records, the numbers, and yes even the money. You have tried to cover all of those topics, and guess what - it ain't changed a thing. He still has the records, he still has the numbers, the wins, the titles, and the money - and I still watch F1 solely to see him do more.

Fortune is on your side in regards to my following of his career, because when he retires, my interest may wane. No doubt that you'll continue your mission of trying to diminish what you can't possibly hope to change, or affect, but good luck with that.
 
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Damage Inc
zwiss said:
Of course they were.. but still Lewis is NOT a mediocre driver.
You are a moron if you think it's ONLY the Merc.
That's my point.
It's always the same ****: those that are successful have to be taken down...
My point is: people will bash Max too as soon as he wins the championship.
That's a shame.
Click to expand...
The reason for most "it's the car" thought processes is it's to counter the "GOAT" nonsense from Hamilton fans who justify it with "stats".....there's a quote "lies, damn lies and statistics". Without context stats are meaningless. Lewis' Stats are so good largly due to the dominance of Mercedes. Just like ALL the others. F1 is mainly a tech sport, those with the fastest car have a high probablity of winning. But one thing is statistically a fact, no team has dominated in the modern era for as long as Mercedes, and that is partly due to how much of a march they stole on the other teams in the Hybrid era (because they had been working on it for years before), then testing, devlopment, cost restrictions came in to make it harder for the other teams to catch up.
 
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