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

A
ZuneGuy said:
Rosberg would not have had seven tiles because he was never as great a driver as Hamilton - he even admitted that openly in interviews, and on the air. He knew that he could not go another year against Lewis without snapping. Also there is a reason that Rosberg left Mercedes and I have always believed that Mercedes gave him a title to leave the team. Do you honestly believe that Mercedes would trade of Hamilton to keep Rosberg - Rosberg had to go. son.
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Delusional take.
 
D
I was surprised they didn't ding Hamilton for hitting his front jackman.(well, actually the jack) Has there ever been race penalties assessed from practice issues?
 
BP
davehenrie said:
I was surprised they didn't ding Hamilton for hitting his front jackman.(well, actually the jack) Has there ever been race penalties assessed from practice issues?
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Well considering in previous races Stroll did the same thing and Kimi accidentally broke the foot of another without consequence, no (and rightfully so, those are innocent mistakes). Unsafe releases or erratic driving in the pitlane is another matter. It's a dangerous job working in the pitlane, no way around that short of slowing the pit speed to 16 kph/10 mph :roflmao:
 
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ZuneGuy
kits84 said:
Rosberg: clever man who could have studied at university
Hamilton: bullying chav
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Yeah, for Rosberg it was a definite show of INTELLIGENCE to exit when he did.

Don't get me wrong, In the past few years I've enjoyed Rosberg a lot during broadcasts, and in interviews - he's much more truthful outside of the sport now than in it.

I guess that's why he needed to JET, but I really do like him today though.
 
Terry Rock
Gutted for Lando.
McLaren should have insisted he come in given the amount of rain they surely could see on radar and from spotter reports around the circuit.
At almost 200 mph the level is always going to appear less severe to the driver in an open-wheel cockpit.
He had almost a full lap to go till pit entry and at that point guys behind were 'squirreling' around on track with zero traction.
It was a hard lesson for a spectacular drive.
I really wanted him to win it....because he deserved to.
 
Richard Wilks
ZuneGuy said:
Rosberg would not have had seven tiles because he was never as great a driver as Hamilton - he even admitted that openly in interviews, and on the air. He knew that he could not go another year against Lewis without snapping. Also there is a reason that Rosberg left Mercedes and I have always believed that Mercedes gave him a title to leave the team. Do you honestly believe that Mercedes would trade of Hamilton to keep Rosberg - Rosberg had to go. son.
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Rosberg beat Hamilton in the same car. So did Button. Alonso drew even with the team against him. These are facts. You can try to spin them as much as you want, but they are forever set in stone, just like the numbers you like to bring up so much. And next year Russell might be the next teammate to beat Hamilton.
 
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LeSunTzu
Lando made a first mistake by denying his pit call. Then he made a bigger one denying a new call arguing he committed to stay on track. The first cost him a win, but that's understandable as it is always riskier to be the first the pit while in the lead; the second one cost him a podium and lots of points. McLaren made the right calls and it's 100% Lando's fault.

To make things worse his rival for the 3rd place in the championship gets a 5th place on a plate after a pretty miserable performance :mad:.
 
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T
Gutted for Lando too, would have been epic to have got his first win and another for McLaren this year. Robbed by the rain IMO, dropping to 4th in the table for his decision to stay out.
Was an epic race, and frankly Verstappen was lucky to end up 2nd due to the rain
Been an absolutely epic year for me, genuinely cannot wait for the next weekend as one ends.
 
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Slapped
thepharcyde said:
Gutted for Lando too, would have been epic to have got his first win and another for McLaren this year. Robbed by the rain IMO, dropping to 4th in the table for his decision to stay out.
Was an epic race, and frankly Verstappen was lucky to end up 2nd due to the rain
Been an absolutely epic year for me, genuinely cannot wait for the next weekend as one ends.
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I'm gutted as well, but it was an error of judgement by the Mclaren team effectively asking what he wanted to do instead of telling him, and an error of judgement on Landos part by thinking he could ride it out.

Honestly I'm as gutted as Lando probably is, and as I was watching both him and Lewis squirming all over the track I was yelling BOX BOX BOX hopelessly at the screen.

The error was twofold: The team either didn't have their eye on the weather, failed to understand the forecast and therefore the implications, or failed to give correct information to Lando. On Lando's part, he failed to read the road while too pumped up for his first win.

This should have been part of planning right from the start as the weather reports were predicting rain in the very latter half of the race right at the beginning.

Lando is going to feel burn right now, but if he's reading this then I've just got this to say: Take heart mate. You didn't lose, you won because you learnt something. The only losers in any game are those that don't learn.
 
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ZuneGuy
Richard Wilks said:
Rosberg beat Hamilton in the same car. So did Button. Alonso drew even with the team against him. These are facts. You can try to spin them as much as you want, but they are forever set in stone, just like the numbers you like to bring up so much. And next year Russell might be the next teammate to beat Hamilton.
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You say all of that and that's fine, but let's look at some other facts.

Alonso drew even with Lewis, but he was already a two time WDC winner with tons more experience in the sport, but only finished even with a rookie, and as such people basically say that Lewis won because of that, and let's not forget that Alonso went as far as trying to extort wins by threatening his teammate's employers to sabotage Lewis's car. That in itself is something that you'd expect to see on a movie or TV show.

I have always liked Button. He has always spoke about Lewis in the kindest manner, but even beyond that Button just seems like a decent guy period. Honestly though McLaren was never his team, it was Lewis's team and no one has ever debated that. It doesn't matter though because Lewis beat him two out of three of those seasons, and it was always his team. Heck Jackie Stewart even warned Button about going there because he said that it was Lewis's team, and that it would be hard for him.

Rosberg, well I've already said what I have said about the man. No matter what transpired between the two, Rosberg has admitted a lot today, that he was never as talented as Lewis - hence their records vs one another. Rosberg talks today as though competing with Lewis is the most important thing that he's done. In fact he still wants on his coattails today, such as following him into Extreme E. It's cool that he still wants to compete with Lewis, but I'm just saying.

The funny thing is that when you hear these guys talk about getting an upper hand over Lewis for just one time, they sound so proud to have bested the absolute best for one fleeting moment. Even with that no one was convinced or impressed enough to replace Lewis. McLaren was always Lewis's team, and Mercedes, who COULD have called on EITHER of them (or anyone else for that matter) only wanted Lewis. This is why they are where they are, and Lewis is where he is TODAY.
 
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Terry Rock
Richard Wilks said:
Rosberg beat Hamilton in the same car. So did Button. Alonso drew even with the team against him. These are facts. You can try to spin them as much as you want, but they are forever set in stone, just like the numbers you like to bring up so much. And next year Russell might be the next teammate to beat Hamilton.
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You guys love to come here spewing nonsense.
Both Button and Rosberg came out ahead in years Lewis had failures.
Both are great drivers by the way.
As to Alonso...He was a multiple WDC at the time a very young Lewis Hamilton ever 'touched' a Formula One car and yet... he matched him in his first year...in the same car.
Spew that nonsense somewhere else.
 
PickABetterUsername01
Terry Rock said:
You guys love to come here spewing nonsense.
Both Button and Rosberg came out ahead in years Lewis had failures.
Both are great drivers by the way.
As to Alonso...He was a multiple WDC at the time a very young Lewis Hamilton ever 'touched' a Formula One car and yet... he matched him in his first year...in the same car.
Spew that nonsense somewhere else.
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Both Button and Rosberg are ok at best, and Mclaren was backing Hamilton.
 
Richard Wilks
ZuneGuy said:
You say all of that and that's fine, but let's look at some other facts.

Alonso drew even with Lewis, but he was already a two time WDC winner with tons more experience in the sport, but only finished even with a rookie, and as such people basically say that Lewis won because of that, and let's not forget that Alonso went as far as trying to extort wins by threatening his teammate's employers to sabotage Lewis's car. That in itself is something that you'd expect to see on a movie or TV show.

I have always liked Button. He has always spoke about Lewis in the kindest manner, but even beyond that Button just seems like a decent guy period. Honestly though McLaren was never his team, it was Lewis's team and no one has ever debated that. It doesn't matter though because Lewis beat him two out of three of those seasons, and it was always his team. Heck Jackie Stewart even warned Button about going there because he said that it was Lewis's team, and that it would be hard for him.

Rosberg, well I've already said what I have said about the man. No matter what transpired between the two, Rosberg has admitted a lot today, that he was never as talented as Lewis - hence their records vs one another. Rosberg talks today as though competing with Lewis is the most important thing that he's done. In fact he still wants on his coattails today, such as following him into Extreme E. It's cool that he still wants to compete with Lewis, but I'm just saying.

The funny thing is that when you hear these guys talk about getting an upper hand over Lewis for just one time, they sound so proud to have bested the absolute best for one fleeting moment. Even with that no one was convinced or impressed enough to replace Lewis. McLaren was always Lewis's team, and Mercedes, who COULD have called on EITHER of them (or anyone else for that matter) only wanted Lewis. This is why they are where they are, and Lewis is where he is TODAY.
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Ok i will play you.

Hamilton had many many miles of testing under his belt, and Alonso came fresh to the team. So actually, Hamilton had more experience with that car than Alonso. Hamilton disobeyed team orders and tried to sabotage Alonso's Hungary qualy on purppose and out of spite. Dennis did nothing. So Alonso was not happy, and retaliated himself.

Button made mclaren his team. He scored more points in total in the 3 years they raced together there. So much so that Mclaren at that point already loved him more than Hamilton. Then Hamilton followed the money, and lucked out. But all because he was ousted from Mclaren by Button, or else he would still be there, GP2 engine and all, trying to emulate Senna yet again, with a Mclaren Honda.

Rosberg can say whatever he wants, he still beat Hamilton, and that goes to the history books. So either Hamilton is not that good, or Rosberg is better than we all think.

Mercedes has been delaying Russell's coming as much as they could, but finally they had to cave in, or risk losing him. We shall see how much the tune changes next year.

Besides, what does that mean even? Alpha tauri really like Gasly, and want him there, what does that prove? Hamilton might be the darling of Wolff, but everybody is replaceable at some point. Hamilton will find this out soon, unless he follows the good example of Rosberg, and retires while he is still wanted.
 
ZuneGuy
Richard Wilks said:
Ok i will play you.

Hamilton had many many miles of testing under his belt, and Alonso came fresh to the team. So actually, Hamilton had more experience with that car than Alonso. Hamilton disobeyed team orders and tried to sabotage Alonso's Hungary qualy on purppose and out of spite. Dennis did nothing. So Alonso was not happy, and retaliated himself.

Button made mclaren his team. He scored more points in total in the 3 years they raced together there. So much so that Mclaren at that point already loved him more than Hamilton. Then Hamilton followed the money, and lucked out. But all because he was ousted from Mclaren by Button, or else he would still be there, GP2 engine and all, trying to emulate Senna yet again, with a Mclaren Honda.

Rosberg can say whatever he wants, he still beat Hamilton, and that goes to the history books. So either Hamilton is not that good, or Rosberg is better than we all think.

Mercedes has been delaying Russell's coming as much as they could, but finally they had to cave in, or risk losing him. We shall see how much the tune changes next year.

Besides, what does that mean even? Alpha tauri really like Gasly, and want him there, what does that prove? Hamilton might be the darling of Wolff, but everybody is replaceable at some point. Hamilton will find this out soon, unless he follows the good example of Rosberg, and retires while he is still wanted.
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Yes, what Lewis did wasn't correct in the team at the time, and Dennis did promise Alonso some things within the team, but once it was apparent to Dennis that Lewis was just as good a Alonso at such a young age, he started to back Lewis instead, but that is Formula One.

Button was never the man at McLaren, not until Lewis left the team. When Lewis left it damaged his friendship with Ron Dennis for good, because Dennis felt betrayed by the move. He even said that he could have worked to keep Lewis on the team, but he didn't because it would not have been the right way to handle it,he did consider it though.

Hamilton didn't get lucky to get into the Mercedes seat, they called him, they wanted him. They didn't call Button, and they didn't try to keep Rosberg, they wanted Lewis, they even sent an F1 legend to sweeten the deal. Hamilton will be the one who decides to leave when he's ready. I mean when you paint your well known SILVER CARS BLACK to represent one driver, that driver is just that important to the team.

You silly guys want to make this Hamilton/Russell thing into a competition between the two, and that is because you need to do that for yourselves. I literally don't have to say anything because Lewis's career speaks for itself, but I just find it enjoyable reading the excuses.

Russel has already learned from Lewis, and he wants to learn more just as Bottas said he has done. Leclerc has suggested that is exactly the approach that Russel should havewhen entering the team. I'm skeptical though when a guy who is so keen on showing off that he crashes his car with the guy that he's trying to replace in the team, then proceeds to blame the whole crash on him when the world could see who was to blame makes me concerned for their team partnership.
 
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