In Pictures: Russia 2020
From Russia with Love
Vettel crashed in qualifying, Hamilton was penalized in the race, twice, a couple of crashes on the first lap and ninth victory in Formula One for Valtteri Bottas.
Practices and qualifying went as expected, utter domination from the Mercedes duo, until Sebastian Vettel creased his Ferrari with only 2:15 minutes to the end of Q2. Logically, it was red flagged until everything was sorted out and everyone came out to try to pass to Q1, last in line was Lewis Hamilton, who managed to get by the start finish line with 1.25 seconds to spare, he passed to Q3 and then got pole with a record setting lap of 1:31.304, his 96th.
On Sunday, Hamilton and Mercedes got all wrong when Lewis, on his way to the grid, asked if it was ok to do a practice start at the end of the pit-lane, but outside the designated area, which he did. But that decision ended up costing him two separate 5-second penalties for practice start violations. Anyhow, before the stewards announced the before mentioned penalties, it was all Hamilton up front, but Carlos Sainz, who started 6th, took the run off area at turn 2 and crashed heavily trying to negotiate the bollards and the wall at the designated exit area, launching him into the racetrack and ending his race. A few turns ahead, Charles Leclerc touched the rear of Lance Stroll's Racing Point, sending him into the wall and ending his race. Safety car came out while the track was cleaned, repairs were made to the barriers, and cars were recovered.
Racing resumed on lap 6 with Hamilton getting away into the distance, followed by Bottas, Verstappen, Ocon, Ricciardo, Perez, Gasly and Leclerc. On the next lap, Hamilton was handed the two penalties.
On lap 16, Hamilton, who had started the race on softs (red tires) was called into the pits for a change of tires and to serve his penalties. He came back out more than 35 seconds behind the then leader Bottas but managed to reach P3 by the end.
So, it was Valtteri's ninth win in F1 in a racetrack he enjoys, followed by Max Verstappen, voted Driver of the Day, and a not so happy Lewis Hamilton.