Lewis wins: Merc gets Constructors’ title

Mercedes AMG Petronas not only secured a one-two finish, but also their first constructors’ title at the 2014 Russian Grand Prix, the country’s inaugural F1 race which was held at the 5.848km all-new Hermann Tilke-designed Sochi Autodrom. 

With this win by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Mercedes is the 2014 constructors’ champion. While Lewis Hamilton came a clear first, his teammate Nico Rosberg, after a phenomenal drive of 52 laps on medium tyres had to settle for 2^nd place and Valterri Bottas finished a well-deserved 3^rd for Williams Martini Racing, in the process , setting the fastest lap of the race in the process.

Bottas had already set a couple of fastest laps earlier in the race. Bottas was followed by Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen of McLaren-Mercedes while Fernando Alonso of Ferrari kept Dainel Ricciardo of Infiniti red Bull behind for P6. Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari and and Sergio Perez of Force India Mercedes completed the ten in Sochi.

The Round 16 of the FIA Formula One World Championship, saw a mishap free race, especially when the previous race in Japan had seen the tragic accident involving Jules Bianchi of Marussia.

As the 5 red lights went off, Rosberg took the lead from Hamilton at the first braking point but overcooked it as he heavily locked up his wheels and went off the track leaving him to pit at the end of the first lap dropping him down the pack as Hamilton took back the lead from his teammate.  Rosberg was still optimistic as he changed onto the harder tyres to go all the way with expectations of a podium finish.

By lap 20, Rosberg was in a points scoring place, with the only immediate threat from Fillipe Massa in his Williams breathing down on him but the Brazilian’s strategy didn’t work as planned and had to pit. Massa’s teammate Valterri Bottas who has been the only threat to the Mercedes team all weekend was gradually gaining on the leader Hamilton, which kept the Brit on his toes.

On lap 22, Rosberg started to complain of degradation on the harder tyres as Hamilton still cruised without degradation problems on his heavily used softer compounds. The Brit boxed on lap 28 from the lead and retained it. By lap 31, Rosberg had muscled his way past Bottas to 2^nd place as the German repeatedly set fastest laps as the tyres started coming back and finished the entire race on the same tyres to finish

Ferrari made a hash of Alonso’s pit stop which did not help the furious Spaniard or the team as he lost a lot of time on lap 26, though Raikkonen’s stop was much better and problem free. Both drivers managed to score points in the race.

Heading into the race, Force India was leading the giants, McLaren Mercedes with 1 point, but with a poor performance of both Force India drivers let McLaren to take 5^th place after both driver’s of the Woking based team scored good points in the race finishing 4^th and 5^th.

As a mark of respect to Jules Bianchi, the Marussia F1 team decided to only race one car for the Russian Grand Prix, the number 4 car of Max Chilton who had to retire on lap 11 due to peculiar vibration with his front left tyre. Car no 17 of the Frenchman was left prepared, scrutineered but in the garage as the entire Formula One grid along with the supporting races of GP2 and GP3 dedicated their races to Bianchi as they wished him a speedy recovery.

With three rounds remaining, Mercedes have taken the Constructors Championship which is the first for the Mercedes team, but the Drivers title still remains undecided. With double point to be won at Abu Dhabi at the final round of the season, the constructor’s battle still continues down the order between Redbull, Williams and Ferrari, Force India and McLaren as Marussia leading Caterham and Sauber at the back for the coveted 9^th place with 2 points thanks to Jules Bianchi who won them in Monaco for the team and his personal best ever finish in 9^th place.

 As the teams head to Austin, Texas for the United Stated Grand Prix on the 2^nd of November, the Drivers Championship looks like this: Hamilton leads with 291 points, Rosberg behind him with 274 points and Ricciardo in 3^rd with 199.

Picture of Lewis Hamilton during the qualifying in Russia