Hamilton wins Russian Grand Prix; Force India’s Perez is third

Lewis Hamilton dominated and finally won the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi on October 11, 2015. Russia's president Vladimir Putin handed out the winner's trophy to Hamilton, who threw it into the air in delight. Unfortunately Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg had to retired after he led the race in the beginning because of throttle problems. He exited as early as lap 7.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel came in second and with that he has moved into second position in the title standings. Force India’s Sergio Perez got a lucky third position after a final-lap clash involving Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Bottas had in fact edged him out around the final lap. Raikkonen’s bungled overtaking attempt on Bottas put the Williams out and left the Ferrari limping to fifth behind Williams of Felipe Massa. Bottas was classified 12th and the collision led to an investigation by the stewards.

Force India’s owner Vijay Mallya would be definitely thrilled with the result. Back home in India, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) searched the liquor baron’s home and offices on October 10 in connection with a probe into an alleged default of a huge loan by IDBI Bank to his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The CBI has filed an FIR against Mally and several other officials for causing a loss of Rs 900 crore to the public sector bank in India.

Meanwhile, the initial part of the race saw a lot of incidents that resulted in drivers having to retire from the race. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg spun of his own accord at Turn 2, in the process knocking off Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. That incident resulted in both men having to retire from the race and it also brought out the safety car. Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen also spun avoiding the incident and picked up a puncture, forcing him to limp back to the pits.

The safety car was back again on the track on lap 12 after Romain Grosjean lost control of his Lotus through the challenging Turn 3. The Frenchman slammed into the barriers but managed to walk away from his battered vehicle.

Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz who was hospitalised in a crash the previous day on the track, came back to race but despite his initial leads had to retire on lap 47 after spinning with fading brakes. Red Bull stablemate Daniel Ricciardo was the other DNF. The Australian experienced a suspected suspension problem on lap 49.

With this win, Hamilton has extended his championship advantage over Rosberg to 73 points with 100 still up for grabs.

For local lad Daniil Kvyat, it was a fulfilling race but he could only manage a sixth for his teamRed Bull, ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado. McLaren were lucky too with both cars getting points. Jenson Button came in ninth and Fernando Alonso tenth.