Bottas wins Russian GP after Hamilton’s double penalty

Valtteri Bottas took his first victory since the 2020 Formula 1 season opener as a penalty left Lewis Hamilton third in the Russian Grand Prix on a day he could’ve equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 wins.

Polesitter Hamilton breached the regulations for this circuit as set out in the race director’s notes by stopping at the far end of the curved pitlane exit for two practice starts on the way to the grid, rather than in the designated area.

A stewards’ investigation was announced 20 minutes before the start, and resulted in a pair of 5s time penalties.

At that point Hamilton was still leading the race, having fended off a strong outside-line attack from Bottas – who immediately passed Max Verstappen off the line – into Turn 2 on the first lap.

Verstappen slewed off track here and briefly fell behind Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault, while further back Carlos Sainz Jr did likewise and slammed his McLaren into the wall in a failed bid to maintain speed through the marker board chicane in the run-off area.

With Lance Stroll also in the barriers on the Turn 4 exit after a clash with Charles Leclerc, the safety car came out for five laps.

Hamilton couldn’t get his lead over Bottas over 2.4s in the first stint despite being on the soft tyres.

He was called in for his pitstop on lap 17 of 53 – earlier than he wanted – and the 10-second wait before Mercedes could start work meant Hamilton rejoined 11th, albeit with everyone ahead yet to stop.

Bottas then began reeling off fastest laps of his own, pulling away from Verstappen while Hamilton lost ground to both in traffic.

It was smooth sailing for Bottas from there, with his lead peaking at 14s over Verstappen and 24s over Hamilton, who rose to third via a mix of passing moves and the slower cars pitting. After briefly losing it to first Verstappen then late-pitter Pierre Gasly, Bottas also reclaimed the fastest lap point in the final laps.

Sergio Perez claimed a clear fourth for Racing Point after battling past Ricciardo early on and then jumping the other Renault of Esteban Ocon in the pit sequence.

Ricciardo later picked up a five-second penalty for failing to follow the correct route at Turn 2 after going off having locked up just as Ocon was ordered to let him past.

But he was able to extend enough of an advantage over sixth-placed Leclerc – who rose up the order with a long first stint – to not lose fifth place.

Ocon dropped behind Leclerc in the stops and then fended off Daniil Kvyat for seventh. Kvyat had been as high as third, having started on hards and run past half-distance before stopping.

Gasly made an extra stop during a brief virtual safety car – required while the Turn 2 marker boards were reassembled after Romain Grosjean demolished them following a brush with Sebastian Vettel – and fell from ninth to 11th.

But he recovered both places on fresh tyres via some spectacular late dicing with Alex Albon and Lando Norris.

Albon pitted for hard tyres under the safety car at the start following his grid penalty, but had to still stop again before salvaging 10th.

A late lock-up from Norris led to an extra stop that dropped him to 15th behind Antonio Giovinazzi, Kevin Magnussen, Vettel and the record-equalling Kimi Raikkonen in his 322nd F1 start.

Race Results