Valtteri Bottas has always been able to unlock the puzzle of Sochi very effectively. Not only was the Russian track the venue for his first grand prix victory, in 2017, but he has only ever once been out-qualified here by a team-mate – last year by Lewis Hamilton.
His affinity with the venue offers him at least the possibility this weekend of some relief from the remorseless pummelling he’s taken of late from Hamilton and the realistic extinguishing of his pre-season title hopes.
A victory over Hamilton here as Hamilton attempts to equal Michael Schumacher’s all-time race victory record might at least instil some vigour back into what has got to be a grinding campaign for Bottas, with each fresh Hamilton success seeming to steal yet-more of Valtteri’s energy.
Sochi’s very unusual combination of super-smooth track surface with a layout that provides a difficult qualifying conundrum has formed a challenge that Bottas has proven super-adept at meeting over the years. Historically, it is one of his best circuits.
On a Sochi qualifying lap that involves getting the front tyres up to temperature for the start of the lap but without the rears being too hot in the sequence of acceleration zones of the final sector.
Very little energy is fed into the tyres here because of the surface and it takes a long time (typically two preparation laps, sometimes more) to massage heat into the fronts. But doing this preparation while preventing the rears from becoming too hot is tricky. It’s a frustrating exercise, rewarding calm patience and technique. Perfect Valtteri territory.
Furthermore, a car with under-temperature front tyres will tend to reward the driver who asks only what the front of the car will give him rather than the one who may over-reach those limits in trying to hustle and improvise a lap time from it. These are the respective styles of Bottas and Hamilton.
But over the last two years Hamilton has increasingly addressed his weak points with incredible diligence. Last year it was Bottas who made the crucial error on his final Q3 run, Hamilton who nailed the lap. Up to that point there’d been nothing in it between them – but that was the foundation of Hamilton being able to take race-winning advantage of the VSC that cost Charles Leclerc the race. Bottas could only finish runner-up.
They’d finished in those positions in the 2018 race too – but on that occasion it was only because Bottas had pulled aside for Hamilton under team orders. Up until that point he’d led Hamilton throughout and had beaten him to pole. The controversial team orders move was in the context of a late-season round of a tight championship fight between Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel and came as a serious personal blow for Bottas. There would be no justification for any repeat in 2020 if Mercedes found itself in the same situation.
Bottas’ Sochi Track Record
2014 – Finished third, the recovering Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes had to fight past him. Pushed Rosberg hard for a place on the front row – only just losing out with a wild slide at the final turn.
2015 – His Williams was taken out of third (behind Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel) late in the race by Kimi Raikkonen. He had again qualified third, behind the Mercedes but besting Vettel’s Ferrari.
2016 – Ran his Williams third for much of the race but was ultimately beaten by the better tyre usage of Raikkonen’s Ferrari. He’d qualified on the front row (taking advantage of a mechanical problem for Hamilton and a gearbox penalty for Vettel).
2017 – Bottas’ first grand prix victory in his first year with Mercedes. Took the lead from Vettel at the start then withstood intense late pressure. In qualifying Mercedes was out-performed here by Ferrari, which locked out front row. Bottas qualified third, 0.5s quicker than Hamilton, all the advantage coming in the final sector. Took the lead at the start and kept it.
2018 – Bottas surrendered victory to Hamilton under team orders, having out-qualified him for pole and led throughout up until that point.
2019 – Finished second to Hamilton, both taking advantage of a race-losing VSC for Leclerc’s Ferrari. Bottas had been outqualified by a team mate for first time here.
