2016 Russian GP: Rosberg flawless, Kvyat takes out Vettel

Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom without a single blemish: pole position, leading all 53 laps, fastest lap and the win. According to the FIA, he finished 25.022 seconds ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who climbed from grid position 10 to 2nd place. Kimi Räikkönen took 3rd place in the Ferrari. The race was effectively decided on the opening lap. Rosberg pulled clear at the front, while behind him Daniil Kvyat hit the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel twice and knocked him out of the race.

Qualifying had set the course. At the start of Q3, Hamilton's MGU-H – the hybrid system on the turbocharger – failed. He was unable to set a time and had to start from 10th. Rosberg took pole without a fight. Vettel had actually been second fastest, but received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change and started the race seventh. That moved Valtteri Bottas in the Williams up alongside Rosberg on the front row. Räikkönen started third, Felipe Massa fourth and Daniel Ricciardo fifth in the Red Bull.

In front of his home crowd, Russian driver Kvyat had the darkest opening lap of anyone. At Turn 2 he ran into the back of Vettel and pushed the Ferrari into Ricciardo. Vettel backed off, but Kvyat hit him a second time at Turn 3. The Ferrari spun into the barrier and Vettel was out after zero laps. The collision with Ricciardo also left Sergio Pérez in the Force India with a puncture. Kvyat later said it felt as if someone was pushing him from behind. Ricciardo said curtly that he expected an apology.

Further back, Esteban Gutiérrez in the Haas F1 Team car hit the Force India of Nico Hülkenberg, who in turn collided with Rio Haryanto in the Manor Marussia. Hülkenberg and Haryanto both retired on the opening lap (status: collision). According to Motor Sport Magazine, Gutiérrez was given a stop-and-go penalty for it.

The Safety Car was deployed and, according to grandprix.com, came back in at the end of lap 4. Ricciardo, Kvyat and Pérez pitted after the first lap. Kvyat received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the double hit, which he served after lap 8, and dropped to the back of the field. He himself spoke of “the most chaotic first lap of my whole career” (Motor Sport Magazine).

Hamilton came through the chaos unscathed and, according to the FIA, was already up to 5th under the Safety Car. After the restart, Bottas passed Räikkönen for 2nd place. Hamilton picked off Massa first and then Räikkönen on lap 7. After that, he had Bottas in his sights. After the pit stops (Bottas on lap 16, Hamilton on lap 17), Hamilton overtook the Williams with DRS to move up to second. Ferrari kept Räikkönen out longer and only brought him in on lap 20. That was enough to jump ahead of Bottas and ultimately secured him the podium.

Rosberg, meanwhile, was alone at the front. According to the FIA, he led Bottas by 9.2 seconds after 15 laps. He did not stop until lap 21 and comfortably stayed in the lead. In lapped traffic, his advantage over Hamilton did shrink to around 7.6 seconds. But then Hamilton's team reported falling water pressure. The world champion backed off and later said he had no longer been going flat out on the straights. That ended the battle for victory, and the gap grew significantly again by the chequered flag.

The winner of the day was Kevin Magnussen. He climbed from grid position 17 to 7th place, gaining ten places – more than anyone else. Those were Renault's first points of the season. Motor Sport Magazine cited careful tyre management and a well-timed pit stop as the reasons. Magnussen himself admitted the team had been “a bit lucky” (grandprix.com). Hamilton, Fernando Alonso – a strong sixth in the McLaren – and Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber, who drove from the very back to 14th place, each gained eight places. Romain Grosjean scored more points for Haas in eighth. Despite his early stop, Pérez still finished ninth, while Jenson Button secured another point for McLaren in tenth.

Besides Vettel, the losers were above all the Red Bull drivers. After his first-lap damage, Ricciardo finished eleventh without points, while Kvyat came home fifteenth. It was also a bitter day for Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso. He ran a very long first stint and was even 2nd before his stop on lap 22. He then retired after 33 laps with a power unit failure. According to Wikipedia, he was running 6th at that point. His team-mate Carlos Sainz narrowly missed out on the points in twelfth.

With a fourth win from the fourth race, Rosberg had the maximum haul of 100 points. In the 2016 standings, that put him 43 points clear of Hamilton (57). Räikkönen moved up to 3rd place on 43 points, ahead of Ricciardo (36) and Vettel (33). Among the teams, Mercedes extended their lead with 157 points over Ferrari (76). Red Bull (57) and Williams (51) followed. Newcomers Haas were 5th with 22 points.

Counting the last three races of 2015, it was Rosberg's seventh consecutive Grand Prix win (Motor Sport Magazine). According to Wikipedia, only Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel had achieved that before. It was also the first grand slam of his career. Rosberg himself remained cautious, pointing out that only four of 21 races had been run. The chaos at the start had swift consequences: on 5 May, after the race, Red Bull swapped Kvyat for Verstappen and sent him back to Toro Rosso.