Sochi, 12 October

Before the start of the Russian Grand Prix, all the drivers gathered at the front of the grid in a gesture of support for Jules Bianchi and it has to be said that the inaugural event at Sochi was itself something of a subdued affair. As predicted there were precious few overtaking moves, partly because of the fact that there was very little tyre wear with either compound: having lined up seventh on the grid, Fernando Alonso brought his F14 T home in sixth place, while Kimi Raikkonen dropped one place from his starting position to finish ninth.
Lewis Hamilton was never really challenged to take his ninth win of the season from pole position, while team-mate Nico Rosberg, who dropped to the back of the pack fought his way back to make it a Mercedes one-two. The result sees the Anglo-German team secure the Constructors’ Championship title with three races to spare. These two were joined on the podium by Valtteri Bottas for Williams.
At the start, Rosberg cut the corner at Turn 2 to take the lead and was told to give the position back to Hamilton, but the German pitted at the end of lap 1 with flat spotted tyres. Fitting the Medium Pirellis, he then drove 52 of the 53 laps on the same set. Massa also came in to the pits in the Williams. Fernando showed his usual lightning reflexes when the red lights went out to shoot up the order from seventh on the grid, but while Kimi was equally quick off the mark, he got squeezed up against the wall by a Toro Rosso and had to lift and lost momentum and position, dropping to tenth. The Finn was up to ninth by lap 5 passing Kvyat. He was now in a Toro Rosso sandwich, closing on seventh placed Vergne, with Kvyat 0.8 behind the F14 T.


Lap 25 saw Fernando come in for his only planned stop to take on the Medium tyre. It wasn’t the best of pit stops, as there was a problem with the front jack and this cost him a place in favour of Magnussen. Lap 26 and Bottas brought the Williams in from second spot and Magnussen pitted the McLaren from third. They were joined by Kimi who took on his set of Mediums, ready to head for the flag. Race leader Hamilton made his stop on lap 27, also taking on Mediums.
On lap 31, Rosberg passed Bottas to regain his grid position behind the leader Hamilton. That was the top three order decided and in fact, with the two McLarens comfortably fourth and fifth, Fernando had to keep an eye on the mirrors with Ricciardo in the Red Bull closing, ahead of his eighth placed team-mate Vettel, but the attack never materialised. Kimi also put in a gritty drive, both Scuderia men effectively having to deal with the superior speed of their Mercedes-powered adversaries.
The first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix to be held in Russia was greeted with great enthusiasm, so it’s a shame it was not the most exciting of races, but now the teams and the tyre supplier know what to expect, that could all change next year. With three races remaining, Scuderia Ferrari is still fighting for third place in the Constructors’ championship with Williams, the English team having a 28 point advantage. The next opportunity to close that gap comes after a three week break when the F1 circus sets up camp in Austin, Texas for the United States Grand Prix.