After a 2-week break the Formula One season picks up for its 15th race of the season at the Sochi Autodrom for the Russian Grand Prix. Like always let’s start out with some facts about the track and Grand Prix.
– Mercedes is the only team to ever win the Russian Grand Prix
– Lewis Hamilton holds record for most wins with 4
-Track was built around Olympic Park during construction for the 2014 Winter Olympics
As you can see this is a race that is dominated by Mercedes and they look to take full advantage with 2 drivers who perform partically well at Sochi. Valterri Bottas calls this track his favorite and he got his first ever win here and he and Hamilton will look to build on their 18 point lead in the Constructors Championship over Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton has a golden opportunity to make up the 5 points he’s trailing rival Max Verstappen as the Red Bull top driver received a 3 place grid penalty that would have been assessed after qualifying on Saturday (weather permitting). However Red Bull decided to go ahead and change the entire power unit on Verstappen’s car and now Max will have to start the race at the end of the grid. Red Bull knew they were going to have to change the powere unit at some point before the season ended and seeing how Max was already given a 3 place penalty for the crash in Italy the team, and this is a track Mercedes was built for, they decided to just bite the bullet and hope the poor weather on Saturday causes for a shaky qualifying for Hamilton.
Another driver that opted for a replacement power unit and will also be starting at the back of the grid is Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Leclerc currently sits in 6th place right in front of teammate Carlos Sainz and he will be looking to fight his way back into the points as Ferrari is battling Mclaren for the “best of the rest” title that comes with 3rd place. Mclaren holds a 13.5 point lead over Ferrari at the moment thanks to a steller 1st half by Lando Norris and a 1st/2nd finish 2 weeks ago at Monza for Daniel Ricciardo and Norris. Look for Mclaren to build on their recent success and also try to take advantage of a couple top drivers out of their way at the back of the grid.
With Verstappen taking the penalties this week the team will be relying heavily on Sergio Perez to step up and earn that shiny new contract he signed a few weeks back. There was a lot of discussion when Christian Horner and Red Bull decided to re-sign Perez for another year over the likes of Pierre Gasly or Alex Albon. This is a real sink or swim race for Perez as he continues to try to prove he’s worthy of the second Red Bull seat. If he can go out and get the win for the team while Verstappen is trying to salvage any points he can will definately put him back in the teams good graces. If he goes out and has another dud in qualifying or even worse Max catches him from the back of the grid, the team (who’s known to pull the plug on drivers quite fast if they feel the urge) will be answering a lot of questions from the press about their choices for the future.
The weather in Sochi on Saturday is supposed to be 100% rain the entire day so hopefully they get qualifying in because it could be mayhem out there and who knows what the grid will look like come race day. With all things considered it should be an exciting weekend!
