f1 2017 russia
Valtteri Bottas had been ahead of him ever since slipstreaming past down to Turn 2 on the opening lap. The fascination was in what lay behind that order. A stop would cost around 25sec and by lap 33 Kimi was just 27sec adrift and closing fast on his new tyres. For a better experience, keep your browser up to date. Still Vettel stayed out on his old rubber, going remarkably quickly and actually pulling out time on Bottas. Seventeen laps to go, Bottas with a 4.6sec lead over Vettel who had tyres that were not only seven laps newer but which the Ferrari worked much better than the Mercedes – and Vettel with the scent of victory. All weekend up to that point the Ferrari had looked a quicker, more flexible, more raceable car. If you have a rhythm here it feels fantastic. For all that Bottas has his own very special rhythm between the Sochi walls, he’d given himself a big flat spot into the tricky Turn 13 with 15 laps still to go – and that’s when Vettel really began to scent blood. “With the tyres, the lock up and the vibration, the backmarkers and Sebastian coming, it was not easiest of races to win. If they could just leave Lewis out until after Vettel had stopped he could be used to delay the Ferrari in its chase of the leader. We lost Ricciardo from seventh place at this point. From the chic European cities of Barcelona, Monaco, Budapest and Milan, to the exotic excitement of Singapore and Japan; from the opulence of Abu Dhabi and … The series will feature on the…, Ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix Lewis and Jenson talk about racing in the Principality. Räikkönen was in a similar position – with slower pace than his team-mate but greater tyre deg. Hamilton was being given the exact same message by Mercedes. Wasn’t it the Ferraris which had looked better on the ultra-soft than the Mercedes? But when he went to lean on it, the front tyre grip just wasn’t there. The day before they were each asked if Räikkönen would move aside for Vettel if required. Russia Grandstands You could be also interested in. The Formula 1™ calendar is a captivating showcase of the world’s most charismatic destinations. Match HD Highlights. settings through the final sector that gave a general understeer balance. “All through the first stint on ultra it was good, the front and rear of the car were working together,” explained Bottas. With a couple of laps to go he’d got DRS on the back straight. At this stage Mercedes didn’t know that Ferrari had much the same cooling issues they were suffering with Hamilton’s car – and which was only just below the radar on Bottas’ too. He’d faced down a late Vettel charge, stayed calm and focused even after the lock-up, when it would have been so easy for it all to have unravelled. Palmer, with a Sauber to his left couldn’t give Grosjean, slightly ahead on his right, any more room as the Haas came across to take up the line. Sainz edged it on this occasion by two hundredths but would be taking a three-place grid penalty for his Bahrain accident. Segui. The smooth surface meant even with the ultra-soft it would take an age to generate adequate heat in the core of the fronts, the cooling effect of the two long straights exacerbating the problem. Then, depending how the gaps were looking, try to either under or overcut him. Its more aggressive turn in (once the fronts were up to temperature) would be imposing higher initial loads on the rears. I tried to get it all back at the last corner.”, Bottas also had a small moment in Turn 13-14 that arguably lost him pole (he ended up 0.1sec adrift of Vettel) but as this was likely just a function of the car as it was through that sector, it might also be argued that pole was never realistically within reach. So close now on the penultimate lap Vettel could almost reach out to it, the late afternoon Sochi sun low in the sky but still bright, tyre marbles littered either side of the groove in the track, clearly defined even through the smeared yellow-tinted visor. Verstappen was told to wind his brakes as far forward as he could, as a precaution. The safety car laps had allowed his rear brakes to catch fire and there was no putting them out. The Williams of sixth-fastest Massa was precisely 2sec adrift of Vettel’s Ferrari, Felipe putting together the complex tyre preparation well and delivering a solid lap. F1 Russia 2017 articles archive Maiden victory earn Bottas first Driver of the Weekend win since 2014 2017 Russian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend result Posted on . Team-mate Jolyon Palmer was in the wars. Bottas knew the Ferrari was going to be on his tail before too much longer. He will remember the 2017 Russian Grand Prix for many many years to come, sadly he may be the only one that does. The fifty-two lap race was held at the Sochi Autodrom, marking the fourth running of the Russian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. Check out more items on this website about: Your email address will not be published. It’s more important for us that we do what we need to and we didn’t have any problems. As the inevitable happened and the Ferrari’s greater tyre range began to tell, with Vettel cutting back what had been a 5.5sec deficit on lap 20 to 2.5sec within six laps, and with lapped traffic looming, Mercedes pulled the plug. Last year Mercedes may not have risked trying to match the forecasted ambient temperature so closely when choosing the cooling levels they’d be committed to from Saturday onwards. Formula 1 Grand Prix S ebastian Vettel insisted he did not defy team orders after Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a Ferrari meltdown to win in Russia and … Check here for latest versions. With 10sec of top gear full throttle, the tow is worth around nine metres. “I can’t explain it right now,” said Hamilton afterwards. Fernando Alonso scraped the McLaren-Honda into Q2 with a lap he didn’t match once he was there as he lined up 15th. The very thing that has always been among his greatest assets as a driver. But that plan ran aground with Hamilton’s greater tyre wear – and he had to be brought in on lap 30, his rears absolutely finished. Third place finisher Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium to score a 2 podium finish for Ferrari. The 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 71st season of Formula One motor racing. Hamilton scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. It featured the 68th Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the sport's governing body, … Benefitting from Ricciardo’s retirement immediately ahead of them were the Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon. But we held it together at the critical points and that makes it feel even better. Ferrari, by the same token, reckoned they’d keep Vettel out as long as possible, try to get Bottas to wear his old ultras out before them. From lap 19 Bottas was far enough clear of fifth-place Verstappen to have dropped into clear air after stopping but Merc preferred to keep him out for as long as possible, to minimise the length of the second stint on super-softs they were not confident of being as quick on as the Ferrari. Just before the safety car for this incident was deployed, things got tight at Turn 4 between Hülkenberg and Stroll, the latter spinning and rejoining near the back after simply applying too much lock as he was squeezed by the Renault. Mark Hughes on the fascinating Russian Grand Prix, the fourth round of the 2017 F1 season. The Q1 effort was, he informed the world, a great lap in a car with great balance… Stoffel Vandoorne was 0.7sec adrift and two places back, just ahead of the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein (who went off at the end of Q1 in turn 13) and Marcus Ericsson. In fact one of Hamilton’s cylinders began to cut out – as it’s programmed to, once a critical temperature is reached. Bottas had extended his lead in that first stint to take him out of Seb’s undercut range. But he was soon right back upon his prey. 2017 FORMULA 1 VTB RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX - RACE RESULT 28 30 Apr 2017 … Here was one of the most intriguing and nuanced qualifying sessions we’ve ever seen. On and on it went, the degradation rates on this super-smooth circuit so low, the gap back to Verstappen, Massa and the Force Indias so massive. Rejoining on tyres seven laps newer, the chase was on. So pole-sitting Vettel and Bottas from third on the grid were much quicker away than second-placed Räikkönen. F1 Russian Grand Prix 2019 LIVE: Result and reaction as Lewis Hamilton wins in Sochi. It was almost enough to have sneaked him pole, but Vettel shaded it by six hundredths. Compared to the Williams I think we have more rear downforce and we may be better on the tyres but they have the straight-line speed.”, Max Verstappen was a couple of tenths slower and lined up seventh in the sister car. For my first one, it’s very special.”. His first Grand Prix victory. It would stand as the race’s fastest lap and was probably no more than Räikkönen’s pride flagging up that he was doing a job for the team rather than trying to contest a place with Vettel. The heavily-revised Barcelona car cannot come soon enough. One lap to go, that Merc is squirming under braking, Seb is watching the carbon dust blowing from its front wheels, seeing it slip and slide out of the turns, its seven lap older rubber beginning to surrender. Grassi, the official test driver, did several laps of La Ferté Gaucher…, Tackling the Porsche Curves at Le Mans is a daunting job at the best of times, never mind when you're behind the wheel of a Sauber-Mercedes C11 and you have…, It's easy to believe that Lewis Hamilton is fired up about the prospect of a duel with Max Verstappen ahead of the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, writes Mark Hughes, How and where to watch the 2021 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, George Russell says he is keen to begin working towards positive change in his new role as Grand Prix Drivers Association director alongside Sebastian Vettel. These were the hard realities, to be logged in the mind and driven around. 2021 Pre-Season Team Guide: Ferrari. Valtteri Botts won his first F1 race ever at Sochi today. Räikkönen was contending for pole right up until getting out of shape through the final corner, probably as the rears finally gave up. The home of Formula 1 on BBC Sport online. Räikkönen’s answer was more measured. ... 30 April 2017. At this point Mercedes was looking seriously at using Hamilton as a foil to help Bottas. Daniil Kvyat of Scuderia Toro Rosso and Russia celebrates his birthday during previews to the Formula One Grand Prix of Russia on April 27, 2017 in Sochi, Russia. The Russian GP in numbers From gear changes to corner speeds, our track guide is the home of F1 geekery. Vandoorne knew however he was taking a theoretical 15-place grid drop for the replacement of yet-more Honda components and the actual Q lap time was immaterial and didn’t represent a serious effort. What had been a 4.6sec gap evaporated down to DRS range. The car was phenomenal around here, a real pleasure to take to the limit. Just what had happened? That went back to Saturday when the direction he was able to go in I just couldn’t. Closing, closing on the race-leading Mercedes. Raikkonen, Event: Russian Grand Prix Track: Sochi International Street Circuit, Weather: Sunny, Clear Sky, 26ºC Tarmac: Dry, 41ºC. The first Q2 run would comprise just an out-lap before the timed lap. 2017 Formula 1 Results. Pérez remained ahead of Ocon, giving Force India another good haul of points from sixth and seventh, with Hülkenberg’s Renault chasing them down ahead of Massa and Sainz. “I was even more pleased with the restart than I was the start,” said Bottas, of how he simply streaked away from the Ferraris after taking masterful command of the rolling start sequence. The differing traits of the Ferrari SF70-H and the Mercedes W08 already seen in the first three events were exaggerated around the singular traits of the Sochi track, with its super-smooth surface and unusual layout. The traffic was a significant factor as Merc recognised it would probably lose more time to it than would the Ferrari. Sebastian Vettelstarted the race from pole, with his te… Valtteri Bottas won the Russian Grand Prix for Mercedes at Sochi, round 10 of the Formula 1 World Championship, after Mercedes teammate Lewis … Marc Priestley is joined by former F1 drivers David Brabham and Perry McCarthy to review the Russian … Vandoorne’s McLaren actually finished the race, even if it was only a lapped 14th ahead only of the Saubers. Just as calmly, he’d placed himself perfectly to take the lead into Turn 2 from the second row, getting the slipstream on the long run down there to be in front even before the braking zone, chopping across the Ferrari without compromise. For Q3 they chose to go for the time immediately after the out-lap, thereby better controlling the rear temperatures. 2001-2021 © F1-Fansite.com. 5:52 Now Playing. Team-mate Lance Stroll fell short of Q3 by a couple of places after a compromised out-lap and a snap of oversteer in Q2. It meant the hard compounds and stiffer 2017 constructions of even the softest tyres in Pirelli’s range required a very intricate preparation – one that brought Mercedes a conundrum to which there was no answer.