We’re back with another installation of flashback Friday to keep you occupied during the summer break. This time we look at Valtteri Bottas’ first F1 win which he claimed at Sochi in 2017.
The three practice sessions before qualifying were topped by the usual Ferrari and Mercedes, who were far ahead of the rest of their competitors.
Qualifying
When it came to qualifying there were a couple of crashes from Palmer and Wehrlein which disupted the sessions. But in Q1, that duo failed to reach Q2, along with Vandoorne, Ericsson and Grosjean.
In Q2, Lance Stroll was looking for the opportunity to make Q3 for the second time but failed to do so. The Force India pair of Perez and Ocon were solid enough to find themselves in the top 10. But the struggles continued for McLaren as Alonso could only take P15. Following him out of Q2 were Sainz, Stroll, Kvyat and Magnussen.
There were only really four cars in contention for pole. The two Ferrari and the two Mercedes. On provisional pole was Kimi Raikkonen who was ahead of Valtteri Bottas, his Finnish counterpart. Meanwhile, Vettel and Hamilton were third and fourth after first runs.
It was to be Vettel’s day as he claimed his first pole position since Singapore 2015. Next to him was Raikkonen, getting Ferrari their first front row lock out since 2008 in France. The Mercedes of Bottas and Hamilton had to settle for P3 & P4.
The top 10 was: Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Massa, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Perez, Ocon.
Race
An extra formation lap was needed at the start of the race as Fernando Alonso’s McLaren stopped on track before lights out. A great start from Bottas saw him jump Raikkonen but some more amazing race craft from the Finnish driver then saw him take the lead of the race going into the first corner ahead of Vettel.
The deployment of the safety car came about when Grojean and Palmer tangled up together. Lap 4 saw them get back to racing but immediately Ricciardo reported that his brakes were on fire for and had to retire for the second time in the season.
A pitstop for Bottas on Lap 28 saw him drop to second place, with Ferrari doing the opposite with Vettel and staying out for longer. Vettel stopped on Lap 34 while Bottas went wide in Turn 13, majorly flat spotting his tyres. This gave Vettel the solid belief that he could really hunt Bottas down for the win, with just three laps to go.
Running into traffic on his final lap, giving him DRS, allowed Bottas to keep his distance from the Ferrari. Vettel was unable to clear Massa in the Williams fast enough, giving Bottas the breathing space he needed.
Bottas secured his first F1 win in Russia that day, proving he could cope under an intense amount of pressure. His brilliant start and composed attitude throughout the race got him the victory.
Although Vettel had to settle for second place, Raikkonen’s third place gained Ferrari a nice chunk of points with a double podium.
Elsewhere, Hamilton took fourth, over half a minute behind his teammate. Verstappen, after his good start took fifth, finishing ahead of the Force Indias in sixth and seventh who claimed a double top 7 finish for the first time since Belgium the year before. Hulkenberg, Massa and Sainz completed the top 10.
“I knew I could do these results, I always trusted my ability, but this result confirms it.”
Valtteri Bottas
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