Lewis Hamilton wins Russian Grand Prix to close in on 2015

Crunch Sports Staff
in Motorsports 12 Oct 2020

Lewis Hamilton (credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Lewis Hamilton comfortably won the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday to move ever nearer to what would be his third world championship.
Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg was on pole for the race, but the German was forced out of the race inside the first 10 laps with a broken throttle pedal.
That came after he held off Hamilton’s challenge on the first lap, converting his pole into a lead, but a gradual loss of performance signalled an early end to his race, enabling Hamilton to take a lead which he never looked likely to lose.
Sebastian Vettel finished second, a result that moved him up to second in the drivers’ championship, but the Ferrari driver is 66 points behind Hamilton and the title race could well be over when the season resumes in two weeks time.
That is for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas and Hamilton will make certain of his third drivers’ title if he wins the race and Vettel finishes third or below.
The win in Sochi was Hamilton’s ninth of the season and Mercedes have won 12 of the 15 races so far.
It was also Hamilton’s 42nd career win, moving him past Ayrton Senna into joint third in the all-time list, together with Vettel with just Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher ahead of him.
He said after the race: “I was excited because Nico and I were quite close together at the beginning. It was a shame for the team to lose one of the cars.
“I don’t take what we have granted. It’s a special moment for me to surpass Ayrton (42 wins).”
Sergio Perez of Force India took his first podium finish of the season, coming in third in Sochi, with Felipe Massa fourth and Kimi Raikkonen fifth.