Formula 1 2021 Russian Grand Prix was held at the Sochi Autodrom on the shores of the Black Sea. This was the 10th running of the Russian Grand Prix and the 8th time it was held in Sochi. Mercedes had won every race held at the Sochi Autodrom since the start of the hybrid era.
Max Verstappen came into the weekend of the 15th round of the 2021 F1 season, leading the championship from defending champion Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull decided to add extra PU to the poll of Max Verstappen, which meant he was bound to start from the back of the grid.
Lando Norris did a mega job in the wet-dry qualifying session to claim his first-ever pole position and first for McLaren in the hybrid era. He led the race from the start and controlled it beautifully until a late rain shower in the last 5 laps. Rookie error by Norris cost him the first race win, and Lewis emerged victorious to become the first man ever to reach a century of race wins.
Pre-Race Preparations – Thursday
The weather outlook predicted a threat of rain from Friday till the race on Sunday. This would make for a great qualifying and race conditions for the spectators. Pirelli brought the three softest of the tyre compounds for the race. C3 (White) was the hard tyre, C4 (Yellow) was the medium tyre and C5 (Red) was the soft tyre.
Friday Practice
Sochi Autodrom has been a fortress for the Mercedes F1 team, where the Silver Arrows has won all the seven races held at the track. Mercedes started the weekend by topping both the Friday practice sessions. On both occasions, it was Bottas who was the lead driver.
The rain stayed away from the circuit and provided the teams plenty of time to prepare for the weekend. Alpha Tauri looked promising after Pierre Gasly finished FP2 in P3 position. Lando Norris was 4th quickest behind the Alpha Tauri and faster than the 5th-placed Alpine of Ocon.
The quickest Red Bull was in 6th place as Verstappen was working more on race pace. Carlos Sainz of Ferrari was 7th ahead of Alonso and Vettel. Charles Leclerc also took a new upgraded engine meant for the 2022 season and will start alongside Verstappen from the back of the grid.
Saturday Practice
Heavy rain continued from early morning on Saturday, and the medical helicopter could not fly in case of an emergency. As a result, FP3 was cancelled by FIA.
Russian Grand Prix Qualifying
The rain eased off, and Q1 started on time. Everyone was straight out of the pits on Intermediate tyres apart from Alonso, who went for full wet tyres. Lewis ended the session on top ahead of Bottas and Perez. Verstappen did not set a time and was out of the session. Raikkonen, who returned after mandatory Covid quarantine, was knocked out with two Haas drivers and his teammate.
Mercedes again showed the sublime pace of the car, and Lewis went quickest from Bottas and Alonso on Intermediate tyres. Russell did an exceptional job and reached Q3 in changing track conditions. The other Williams of Latifi failed to take advantage of track conditions and was knocked out at the end of the Q2 session along with Vettel, Gasly, Tsunoda and Leclerc.
All the drivers headed out on Intermediate tyres at the start of the Q3 session, and Lewis went quickest at the end of the first lap. Russell was the first man to tell his team to prepare the soft tyres, and everybody else followed him and changed to red marked soft tyres.
Lewis came in quite fast and slid into the barrier on the entry to the pitlane. He damaged his front wing and delayed his teammate who was behind him. You needed two laps to warm up the tyres, and the 3rd lap would be the quickest lap. Both Mercedes drivers could only manage two flying laps.
Sainz was first to take provisional P1 slot, but behind him, Norris was flying and grabbed his first-ever pole position by half a second from Sainz. George Russell put in a sensational lap and grabbed P3 on the grid.
Lewis could only manage 4th ahead of Ricciardo, Alonso, Bottas, Stroll, Perez and Ocon.
Sunday Race
The race was going to start on a dry track, but there was a 70% chance of rain during the race. Bottas dropped down from 7th on the grid back to 16th place after taking extra PU elements. Norris started from P1, but Sainz picked up the slipstream from his old teammate and emerged the leader from turn 1.
Norris came second ahead of Russell, Stroll was up to P4 ahead of Ricciardo, while Lewis was down to P7 behind Alonso. Stroll was the first car to pit on lap 13 and switched to hard tyres, followed by Russell. Norris managed to pass Sainz on the back straight on lap 13 and took the lead of the race.
On lap 17, it was again a McLaren 1-2, and Lewis was stuck behind Ricciardo in P3. Verstappen was in the top 10 and only 7 seconds behind Lewis. Ricciardo decided to pit on lap 23 for hard tyres and emerged out in P14 due to a slow stop.
Lewis was released but decided to pit on lap 27, followed by Verstappen. Both emerged in P9 and P12, respectively. Verstappen made quick work of Russell and was in P11 quickly. Norris pitted on lap 29 and was down to P4 behind Leclerc, Alonso, and Perez, all yet to pit.
On lap 37, Norris was back in the lead of the race ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The straight fight was on, and Lewis was a second behind him but reported he couldn't get any closer even with DRS.
Norris did a mega job, and with 5 laps remaining, victory was in sight. Light rain started, but both the drivers resisted calls to change to Intermediate tyres. Lewis finally pitted with 3 laps to go, but Norris stayed out.
The risk failed on the penultimate lap when Norris slid off the track once the rain intensified. Lewis passed him on track to take P1 and win the 100th race of his career. He was followed home by Verstappen and Sainz.
Norris eventually pitted on the same lap and finished P7. Ricciardo was 4th ahead of Bottas, Alonso, Raikkonen, Perez and Russell.
F1 2021 Turkish GP
Formula 1 heads back to Istanbul Park as the battle for the driver's championship intensifies. Lewis is now back in the lead of the championship.