top of page

Bottas wins 2017 Russian Grand Prix

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb


Valtteri Bottas has claimed his maiden win in Formula 1 after winning in round 4 of the Formula 1 season in Russia, despite late pressure from Sebastian Vettel who finished second. Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium, finishing third.

On the formation lap, Fernando Alonso's car broke down, and this prompted another formation lap meaning one lap less in the race. When the race got started, Valtteri Bottas absolutely launched from third place and managed to go in the lead in turn 2. Also, in turn 2 there was contact between Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer. This prompted a safety car and the order was: Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen

The safety car went in on lap 4, and Bottas immediately began to open up a gap to Vettel. Daniel Ricciardo began to suffer an issue with his brakes, and retired on lap 5 with a brake failure. Hamilton began to have cut-outs with power and struggled throughout the races with car issues.

On lap 28, Bottas pitted from the lead. Next of the frontrunners, perhaps a little surprisingly, to pit, was Kimi Raikkonen. Then Hamilton pitted, and had a slow stop which put him behind Raikkonen once again. Vettel remained in the lead, and kept a gap of approximately 19 seconds. On lap 34, Vettel eventually pitted for his stop and re-emerged behind Bottas, 4.6 seconds behind. Vettel began to gradually close the gap to Bottas, who on lap 38 had a major lockup and was fortunate not to hit a wall. Meanwhile, at this point the order was: Bottas, Vettel, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Verstappen, Hulkenberg (who had not yet pitted), Massa, Perez, Ocon and Sainz. Hulkenberg eventually pitted on lap 41 (an impressive amount of laps that he managed on the ultrasofts), and re-emerged behind Ocon. Massa had to pit again on lap 42 with an unfortunate slow puncture, and this dropped him down behind Hulkenberg. Meanwhile, at the front Bottas maintained his lead over Vettel, who was closing the gap up front to Bottas, and come lap 50 it was just one second, and come the final lap it was just 0.7 seconds.

Bottas, however, could not be caught and crossed the line to seal his maiden win in Formula 1, with Sebastian Vettel finishing just behind the Finnish driver. Fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium for Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth for Mercedes. The rest of the points finishers was: Verstappen, Perez, Ocon (who achieved his best ever finish in Formula 1), Hulkenberg, Massa and Sainz. The rest of the finishers (in order) were Stroll, Kvyat, Magnussen, Vandoorne, Ericsson and Wehrlein.

Race Classification:

Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer

Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes

Esteban Ocon - Force India-Mercedes

Nico Hulkenberg - Renault

Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes

Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso

Lance Stroll - Williams-Mercedes

Daniil Kvyat -Toro Rosso

Kevin Magnussen - Haas-Ferrari

Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren-Honda

Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari

Pascal Wehrlein - Sauber-Ferrari

Note: Daniel Ricciardo, Jolyon Palmer and Romain Grosjean did not finish. Fernando Alonso did not start the race.

World Championship standings:

Sebastian Vettel - 86 points

Lewis Hamilton - 73 points

Valtteri Bottas - 63 points

Kimi Raikkonen - 49 points

Max Verstappen - 35 points

Daniel Ricciardo - 22 points

Sergio Perez - 22 points

Felipe Massa - 18 points

Carlos Sainz - 11 points

Esteban Ocon - 9 points

Nico Hulkenberg - 6 points

Romain Grosjean - 4 points

Kevin Magnussen - 4 points

Daniil Kvyat - 2 points

Pascal Wehrlein - 0 points

Lance Stroll - 0 points

Antonio Giovinazzi - 0 points

Jolyon Palmer - 0 points

Stoffel Vandoorne - 0 points

Fernando Alonso - 0 points

Marcus Ericsson - 0 points

Constructors' Championship standings:

Mercedes - 136 points

Ferrari - 135 points

Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer - 57 points

Force India-Mercedes - 31 points

Williams-Mercedes - 18 points

Toro Rosso - 13 points

Haas-Ferrari - 8 points

Renault - 6 points

Sauber-Ferrari - 0 points

McLaren-Honda - 0 points


4 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page