
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