The Russian Grand Prix proved to be another unpalatable race for many reasons.
Firstly, Nico Rosberg suffered yet another mechanical issue which denied viewers a highly coveted battle for the lead, while the unchallenging Sochi circuit left it up to the drivers to make a spectacle of things.
Rosberg drove excellently all weekend, topping all the practice sessions, taking pole and holding on to the lead in the early phase of the race. It was the kind of performance we haven’t really seen from Nico in over twelve months, and partly because of that he’s left himself with too much to do in the final races.
Even hanging on for second in the title race will be a tough ask from here.
Unlike last year where both drivers were bitten by technical gremlins throughout, Rosberg has had the lion’s share of bad luck this season, and hasn’t put in any particularly impressive performances when both cars did make it to the finish.
For Mercedes to claim the constructors’ title in a race where Nico failed to contribute to the points tally will do nothing to lift his spirits. Last year his slim title hopes were dashed in Abu Dhabi and he knew that the next race would level the playing field once more, now he has to try to round out the year with the comparatively unexciting goal of denying second place to Sebastian Vettel.
It’ll be a test for a clearly talented driver, but perhaps without lessened expectations he’ll be able to shine and remove all doubt that he is truly among the best in the sport at the moment.
Further down the field Carlos Sainz put in a gutsy performance and, like Rosberg, showed what he was made of without producing any results. Sainz told Motorsport.com that he felt dizzy for the first 10 laps, but was then able to push from last to seventh before retiring with brakes that had completely cooked themselves.
Hopes that the switch to soft and supersoft tyres would encourage more interesting race strategies proved to be a MacGuffin, with Sergio Perez doing what he does best and putting in a 40 lap stint that put him in contention for the podium. All things being equal it wouldn’t quite have come off as he hoped, but the spectacular Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen incident on the final lap brought him a just reward for his efforts.
Similarly Felipe Massa was fortunate to cross the line in fourth after a shocking qualifying that stranded him back in 15th for the start while his teammate put in a ‘best of the rest’ performance to start right behind the Mercs. A string of high-profile retirements and accidents including Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Rosberg, Romain Grosjean, Bottas and Raikkonen helped Massa on his way to a respectable finish and extended his point lead over his teammate.
We can celebrate Massa and Perez’s unlikely result in the short term, but it’s more difficult to reconcile the fact that Sochi really couldn’t disguise a lot of Formula One’s problems.
The final sting in the tale came when Fernando Alonso was penalised and knocked out of the points (which would have been the first time both Mclarens scored points this year) for exceeding track limits.
I haven’t seen any specific footage, but at a time when he and the team badly need a positive result it’s a bitter pill to swallow. The stewards need to be locked in a dark room and forced to watch replays of Vettel running over the curbs from Spa on a loop until they come to their senses.
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