Lewis Hamilton wins dramatic 2021 Russian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton wins dramatic 2021 Russian Grand Prix ahead of his championship rival Max Verstappen in P2 and Carlos Sainz in P3.

Mercedes maintains their 100% win rate at Russia, while Lewis Hamilton becomes first ever Formula One Driver to reach 100 wins in the sport. The Brit said it took long time to get the milestone win during his post race interview.

“A big thank you to the fans here. It’s taken a long time to get to 100 and I wasn’t even sure it would come. Lando did such an amazing job. I’m incredibly grateful to the team here and at the factory”, said Lewis.

After starting the race from back of the grid, Max Verstappen and Red Bull are happy to finish the race in P2. It’s was seen as a damage limitation race by Red Bull but Verstappen in a relieved man to just finish one place below his rival.

“It was tricky to make the call to go to intermediate tyres but we had to make that call in the end. To go from P20 to P2 is amazing. With the penalty we had it’s a great result for us. I definitely didn’t expect it when I woke up this morning”- said Max Verstappen during his post-race interview with Damon Hill.

Carlos Sainz took early lead in the race but early pit-stop cost him so many places but Ferrari’s decision to put him on the Inters during final laps brought the Spaniard into podium finish.

Daniel Ricciardo finishes the race in P4 ahead of Valtteri Bottas in P5, The Fin drove another excellent Russian GP after starting the race from P16 on the grid. Mercedes made a late call to change his engine overnight and that handed Bottas 10 place grid penalty for the race.

Fernando Alonso comes home in P6 ahead of pole sitter and Driver of the day winner Lando Norris in P7. Kimi Raikkonen comes home in P8 to pick up his best finish position in the 2021 season so far.

Sergio Perez clinches P9 ahead of George Russell in P10 to complete the top-10 scoring positions.

Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel comes home in P11 and P12 after both Aston Martin drivers touched on Lap 48 before Stroll had scuffle with Pierre Gasly, who finished in P13.

Esteban Ocon finishes in P14 ahead of Charles Leclerc in P15, The French man once again outscored by his old team mate in second consecutive race.

Antonio Giovinazzi in P16 , Yuki Tsunoda in P17 ahead of Mazepin in P18 and Latifi in P19. Mick Schumacher is the only driver to retire from the race with a mechanical issue with his Haas car.

Heart Break for Lando Norris

Norris led away while Sainz squeezed into the inside of Russell going into the kink at Turn 1, Russell forced to go out wide and losing Norris’s slipstream. Sainz took the lead into the Turn 2 braking zone while Norris and Russell followed.

Sainz was then caught by Norris on the back straight, the McLaren driver going down the inside of Turn 12 and leading the race into Turn 13, causing the Spaniard to pit for hards on Lap 15 and emerge ahead of Stroll.

Now attention turned to the matter of the Norris-Hamilton battle, the two drivers duelling for the lead and just a second apart. It looked like it would be a straightforward race between them until the end. That was, until the umbrellas emerged with just over five laps remaining. Would the drivers make it home and dry on slicks? Or would a switch to intermediates be necessary?

Hamilton continued to chase, resisting calls to pit to inters as others around him switched to the green-banded rain tyres. And with just three laps left he would finally take the plunge, emerging well behind Norris – the McLaren driver leading, but on slick tyres.

The rain tumbled down, the gap between Hamilton and Norris shrinking by the corner, and then came the moment that changed the race: Norris slid off the track on the penultimate lap. His hopes of a maiden win were over in the cruellest fashion, and he limped back to the pits for those intermediates.