2016 Russia GP (Sochi): Formula One F1 Race Results - Rosberg Wins 7th Straight!

Posted by: ASkyler on May 01, 2016 - 09:33 AM 2016 Russia GP (Sochi): Formula One F1 Race Results - Rosberg Wins 7th Straight!



By Mike Sulka



He did it again! Nico Rosberg and his No. 6 Mercedes led all 53 laps and has won an exciting 2016 Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom. For the championship leader - by 43 points - he extended his perfect season with his fourth Grand Prix win of 2016, and seventh in a row dating back to 2015 Mexico Grand Prix. Rosberg is the fourth driver to win seven straight races - tying Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari. Sebastian Vettel holds the record at nine straight (2013). Rosberg is also the fifth driver to win the first four Grand Prix of a season. Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher holds the record at five.



No driver has had such a winning string and not won a world championship. It was also Rosberg's first win at Sochi, 18th career victory in Formula One, and first ever 'Grand Slam' - Pole, win, and fastest race lap. Great weekend for Rosberg!



For Mercedes, it was the team's fourth win of the year, and 10th straight since the Japanese Grand Prix in 2015. Mercedes becomes just the third constructor to win 10 straight races - tying Ferrari's achievement in 2002. McLaren holds the record of 11 in 1988.



Lewis Hamilton and his No. 44 Mercedes would start 10th, and finish second to pick up his third podium of the season, and 90th of his Formula One F1 career. Hamilton remains fourth all-time, behind Fernando Alonso - third - who has 97 career podiums.



The final rung on the podium went to Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) who picked up his 82nd career podium. Raikkonen is fifth all-time, just one ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen also moved up two positions and is now third in the drivers championship. It was also Ferrari's 700th podium.



Valtteri Bottas (Williams) would finish fourth after a hard fight. But despite a scoring the team's best result of the season, it would seem a bit disappointing after starting on the front row.



Felipe Massa (Williams) would round out the top-five.



Well, well... Fernando Alonso would finish sixth - best result of the season - in his McLaren Honda. The result was his best since the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix when he finished fifth. It was also the best finish for the team since Jenson Button finished sixth at the 2015 United States Grand Prix - seven races ago.



Button would also score a point. With the Red Bulls, and Vettel out of the way, McLaren Honda made a good day of it.



Recap



When the lights went out, Nico Rosberg got a great start at the front, while Kimi Raikkonen got the jump on Valtteri Bottas to move up to P2. Behind, Vettel was hit from behind by Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull under braking while racing Daniel Ricciardo for position. Kvyat then slammed into Vettel again driving him into the wall! A furious Vettel said, "Oh for F*** sake! Someone hit me in the rear in Turn Two, and then someone hit me in the rear at Turn Three. What the F*** are we doing here ?"



During the Safety Car period, Sergio Perez pitted due to a puncture, while the Red Bull cars pitted for the soft tyre in a strategy move - apparently prepared to go the race distance.



On the restart, Rosberg pulled away again while Valtteri Bottas would get the jump on Kimi Raikkonen and take back P2. Hamilton had moved up from 10th at the start to P4.



A slow 15 minutes later, the Stewards issued a 10-second stop-n-go penalty to Kvyat. Was it justice or will be more required after the race ?



The Stewards also issued a stop-n-go penalty to Esteban Gutierrez (Haas) for hitting Nico Hulkenberg at the start and knocking him out of the race.



Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton burst past Kimi Raikkonen for P3, and was quickly into a solid position, about six seconds off the lead on Lap 10. However, over the next six laps, Hamilton would be ineffective getting past Bottas, and drop back by an amazing 16 seconds! Yikes.



Then Bottas pitted, followed by Hamilton a lap later. As Hamilton emerged he had to get past Bottas, the pair went side-by-side with Bottas reigning supreme! Exciting stuff. Hamilton would chase Bottas for another lap and finally get past with a strong on-track pass.



Rosberg would pit on lap 22, and roll on to victory of the soft Pirelli tyre. Hamilton would never get close, and battled a water pressure issue in the closing laps.



Max Verstappen would race well until "something with the engine" would end his race in smoke. The good news is that his name continues to make the rounds for "moving up".



All-in-all, an exciting start to the Grand Prix made Rosberg's walk to the win much more exciting than expected.



In two weeks, the Formula One F1 series will kick off the European leg of the season at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

























































2016 Russian GP (Sochi): Formula One Race Results

POS. DRIVER COUNTRY TEAM TIME POINTS 1 Nico Rosberg GER MERCEDES 1:32:41.997 25 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR MERCEDES +25.022s 18 3 Kimi Raikkonen FIN FERRARI +31.998s 15 4 Valtteri Bottas FIN WILLIAMS +50.217s 12 5 Felipe Massa BRA WILLIAMS +74.427s 10 6 Fernando Alonso ESP MCLAREN +1 LAP 8 7 Kevin Magnussen DEN RENAULT +1 LAP 6 8 Romain Grosjean FRA HAAS +1 LAP 4 9 Sergio Perez MEX Force India +1 LAP 2 10 Jenson Button GBR MCLAREN +1 LAP 1 11 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull Racing +1 LAP 0 12 Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso +1 LAP 0 13 Jolyon Palmer GBR RENAULT +1 LAP 0 14 Marcus Ericsson SWE SAUBER +1 LAP 0 15 Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull Racing +1 LAP 0 16 Felipe Nasr BRA SAUBER +1 LAP 0 17 Esteban Gutierrez MEX HAAS +1 LAP 0 18 PASCAL WEHRLEIN GER MANOR +2 LAPS 0 NC Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso DNF 0 NC Sebastian Vettel GER FERRARI DNF 0 NC Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India DNF 0 NC Rio Haryanto INA MANOR DNF 0

* Provisional results











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