Formula 1 2020 Russian Grand Prix results

Hamilton was hit with a 10-second time penalty during Sunday's Russian Grand Prix for completing two practice starts en route to the grid that went against the FIA's pre-race instructions.
The FIA stewards initially handed Hamilton two penalty points on his FIA superlicence, taking him up to a total of 10 for the last 12 months. Drivers receive an automatic one-race ban if they receive 12 ...

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Following a brutal run of three triple-headers to start the 2020 Formula 1 season, the paddock ventured to Sochi last weekend for its first standalone event of the year.
The Russian Grand Prix has rarely been a memorable race through its seven-year history, and the 2020 running wasn't much of an exception as a pre-race penalty overshadowed the race.
Valtteri Bottas breathed a little bit of ...

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From 13th on the grid Russell became caught up in an incident at Turn 2, and he followed Carlos Sainz through the escape route, just missing the crashing McLaren driver.
Having lost ground and with the safety car out, his team made an instant strategic call to bring him in and put him on the hard tyre, allowing him to potentially run to the end.
Russell subsequently enjoyed a ...

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Hamilton asked the team as he drove out of the pitlane if he could conduct his starts beyond the usual area, which was covered in rubber after two days of action.
His engineer Peter Bonnington said he could, but with no TV coverage of his exit from the pitlane, the team did not spot how far beyond the usual area he had travelled.
After running through the pits, Hamilton conducted a second ...

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The nature of the Sochi circuit, with very few heavy braking zones and long flat-out sections, make it hard for the turbo hybrid engines to recover enough power throughout each lap to run at maximum boost for the entire length of the circuit.
That results in what is known as 'clipping' - when the power unit runs out of the extra 160hp battery boost towards the end of the straights.
With Red ...

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Drivers who went behind the apex kerbs were obliged to take an ?escape route? created by a gap between the polystyrene blocks and the wall, or face a loss of a lap time in qualifying or a five-second penalty in the race.
Sainz ran straight on at the corner on the first lap of the Russian GP, and having misjudged his speed through the gap the McLaren driver ran hard into the wall, saying ...

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Hamilton was deemed to have completed two practice starts en route to the grid in the wrong place, going against Formula 1 race director Michael Masi's pre-race instructions.
It resulted in a five-second time penalty for each violation, forcing Hamilton to wait for 10 seconds when pitting, dropping him out of the lead.
He eventually finished the race third as teammate Valtteri Bottas scored ...

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Hamilton was awarded two five-second time penalties for conducting two practice starts outside the designated zone beyond the pit exit, and both came with an extra penalty point for his licence.
That put him on 10 penalty points for the ongoing 12 month period, with two more incurred before the Turkish GP automatically triggering a race ban.
However, after the race the stewards spoke to ...

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Sainz's race lasted just two corners after he hit the wall while trying to weave between the bollards in the escape route set out at Turn 2, having missed the apex of the corner.
Drivers are required to pass between the orange bollards if they do not take the corner or risk incurring a five-second time penalty, in a bid to avoid finding an advantage by running wide.
Sainz clipped the wall on ...

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Ricciardo ran wide at Sochi's Turn 2 when passing teammate Esteban Ocon, and subsequently received the standard penalty from the FIA stewards for not taking the designated route behind the polystyrene blocks.
When told of the penalty by his race engineer Karel Loos he apologised and said "my bad," promising that he would drive faster to make up for it.
The Australian eventually finished ...

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Hamilton was hit with a 10-second time penalty for two separate practice start violations ahead of Sunday's race at the Sochi Autodrom.
The Mercedes driver served the penalty during the race, causing him to drop to third as teammate Valtteri Bottas won the race.
Hamilton was also hit with two penalty points on his FIA super licence for the incidents, taking him up to 10 points for the ...

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The Canadian was on the outside line heading into Turn 4 on the opening lap, with Leclerc to his inside, when they touched on corner exit and the Racing Point was sent spinning backwards into the wall.
The incident was noted by the stewards, but no further action was deemed necessary.
Leclerc went on to finish sixth for Ferrari but, speaking afterwards to Sky Sports F1, Stroll was critical ...

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Bottas echoed the radio call he made after winning the 2019 Australian Grand Prix when he repeated the message after winning Sunday's race in Sochi, which he began with "nice moment to thank my critics".
When asked to explain his words in the post-race press conference, and to explain if criticism of his results this year against teammate Lewis Hamilton had been playing on his mind, Bottas ...

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The FIA deemed that Hamilton had performed a practice start beyond the area specified in the pre-event notes issued to teams by race director Michael Masi.
The Briton was handed two five-second penalties.
After taking the penalty at his only pitstop, Hamilton finished third behind teammate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen, and he also received two penalty points, putting him ...

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Hamilton was hit with 10 seconds worth of penalties during Sunday's race in Sochi for two separate violations while en route to the grid.
Hamilton was adjudged to have breached the race director's pre-race instructions by completing two practice starts in the wrong place, including one at the end of the pit exit slip road.
It meant Hamilton ultimately finished the race third after leading ...

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The Finn had got a good slipstream after the start and was set up to try to get around the outside of his Mercedes teammate at the first braking zone.
But in the end he went in too deep, revealing that he had been distracted when a large insect smashed into his visor.
"I obviously tried," said Bottas, who in the end went on to claim victory after Hamilton was hit with two five-second ...

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Hamilton completed two practice starts on his reconnaissance laps to the grid at Sochi including one towards the end of the pitlane exit, which was against the instructions issued in the pre-event race director?s notes issued by the FIA?s Michael Masi.
The world champion therefore went into the race under investigation, with the ruling issued during the first stint as he tried to defend his ...

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From pole position, Hamilton led the charge from pole position ? starting on the soft tyre as opposed to rivals Bottas and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) on the mediums. But his race winning hopes were truly dashed by race control, which revealed two 5-second penalties for practice start violations.
Mercedes decided to pit Hamilton early, putting him on the hard tyres for the rest of the race ...

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Hamilton was handed two five-second time penalties during the Russian Grand Prix after he was found to have breached the FIA's pre-race instructions regarding practice starts.
Hamilton completed two illegal practice starts, including one at the very end of the pitlane exit road, that went against Michael Masi's instructions issued earlier this week.
He had been informed by Mercedes engineer ...

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Hamilton took the 96th pole position of his F1 career in qualifying at the Sochi Autodrom on Saturday, beating Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
But Hamilton was spotted completing a practice start at the very end of the pit exit slip road en route to the grid, passing the kink at Turn 1.
Drivers are only permitted to complete practice starts at pit exit for ...

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In a meeting in Sochi on Friday evening, the crash and the circumstances around it were discussed at length, with all drivers able to air their views.
The question of how late the safety car lights should be turned off before a restart was a main topic, along with the unusually late position on the pit straight in Mugello of the control line, where the race resumes.
The consensus was that it ...

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...

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Amid the uncertainty over the financial situation of 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Haas has elected not to introduce any upgrades this year.
One of the consequences of that, according to Grosjean, is that the team is running older parts for longer than it would in a normal campaign.
That then triggers situations where the team no longer has the best versions of components ...

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F1 announced on Friday that ex-Ferrari team principal Domenicali would be taking over from Chase Carey as the series? CEO and president at the start of next year.
Carey will stay on with F1 as a non-executive chairman, having served as CEO since Liberty Media?s takeover of the series in January 2017.
Domenicali?s appointment has won widespread praise throughout the F1 paddock given his ...

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The Russian Grand Prix venue has not been one of Ricciardo?s favourites in the past, and he knew heading in to the weekend that he needed to do something different to turn things around.
After spending time last week watching on-board footage of previous seasons, plus looking at some data, he concluded that the way to make progress was to try to be more extreme with his setup.
In ...

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Albon had been due to start the race in Sochi from 10th on the grid, but will now drop back to 15th as a result of the sanction, while Latifi will fall from 19th to 20th.
FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer confirmed in his pre-race report that both Red Bull and Williams had requested the gearbox changes on Saturday night.
?The gearbox has been replaced with the approval of the FIA technical ...

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The move comes in the wake of Lewis Hamilton?s gesture at the Tuscan GP, where the race winner wore a t-shirt carrying the message ?Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.?
The message was in support of the black medical technician who was shot and killed by police in Kentucky, and who has become a focal point in anti-racism campaigns.
Hamilton?s gesture led to a review by the FIA ...

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Sainz was an encouraging third fastest in FP3 on Saturday morning, behind only the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
However in the afternoon?s qualifying session he slipped to sixth, with cars from Red Bull, Racing Point and Renault all jumping ahead.

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Hamilton concerned about cars "flying by" him at start
Norris to race with new McLaren F1 nose ...

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Hamilton, who was forced into starting on the red-walled softer rubber when both of his opening runs in Q2 were disrupted, is also concerned about being passed on the long run from the grid to the Sochi track?s first braking point, Turn 2. 
The distance from the line to the right-hander means Hamilton will be vulnerable to an immediate attack from Red Bull?s Max Verstappen and teammate ...

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Along with third qualifier Valtteri Bottas, Verstappen was able to get through Q2 on the medium tyre, while pole man Lewis Hamilton was forced to go to the soft, and thus the two top starters will start Sunday's Russian GP different strategies.
Verstappen was potentially vulnerable after his first run on the medium in Q2, so he started a lap on the soft tyre just in case he needed to improve ...

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Hamilton initially set the fastest lap in the second stage of Formula 1 qualifying in Sochi on the medium compound tyre, only for his time to be deleted for exceeding track limits.
Hamilton wanted to go for another push lap on the same set of medium tyres, but was instructed to return to the pits.
A red flag then scuppered Hamilton's planned second run late in the session, leaving him with ...

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After a messy Q2 session, Hamilton will start at a strategic disadvantage to Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who will start on the medium tyre tomorrow, as Lewis was forced to run the soft tyre for a last-gasp effort to scrape into Q3.
In the top-10 shootout, Hamilton set the benchmark on the first run at 1m31.391s, 0.793s faster than Bottas. Hamilton then went even faster on his second ...

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Hamilton scored the 96th pole position of his F1 career in qualifying at the Sochi Autodrom on Saturday, beating Red Bull's Max Verstappen by half a second.
But the FIA stewards said during qualifying that Hamilton faced an investigation after failing to adhere to race director Michael Masi's instructions when rejoining the track at Turn 2.
Masi informed drivers in his pre-race event notes ...

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Albon arrived in Russia looking to build on his maiden F1 podium at the Tuscan Grand Prix two weeks ago, only to slump to 10th in qualifying in Sochi on Saturday.
Albon finished Q3 1.7 seconds off the pole position time set by Mercedes? Lewis Hamilton, and was over 1.1 seconds back from Red Bull teammate Verstappen, who qualified second.
But Albon said he was ?not too sure? where his ...

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Leclerc qualified 11th at the Sochi Autodrom on Saturday as Ferrari saw both of its cars be eliminated in Q2, with Sebastian Vettel finishing 15th after a crash during the session.
Leclerc missed out on a place in Q3 by just 0.043 seconds, losing out to Renault's Esteban Ocon, who had been running close to the Ferrari driver during his final Q2 lap.
The Monegasque driver felt that a mix-up ...

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Lewis Hamilton will start the Russian GP from pole position after surviving a Q2 scare that could have left him 15th on the grid. Should he win Sunday's race he will Michael Schumacher's long-standing record of 91 grand prix victories.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen posted a stunning lap to separate the two Mercedes, besting Valtteri Bottas by a tenth of a second with a last-gasp effort in ...

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Hamilton swept to the 96th pole position of his F1 career on Saturday at the Sochi Autodrom, beating Red Bull's Max Verstappen by over half a second in the final stage of qualifying.
But Hamilton was fortunate to make it that far after barely making it across the line in time to set a lap in Q2 after his initial effort was scrubbed.
The stewards deleted Hamilton's first lap in Q2 after he ...

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Hamilton also faces a post-qualifying investigation for a track limits violation ? along with Nicholas Latifi, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen ? in Q1, and is the only driver in the top three who will start the race on the unfancied soft rubber as a result of his Q2 near-miss.
In that session, where spots of rain were reported early on, Mercedes sent both of its cars out on the medium ...

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Just like teammate Carlos Sainz, Norris ran with a standard set-up on Friday ? a strategy that he said was also in part to avoid the risk of damaging the new one ? before the team made a final call last night to trial the new nose on Norris' car during the remainder of the weekend.
Despite a lack of spare parts creating problems if any damage is incurred McLaren ultimately decided to run ...

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