The Mercedes once again dictates its law in Sochi. No one else can win on this track, even if today, more than the speed of the Silver Arrows or the skill of its drivers, has paid the fortune. The Ferraris seemed able to dominate the race until the end, but a problem with the engine of Sebastian Vettel forced the German to retire and in the meantime the safety car triggered by himself allowed Lewis Hamilton to make the pit-stop and maintain the record ahead of Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque, who had mounted medium tires, then wanted to put the soft as his opponents, to fight on equal terms and lost the second place to the advantage of Valtteri Bottas. The Ferrari driver was no longer able to overtake the Finn and so what on paper could easily have been a Ferrari one-two has irretrievably turned into a Mercedes one-two.
F1 GP Russia 2019: race day
The month of September so far has been golden for Ferrari, which has won four consecutive poles with Charles Leclerc in all the Grand Prix courses after the summer break and three victories. The icing on the cake would be the poker and the Reds today have all the credentials to win, not only, could even aim for a double win just like in Singapore.
But in this 2019 Russian Grand Prix, there is a certain Lewis Hamilton who, with his Mercedes, starts from the front row, next to Leclerc, and has every intention of interrupting the fast to which Ferrari has forced him. The world champion has not won since July 29 in Hungary, two months exactly between summer stop and three of the Reds, a period of abstinence long for him who this season has never been without a victory for more than one weekend.
Today probably at Sochi Autodrom we will see another long head-to-head between Ferrari and Mercedes. If at the start everything will be fine for the Reds, Leclerc could find himself for the umpteenth time to dispute the race ahead, but with Hamilton constantly in his rear-view mirror, ready to take advantage of every wrong move and the possible wear of the tires. The strategy of the pit stops and the choice of tires will be fundamental.
Sebastian Vettel starts from the third position, just like in Singapore, and hopes to succeed also this time in mocking the first ones, even if it seems very difficult that from the Ferrari pits they favor him again, especially after the pout of Leclerc last week and considering the fact that the boy, with his four consecutive poles and six seasons, deserves all the possible support from the team.
Attention also to Max Verstappen, always ready to take advantage of any false step of the opponents. In qualifying, he got the fourth time, but since he changed the engine he has to pay the penalty of five positions and starts from the fifth row. However, for him overtaking is never a problem, on the contrary, he is ready to have fun and have fun.
Today the drivers will have to cover 53 laps of the Sochi Autodrom track which is 5,848 km long for a total of 309,745 km. The record lap belongs to Valtteri Bottas, who covered the circuit in 1:35.861 during the 2018 race. Last year, however, the Finn, who started from pole position, had to slow down on lap 25 to get past Lewis Hamilton who then won the race ahead of him and Sebastian Vettel, who climbed to the third step of the podium.
The 2019 Russian Grand Prix will be shown as usual live on Sky Sport Uno, on channel 201 of the satellite platform and 472 (in HD) and 482 (in SD) of the digital terrestrial. The commentary is entrusted to Carlo Vanzini, assisted for the technical commentary by Marc Genè and Roberto Chinchero plus Matteo Bobbi for further technical insights.
Federica Masolin, Davide Valsecchi and Jacques Villeneuve are connected to the paddocks for Paddock Live before and after the race, while Mara Sangiorgio takes care of the interviews. In the evening space at Race Anatomy with Fabio Tavelli and Leo Turrini. In streaming, you can see everything through SkyGo. Those who are not subscribers must wait for the deferred free-to-air on TV8 at 6 pm.