Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg looks unstoppable in the 2016 F-1 World Championship season. He won the Russian GP at Sochi as easily as he did at Shanghai a fortnight ago. Though his Mercedes teammate and defending world champion Lewis Hamilton finished second to make it 1-2 for Team Mercedes, there was no challenge that Rosberg faced on Sunday. The other contender, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had a controversial first-lap collision with Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and his race was over at the start itself. In another pole-to-flag flawless performance, Rosberg shot into the lead as the the race began and kept his top position intact all the way to the finish line. To Hamilton’s credit, after he couldn’t make any dent in the qualifying because of yet another power-unit failure and started tenth, the Britisher avoided any further drama and finished second on the podium. In a race full of track drama, Vettel was not the only one making the exit. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg had also to retire in first lap after his car was made to spin by Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez. Another driver, who made the first-lap exit was Manor-Mercedes’ Rio Haryanto, while Daniil Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Marcus Ericsson all needed to pit for fixing damages that their cars sustained in an extremely eventful race.
Championship leader Nico Rosberg was the pole winner in Saturday’s qualifying even as triple world champion was sidelined due to his engine’s power-unit failure. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel came second but he was slapped a five-place grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change. For the second race in a row, Hamilton remained a mute witness in the qualifying as luck deserted him. In China too, Hamilton had faced the same problem and had to begin the race from the back of the grid. Valtteri Bottas of the Williams was second after Rosberg; Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished third, Williams’ Felipe Massa fourth; Red Bulls’s Daniel Ricciardo fifth; Force India’s Sergio Perez sixth; Ferrari’s Vettel seventh; Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat eighth; Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen ninth and Hamilton was tenth.
A second 1-2 finish of the year for the Mercedes team has given them an 81 points lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ reckoning. But they were clearly helped by the first-lap exit for Vettel. As for Rosberg, he has now won 7 consecutive races, counting the last three of the 2015 season. He also wrote his name among such celebrities as Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell and Brazilian Ayrton Senna, who had won the first four races in a season. With 17 races remaining, Rosberg leads Hamilton by 43 points and Vettel is 67 points adrift of Rosberg in the championship standings.