2020 Russian Grand Prix

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2020 Russian Grand Prix
Race 10 of 17 [a] in the 2020 Formula One World Championship
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Circuit Sochi.svg
Layout of the Sochi Autodrom
Race details
Date27 September 2020
Official name Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020
Location Sochi Autodrom
Adlersky City District, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.848 km (3.634 miles)
Distance 53 laps, 309.745 km (192.467 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Mercedes
Time 1:31.304
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Finland.svg Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
Time 1:37.030 on lap 51
Podium
First Mercedes
Second Red Bull Racing-Honda
Third Mercedes
Lap leaders
  • 2020 Russian Grand Prix

The 2020 Russian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020) was a Formula One motor race held on 27 September, 2020 at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia. The race was the tenth round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship, ninth running of the Russian Grand Prix and the seventh time held in Sochi. The 53-lap race was won by Valtteri Bottas of the Mercedes team, with Max Verstappen of Red Bull placing 2nd, and Lewis Hamilton taking the final podium place.

Contents

Background

This race was Scuderia Ferrari's 1000th start in a World Championship event as a team. [1]

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

The 2020 championship was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the originally planned Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed, prompting the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile to draft a new calendar. However, the Russian Grand Prix kept its original date. Up to 30,000 fans were expected to attend the race with social distancing measures in place. [2] Haas driver Romain Grosjean expressed discomfort over the handling of the pandemic situation at his hotel. [3]

Entrants

Ten teams (each representing a different constructor) each entered two drivers. The drivers and teams were the same as those on the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for either the race or practice. [4]

Tyres

Sole Formula One tyre manufacturer Pirelli supplied their C3, C4 and C5 compound tyres for teams to use in the race, the three softest compounds available. [5]

Practice

The first free practice session ended with Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas quickest, followed by Daniel Ricciardo of Renault and Max Verstappen of Red Bull. The session was disrupted first by McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr.'s spin in turn seven, which caused damage to his rear wing and triggered a virtual safety car. Nicholas Latifi of Williams spun in turn ten causing severe damage to his car and triggering another red flag. [6]

The second practice session ended with Bottas ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ricciardo. [7] The third practice session ended with Hamilton fastest ahead of Bottas and Sainz Jr. [8]

Qualifying

Hamilton took pole, 0.563s ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas finished 3rd with Sergio Pérez in 4th for Racing Point. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo qualified 5th followed by Carlos Sainz Jr., Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon.

Out in Q1 (the first part of qualifying) were Romain Grosjean, Antonio Giovinazzi, Kevin Magnussen, Nicholas Latifi and Kimi Räikkönen. In Q2, Charles Leclerc finished 11th, missing out on Q3 after his teammate Sebastian Vettel crashed, bringing out the red flag and Hamilton making it to the line to set his final lap in Q2 seconds before the chequered flag came out to end the session. Daniil Kvyat was 12th followed by Lance Stroll, whose engine overheated preventing him from going out for a second run in Q2, Williams driver George Russell and Vettel. [9]

Qualifying classification

Pos.No.DriverConstructorQualifying timesFinal
grid
Q1Q2Q3
144 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.9831:32.8351:31.3041
233 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:33.6301:33.1571:31.8672
377 Flag of Finland.svg Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:32.6561:32.4051:31.9563
411 Flag of Mexico.svg Sergio Pérez Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 1:33.7041:33.0381:32.3174
53 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:33.6501:32.2181:32.3645
655 Flag of Spain.svg Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 1:33.9671:32.7571:32.5506
731 Flag of France.svg Esteban Ocon Renault 1:33.5571:33.1961:32.6247
84 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1:33.8041:33.0811:32.8478
910 Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1:33.7341:33.1391:33.0009
1023 Flag of Thailand.svg Alexander Albon Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:33.9191:33.1531:33.00815 1
1116 Flag of Monaco.svg Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:34.0711:33.239N/A10
1226 Flag of Russia.svg Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 1:33.5111:33.249N/A11
1318 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 1:33.8521:33.364N/A12
1463 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1:34.0201:33.583N/A13
155 Flag of Germany.svg Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:34.1341:33.609N/A14
168 Flag of France.svg Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1:34.592N/AN/A16
1799 Flag of Italy.svg Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:34.594N/AN/A17
1820 Flag of Denmark.svg Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1:34.681N/AN/A18
196 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1:35.066N/AN/A20 1
207 Flag of Finland.svg Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:35.267N/AN/A19
107% time: 1:39.141
Source: [10] [11]

Race

Kimi Räikkönen started his 322nd Grand Prix, tying Rubens Barrichello's record. Carlos Sainz Jr. took to the run off area and hit the wall trying to rejoin the circuit at the race start. Charles Leclerc collided with Lance Stroll causing the latter to hit a wall. The safety car was sent out to clear the debris at the second turn.

Lewis Hamilton was handed down two 5-second penalties for doing practice starts outside the designated areas, which he served on his first pitstop. Hamilton was also initially given two penalty points on his FIA Super Licence which would have left him on 10 penalty points for the last 12 months period, only two penalty points short of a race ban. However, these penalty points were rescinded after stewards received information that team radio communications had advised Hamilton about where he could or could not do a practice start and the team was fined instead for their error. [13] [14] [15] Both Daniel Ricciardo and Alexander Albon were given a 5-second penalty for exceeding the track limits at turn 2.

The race was won by Valtteri Bottas ahead of Max Verstappen and Hamilton. The result left Hamilton leading the championship with 205 points from teammate Bottas on 161 points. [16] [17]

Race classification

Pos.No.DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
177 Flag of Finland.svg Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 531:34:00.364326 1
233 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 53+7.729218
344 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53+22.729115
411 Flag of Mexico.svg Sergio Pérez Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 53+30.558412
53 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Daniel Ricciardo Renault 53+52.065 2 510
616 Flag of Monaco.svg Charles Leclerc Ferrari 53+1:02.186108
731 Flag of France.svg Esteban Ocon Renault 53+1:08.00676
826 Flag of Russia.svg Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 53+1:08.740114
910 Flag of France.svg Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 53+1:29.76692
1023 Flag of Thailand.svg Alexander Albon Red Bull Racing-Honda 53+1:37.860 2 151
1199 Flag of Italy.svg Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 52+1 lap17
1220 Flag of Denmark.svg Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 52+1 lap18
135 Flag of Germany.svg Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 52+1 lap14
147 Flag of Finland.svg Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 52+1 lap19
154 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 52+1 lap8
166 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 52+1 lap20
178 Flag of France.svg Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 52+1 lap16
1863 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg George Russell Williams-Mercedes 52+1 lap13
Ret55 Flag of Spain.svg Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 0Accident6
Ret18 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 0Collision12
Fastest lap: Flag of Finland.svg Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) – 1:37.030 (lap 51)
Source: [11] [18] [19]
Notes

Championship standings after the race

See also

Notes

  1. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic saw several Grands Prix cancelled or rescheduled. The revised calendar consisted of seventeen races.
  2. Racing Point was deducted 15 points after a protest from Renault was upheld regarding the legality of their car. [20]

References

  1. Privateer Ferrari entry in 1950 French Grand Prix, which is often a source of incorrect count for their races as a team (as opposed to as a manufacturer) doesn't count towards the team's participations.
  2. Smith, Luke; Karpov, Oleg (12 August 2020). "Sochi targeting 30,000 F1 fans for Russian Grand Prix". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  3. Vinel, Benjamin; Smith, Luke (2 October 2020). "Small rise in F1 COVID cases not linked to fans attending Russian GP". Autosport.com. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  4. "2020 Russian Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  5. "2020 Tuscan and Russian Grands Prix - Tyre compound choices". Pirelli. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  6. "FP1: Bottas quickest, Latifi brings out the reds". PlanetF1. 25 September 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  7. Kalinauckas, Alex (25 September 2020). "F1 Russian GP: Bottas beats Hamilton to Sochi FP2 top spot". Autosport. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  8. "FP3: Hamilton blitzes Bottas in final practice". PlanetF1. 26 September 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  9. "Hamilton survives Q2 scare to beat Verstappen to Russia pole, as Vettel crashes heavily". formula1.com. 26 September 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  10. "Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 26 September 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020 – Starting Grid". Formula1.com. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  12. "Albon and Latifi take grid penalties for Russian GP after gearbox changes". formula1.com. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  13. "Hamilton penalty rescinded by F1 bosses". BBC Sport.
  14. "Hamilton's penalty points rescinded, Mercedes fined instead". The Race. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  15. "Why FIA went back on 'inappropriate' Hamilton penalty points". The Race. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  16. 1 2 3 "Russia 2020 - Championship". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  17. "Valtteri Bottas wins Russian GP as time penalty denies Hamilton's record bid". Guardian. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  18. 1 2 "Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020 – Race Result". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  19. "Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix 2020 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  20. "Racing Point deducted 15 points and fined heavily as Renault protest into car legality upheld". formula1.com. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
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2020 Tuscan Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
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2020 Eifel Grand Prix
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2019 Russian Grand Prix
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2021 Russian Grand Prix