2017 Russian Grand Prix

  2017 Russian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 4 of 20 in the 2017 Formula One season
Layout of the Sochi Autodrom
Date	30 April 2017
Official name	2017 Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix
Location	Sochi Autodrom, Adlersky City District, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.848 km (3.634 mi)
Distance	52 laps, 303.897 km (188.833 mi)
Scheduled Distance	53 laps, 309.745 km (192.467 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Attendance	150,000
Pole position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Time	1:33.194
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Time	1:36.844 on lap 49
Podium
First	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Second	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Third	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2017 Russian Grand Prix (), officially known as the 2017 Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race that took place on 30 April 2017 as the fourth round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship. The fifty-two lap race was held at the Sochi Autodrom, marking the fourth running of the Russian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. Sebastian Vettel started the race from pole, with his teammate Kimi Räikkönen in second in Ferrari's first front-row lockout since the 2008 French Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas won the race, taking his first win in Formula 1 by 0.617 seconds over Vettel, the smallest winning margin since the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Going into the race, Vettel led Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship by seven points, with Bottas third; they remained in the same order after the race. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari was in the lead ahead of Mercedes before the race, with Red Bull Racing third; Mercedes was ahead of Ferrari after the race.

Report

Background

Driver changes

Further information: 2017 Formula One World Championship § Teams and drivers

Sergey Sirotkin made his first appearance of the season with Renault, driving in place of Nico Hülkenberg in the first free practice session.

Race

The initial start was aborted, as Fernando Alonso was unable to start, pulling up in the opening to the pit lane because of engine issues. Team radio from the initial parade lap suggested issues with the MGU-K electronic power supplementary unit leading to a loss of hybrid power. Without the energy recovery system (ERS), the MCL32 would be uncompetitive and racing would put an unnecessary wear upon the rest of the power unit. Alonso's McLaren teammate Stoffel Vandoorne had already been given a 15-place grid penalty, having exceeded the limit of four exchanges of power unit per driver and car throughout the season stipulated by the 2017 regulations. With Alonso's car already being at least partially on its fourth power unit of the season on only race 4 out of 20, in the light of the charge failure, a decision was made to retire Alonso from the race in order to preserve the car. Alonso was unable to even complete the formation lap, suffering from a total car failure before being able to return to the pitlane. Carlos Sainz Jr. was given a 3-place penalty as a result of causing a collision with Lance Stroll at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Because of Alonso's car obstructing the track, the start was aborted by the FIA's race director Charlie Whiting, and the cars were sent on an additional formation lap. The race was accordingly shortened by a lap. Valtteri Bottas attained his maiden victory after taking first place at the start, passing both Ferraris before turn 2 – aided by starting from the clean side of the grid, and picking up the slipstream behind Vettel. Hamilton attempted the same, but was squeezed on both sides by the Ferrari of Räikkönen, now running 3rd – and Ricciardo of Red Bull, challenging for 4th from 5th. This caused him to be held up and hemmed into his starting grid position, where he would stay for the remainder of the race. Vettel meanwhile pulled away from tight racing of the main straight, and pursued Bottas. Vettel briefly led the race when Bottas went into the pits following his one-stop strategy, but then lost his position again after his own pit stop. He again spent the final third of the race gradually closing the distance between himself and Bottas, coming to within 0.7 seconds just a few laps before the end. Lapped traffic, particularly the delayed Williams of Massa, however, ultimately prevented him from overtaking the race leader, leading to a secure second place for the German. Kimi Räikkönen rounded off the podium. He once again set a late fastest lap of 1:36.844 on lap 49, recording not only the fast lap of the race, but also the fastest ever lap at the circuit. At the chequered flag, he was followed by Lewis Hamilton, finishing a distant 4th. Hamilton had struggled with overheating throughout the race.

Non-finishers were Fernando Alonso, who failed to make it to the grid with a hybrid-charge failure, as well as Jolyon Palmer and Romain Grosjean who crashed on the first lap, causing a safety car deployment. Daniel Ricciardo retired with brake problems while running in 7th. Felipe Massa was running in 6th when he obtained a slow puncture and had to pit for new tyres, falling to 9th behind the Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon as well as the Renault of Nico Hülkenberg.

There were very few on-track overtakes after the safety car period. Despite making up two places before turn 2, Max Verstappen's Red Bull did not advance further, finishing in 5th, a minute behind Bottas, once again showing Red Bull's struggles to keep up with Ferrari and Mercedes. The team's problems were compounded by the retirement of Daniel Ricciardo, their third mechanical failure in four races.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	Car no.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:34.493	1:34.038	1:33.194	1
2	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:34.953	1:33.663	1:33.253	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:34.041	1:33.264	1:33.289	3
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.409	1:33.760	1:33.767	4
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:35.560	1:35.483	1:34.905	5
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:35.828	1:35.049	1:35.110	6
7	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:35.301	1:35.221	1:35.161	7
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:35.507	1:35.328	1:35.285	8
9	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:36.185	1:35.513	1:35.337	9
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:35.372	1:35.729	1:35.430	10
11	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:35.827	1:35.948		14
12	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:36.279	1:35.964		11
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:35.984	1:35.968		12
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:36.408	1:36.017		13
15	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1:36.353	1:36.660		15
16	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:36.462			16
17	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda	1:37.070			20
18	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber-Ferrari	1:37.332			17
19	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:37.507			18
20	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:37.620			19
107% time: 1:40.623
Source:

Notes

• ^1 – Carlos Sainz, Jr. was given a three-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident with Lance Stroll at the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix.
• ^2 – Stoffel Vandoorne received a fifteen-place grid penalty for changing various engine components.

Race

File:2017 Russian Grand Prix 7.jpg

The podium, from right to left, Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	52	1:28:08.743	3	25
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	52	+0.617	1	18
3	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	52	+11.000	2	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	52	+36.230	4	12
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	52	+1:00.416	7	10
6	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	52	+1:26.788	9	8
7	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	52	+1:35.004	10	6
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	52	+1:36.188	8	4
9	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	51	+1 Lap	6	2
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	51	+1 Lap	14	1
11	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	51	+1 Lap	11
12	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	51	+1 Lap	12
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	51	+1 Lap	13
14	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda	51	+1 Lap	20
15	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	51	+1 Lap	18
16	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber-Ferrari	50	+2 Laps	17
Ret	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	5	Brakes	5
Ret	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	0	Collision	16
Ret	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	0	Collision	19
DNS	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	0	Gearbox	–
Source:

Notes

• ^1 – Fernando Alonso's car failed during the first formation lap. His place on the grid was left vacant.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos.	Driver	Points
	1	Sebastian Vettel	86
	2	Lewis Hamilton	73
	3	Valtteri Bottas	63
	4	Kimi Räikkönen	49
	5	Max Verstappen	35
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos.	Constructor	Points
1	1	Mercedes	136
1	2	Ferrari	135
	3	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	57
	4	Force India-Mercedes	31
	5	Williams-Mercedes	18
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

External links

Previous race: 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 2017 season	Next race: 2017 Spanish Grand Prix
Previous race: 2016 Russian Grand Prix	Russian Grand Prix	Next race: 2018 Russian Grand Prix