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Max Verstappen delivers a Sochi showstopper with a last to 2nd charge
The Red Bull Racing Honda star displays some superb overtaking and rides his luck in the late-race rain to drive from the back row to the podium in Russia.
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Tick the box and move on; that was the unofficial motto for Red Bull Racing Honda ahead of Sunday's Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, given the team had managed just a single podium (Max Verstappen's second place last year) in seven years at a circuit that chief title rivals Mercedes had made their own.
To be fair to Red Bull Racing, Mercedes has bossed everyone at the Sochi Autodrom since it first came onto the calendar in 2014, winning all seven races at the 5.8km seaside circuit. So, if Verstappen could limit the damage on Sunday, then he – and the team – could live to fight another day at tracks more suited to both driver and car before the end of the season.
The results of Sunday's race show another Russian win for Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton's 100th Grand Prix success – while Verstappen's second-place finish made the damage limitation mission complete. In the story of the 2021 season, a 1–2 finish for the runaway Formula One front-runners seems straightforward, but in keeping with the compelling nature of this year's world championship, it was anything but.
Verstappen's late charge in the wet propelled him to the podium
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After beginning every race this season from inside the top three, Verstappen was at the other end of the grid on Sunday, starting last after Red Bull Racing elected to introduce a new Honda power unit outside of his allocation of three for the season – a long-term strategic play that came with short-term grid penalty pain. On the hardest-compound Pirelli tyres, Verstappen's plan was to keep his nose clean, be patient and wait for something to happen – and that something duly did when the grey Sochi skies dumped rain on the circuit inside the final five laps.
What started as a trickle turned into a deluge, with long-time race leader Lando Norris (McLaren) electing to stay out and brave the conditions on dry-weather tyres, while Hamilton and those behind him pitted for intermediate-compound rubber. Norris, who started from pole, was denied a maiden win by running wide with three laps left, Hamilton sweeping through to take his first victory since the British Grand Prix and regain the championship lead.
Initially reluctant to pit as the rain intensified, Verstappen finally came in for wet-weather tyres with four laps left and then flew past a host of rivals scrabbling for grip on slick tyres to finish second – 53.2 seconds behind his chief title rival, but snaring 18 precious points on a day where scoring any was a bonus.
Norris eventually fell to a despondent seventh at the chequered flag, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who led the opening 12 laps after out-dragging Norris to the first corner off the start, rounding out the podium.
Here's how an intriguing race built to a thrilling (and damp) conclusion in Sochi.
2nd place akin to a win for Max
Verstappen's post-race face was one of part relief, part joy. With Hamilton starting fourth after a scrappy qualifying session, the Dutchman knew finishing somewhere near his title rival was a genuine possibility from the halfway stage of the race, but second was beyond any expectations for both driver and team principal Christian Horner.
Hamilton reclaimed the series lead by two points, but the second place was, in Horner's eyes at least, as good as a victory.
"To come from 20th to P2, if you'd offered us that at the beginning of the day we'd have absolutely taken it," Horner beamed. "It feels like a victory for us today. We thought top five would be possible, so to come away with a podium, that's hugely valuable.
"The last two venues we knew Mercedes had historically been very strong. Congrats to Lewis on his centenary of victories, but for us to come away from here only two points behind in the championship, with an engine penalty taken, that's good news."
After starting last, 18 points were a welcome surprise for Verstappen
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Verstappen's 11th podium finish for the season was, as he put it, a pleasant surprise: "With the penalty we had, to lose only one spot (to Hamilton) basically, is definitely not too bad. When I woke up this morning, I definitely didn't expect this result. We decided at the right time to pit, because if we'd gone one lap earlier, you would have destroyed the inters in the last sector.
"Coming from the back, a lot of things happen on the first lap and even in the first stint, other cars fighting each other… you just have to stay out of trouble and stay clean. We managed all of that very well. The crucial call to go to inters worked out."
Checo caught out
While one side of the Red Bull Racing Honda garage read the rain right, the other side rolled the dice and paid the price after Sergio Pérez finished ninth, the Mexican dropping from a possible podium with just five laps to go.
Like several rivals with nothing to lose in the top 10, Pérez elected to stick it out as the rain came down, which was initially a justifiable call, as parts of the circuit remained bone-dry. However the intermediate tyre was undoubtedly the one to be on in the final laps and Pérez ended up finishing where he'd qualified 24 hours earlier, scoring two points to maintain his fifth place in the championship standings.
Pérez was able to continue his perfect points-scoring run in Sochi
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"Checo thought he might be able to get through it and that was the wrong decision, but it could have gone either way," Horner said of Pérez. "Max benefited massively and Checo lost out significantly, so for Max in the Drivers' Championship the damage limitation is fantastic, but in the Constructors' (championship) we conceded points. Sergio wasn't alone – there were a whole bunch of guys who tried to brave it out so close to the finish."
Mercedes earned 35 points for Hamilton's win and a fifth-place finish for team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who started well down the order after taking his second engine penalty in as many races hours before the start of Sunday's race. Red Bull's 20 points between Verstappen and Pérez saw the team fall to 33 points behind the Silver Arrows in the Constructors' race.
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Milestone falls flat for AlphaTauri
Russia was the 300th race start for Scuderia AlphaTauri (taking in the team's starts as Scuderia Toro Rosso from 2006), but there was little cause for celebration after the rain ruined qualifying and the race for Pierre Gasly.
The Frenchman was very unhappy after not pitting for a second set of new intermediate tyres as the wet qualifying session dried up on Saturday. Starting from 11th, Gasly made headway into the top 10 with a marathon opening stint on hard tyres, but fell back in the late-race chaos, clashing with Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) at Turn 9 in the deluge. He eventually finished 13th, but retained ninth in the Drivers' standings.
Gasly's frustrating weekend ended outside of the points
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Team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, a podium finisher in Formula 2 in Russia 12 months previously, enjoyed his best qualifying in the past six races to start 13th on the grid, but had to take to the run-off at Turn 2 in the midfield mess of the opening lap and fell to last, before recovering to 17th at the chequered flag.
Norris gutted by near-miss
Sochi was a case of so near yet so far for Lando Norris, who was impeccable all weekend until the rain came as he was being hunted down by a driver with 99 more race wins in the closing stages.
Afterwards, the 21-year-old said he had nobody else to blame for letting the chance of a breakthrough maiden win – and McLaren's second in succession – slipping through his fingers.
"I guess we made a call to stay out. It was the wrong one at the end of the day, but I made a decision just as much as the team," he said. "In fact, it was more that they thought I should (pit) and I decided to stay out. So it was my decision. I thought it was the way to go. It was wrong at the end of the day."
Norris led for 30 of the 53 laps, recorded the fastest lap of the race on Lap 39 and was voted Driver of the Day by the fans, but that was clearly of little comfort as the tears flowed afterwards.
Fourth for team-mate Daniel Ricciardo – after the Australian's win at Monza last time out – saw McLaren edge further ahead of Ferrari for third in the Constructors' Standings, enjoying a 17.5-point advantage.
Hoping for a Turkish delight
It's a relatively short (by Formula One standards) hop to the next race from Sochi to Istanbul for the Turkish Grand Prix on October 10, where the drivers will relish a chance to return to one of the sport's most satisfying layouts at a time of year more conducive to getting the best out of their machinery.
Last year's first Turkish GP since 2011 was an exercise in low-grip frustration: a mid-November date, a newly-resurfaced track, bitterly cold weather and persistent drizzle combining to produce a race where cars seemingly spent more time slithering sideways than pointing forwards. Hamilton won the 58-lap event and secured his seventh world championship as a result.
Few drivers on the grid have more than that one race of F1 experience at the circuit. Pérez managed second last year for Racing Point, while Verstappen finished sixth in a statistical anomaly – it was the only time in 2020 where the Dutchman didn't finish on the podium in a race where he saw the chequered flag.
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