F1 2018: Hamilton wins Russian Grand Prix as team orders dictate outcome

Lewis Hamilton's win at Sochi allowed him to stretch his championship lead by 50 points. 

Lewis Hamilton won the Russian Grand Prix in an unceremonious fashion, ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas, thanks to Mercedes-AMG’s team orders. Behind the Mercedes duo, it was Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in third. Hamilton’s win today means that he’s now 50 points clear of Vettel in the championship standings, with five more races to go.

Hamilton's win, however, was not the hot topic of the day. It was Bottas' loss that really grabbed all the headlines. You see, after out-qualifying his teammate to pole and with no signs of Ferrari challenging Mercedes at Sochi, Bottas was on course to win his first grand prix of the year. As the light wents out, he made a cracking start. Hamilton, who was alongside him in second place, was equally impressive as he successfully kept Vettel at bay in the first lap. Both Bottas and Hamilton were able to fend Vettel and his Ferrari in the opening laps. It looked like a straightforward affair...

However, lap 12 saw Bottas pit to change tyres, and Vettel did the same in the next lap. Hamilton, however, stayed out for another lap and pitted on lap 14. This delay caused him to lose some time, and as a result, he lost the second position to Vettel when he came out of the pits. Vettel was only a second behind Bottas, but he found himself sandwiched between the two Mercs. In what can be termed as a spectacular move, Hamilton overtook Vettel, despite being stunned by an aggressive defensive move by Vettel.

Bottas and Hamilton again looked in control of the race as they were able to pull away from Vettel. However, their charge came to a halt, thanks to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was leading the race then. Verstappen had started the race from the back of the grid (19^th), but he charged through the field in the opening laps. The reason he was leading the race was that he was running long-lasting soft-tyres, which helped him to stay out longer without the need of pitting early on in the race.

While Verstappen was controlling the pace at the front, it helped Vettel to get back within 1.5 seconds of Hamilton, who also had a similar gap to Bottas. Fearing that Hamilton will come under pressure from Vettel, Mercedes-AMG F1 quickly sent out team orders, asking Bottas to let Hamilton through. It sure was frustrating for Bottas, but he yet again compromised his race for the team and Hamilton.

Hamilton stayed behind Verstappen, waiting for the Red Bull driver to pit in the last laps. And with 10 laps to go, that happened. Hamilton took the lead with Bottas in second and Vettel in third. In the closing laps, when it was certain that Mercedes are headed for a 1-2, Bottas asked if the finishing order will be the same. He was told by his team to maintain his position and that it’ll be discussed later. As a result, Hamilton won the race, followed by Bottas and Vettel.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth. Verstappen managed to take fifth, and his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo was sixth. Sauber’s Charles Leclerc was the best of the rest in seventh. Kevin Magnussen managed to take the eighth spot as he successfully managed to keep Force India’s Esteban Ocon (9^th) and Sergio Perez (10^th) at bay for pretty much all the race.