SOCHI, Russia — Valtteri Bottas won the Russian Grand Prix after his Mercedes teammate and F1 pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton fell from the lead Sunday because of penalties for two practice starts.
The ninth victory of the Finn’s career came in front of the largest crowd of a delayed Formula One season largely devoid of crowds because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
After winning the pole Saturday, Hamilton had been looking to match Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 wins in Formula One but had to settle for third behind Bottas and Max Verstappen. Bottas built a sizeable lead over Verstappen with ease and cruised to his first win since the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
Hamilton was already under investigation by the stewards when he started the race from pole position. Before the race he twice stopped to perform practice starts at the exit of the pit lane, rather than in the designated area. That eventually earned him two five-second penalties, dropping him as low as 11th at one stage.
“Where’s that in the rule book?” he asked the team, and called the situation “ridiculous.”
Hamilton had asked Mercedes over the radio if he could perform the starts there and was told he could.
A look back at the time penalties incurred by polesitter Lewis Hamilton before lights out – which ended up changing the complexion of the Russian Grand Prix#RussianGP 🇷🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/3EZ43De2UB
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 27, 2020
It was the second time in three races that a team blunder cost the British driver a shot at victory. Hamilton was leading at the Italian Grand Prix when he was given a penalty for entering the pit lane while it was closed, after a radio message from the team warning him was sent too late.
Hamilton’s championship lead over Bottas was cut to a still-healthy 44 points with seven scheduled races remaining on a calendar heavily modified because of the pandemic.
Bottas, who also claimed the bonus point for fastest lap, said he wanted to “thank my critics” after ending a run of eight races without a win despite having, with Hamilton, by far the fastest car.
He tried to take the lead off Hamilton at the start using the slipstream but braked too late for the second turn, allowing Hamilton to retake first.
Two first-lap crashes brought out the safety car as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz clipped a barrier while trying to rejoin the track from a run-off area and Lance Stroll’s Racing Point span into a barrier after contact with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Russia allowed larger crowds than at any other round of the F1 season to date. Fans wore masks in stands filled to around half of normal capacity. Final attendance figures weren’t immediately available, but Russian media reported around 30,000 spectators were expected over the race weekend.