MOTORSPORT: Hamilton beats himself in Russian F1 GP

It’s becoming apparent the only driver who can beat Lewis Hamilton to the Formula 1 title is Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes-AMG driver was handed two five-second penalties for two practice starts on the reconnaissance laps before the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi.

While the six-time world champion led away from yet another pole position, he served the penalties at his first pit stop and was only able to fight back to third place.

That left his team-mate Valtteri Bottas to claim the win and close the gap in the championship to 44 points with seven races to go and a maximum 26 points available in each.

Max Verstappen was a brilliant second in his Red Bull-Honda, while Aussie Daniel Ricciardo was fifth in the Renault R.S. 20, once again finishing ahead of the McLarens he will race next year.

It was the second time in three races Hamilton has been penalised out of a race-winning situation, copping 10 seconds at Monza for entering a closed pitlane.

Hamilton was initially hit with two penalty points on his FIA Superlicence in Russia, placing him within two points of a one-race ban. But that was later changed to a 25,000 Euro team penalty after evidence was furnished he performed the starts under instruction.

Hamilton was seething over team radio during the race, calling the penalties “bullshit”, but was more diplomatic in his official comments.

“It wasn’t a great day for me, but it is what it is,” he said. “We need to go through everything and understand exactly what went on to get those two penalties.”

In the elevated world of Mercedes-AMG all this might have been a bit sub-par, but it was still a 1-3 and the team remains undefeated in Russia since it joined the championship in 2014.

Ricciardo, who had topped qualifying two, started the race fifth, was very briefly third and dropped as low as sixth and copped a five-second penalty of his own for running wide at turn two while overtaking team-mate Esteban Ocon at turn two. He is sixth in the championship.

“I locked the front brakes, so I take responsibility for that, but I was able to put that mistake right and recover well,” said Ricciardo.

“Taking a step back, I’m pretty happy with my day, and the end result, as we take home some good points. The car is working well, and reliability is good, so everything has come together nicely for us.”

Renault is undoubtedly in its best period since its 2016 return to F1, with Ricciardo now consistently among the top six and threatening for the podium. Ocon, in his first year with the team, also claimed points with seventh place.

Ricciardo’s replacement Fernando Alonso must be pleased with all this progress.

McLaren, by contrast, had a horror show. Carlos Sainz qualified sixth but crashed at turn two. His team-mate Lando Norris had qualified eighth but was held up by the accident and dropped to the tail of the field. He fought back to 15th.

Hamilton’s challenges didn’t start on Sunday. During qualifying two his first flying lap on medium tyres was disallowed because he exceeded track limits at the final corner.

Then, when Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel crashed and forced a red flag, Hamilton faced the prospect of starting only 15th. However, the session was restarted with just over two minutes left and he started his flier with just one second to spare and made it into the top 10.

In Q3 Hamilton was at his magnificent best to qualify on pole 0.563sec ahead of an equally impressive Verstappen, while Bottas was only good enough for third.

But the scramble did mean Hamilton started the race on the soft tyres rather than the tactically advantageous mediums. However, his practice starts made all that a moot point.

Bottas controlled the race once he took the lead, holding Verstappen comfortably at bay. He even claimed the extra point for fastest lap.

Usually unflappable, the Finn had a pointed message over the radio for anyone expecting him to give up the world championship fight: “To all the knockers, f—k you.”

Sergio Perez might have been thinking the same thing as he claimed fourth for Racing Point, the team that has just ditched him in favour of Vettel for 2021.

His team-mate Lance Stroll, debuting a significantly upgraded version of the RP20, didn’t complete a lap after a clash with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

With Sainz already smashed up, all this shredded carbon-fibre prompted a safety car. Another was called later when Romain Grosjean wiped out the turn two bollards in his errant Haas-Ferrari.

Leclerc finished sixth, Daniil Kyvat eighth in his AlphaTauri-Honda on home soil, his team-mate Pierre Gasly ninth and Red Bull’s number two Alex Albon 10th.

The next race is at the Nurburgring on October 9-11.