Lewis Hamilton has his best chance of celebrating a record-breaking 100th Grand Prix victory on Sunday, but the seven-time Formula 1 world champion cannot take anything for granted this time at the Sochi Autodrom, Russia.
Mercedes has won every Grand Prix in the Olympic Park since the first in 2014, the Briton triumphing in four of the seven and current team-mate Valtteri Bottas in two, including last year.
Past performance hasn’t been the best indicator this season, however, as Red Bull and championship leader Max Verstappen, 24, battle harder than ever in an increasingly intense title fight next week.
Verstappen’s job is tougher this time around as he and Hamilton had a three-place penalty at the Italian Grand Prix and were eliminated from the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton hasn’t won since his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July, but Sochi could give him his 100th win on his fifth attempt.
No other team, not even Ferrari, has won the same race for seven years in a row, let alone eight, but Mercedes is still the favorite.
“Lewis is concentrating on what he has to deliver in the next eight races,” said team principal Toto Wolff before the penultimate race at the Black Sea resort, before the 2023 Russian race is relocated to St. Petersburg.
“Valtteri drives better than ever … right now there is a calm determination in the team and the business end of a season, the battle for the championship, is exactly what we enjoy most.”
While Red Bull has never been on pole position in Sochi, a position only Mercedes and Ferrari drivers have achieved, Verstappen has started from the front in eight of 14 races so far, including seven of the last eight.
However, none of his seven wins in 2021 came from a starting position lower than third.
The Dutchman, who is five points ahead of Hamilton in the overall standings while Red Bull 18 is behind Mercedes, finished second in Sochi last year.
Before the weekend, Verstappen said: “We have been more competitive this year and have a better package right now, so it will be interesting to see how competitive we can be this year.
“Of course it will be very different from Monza and it looks like it might rain a little this weekend… I definitely look forward to going back there and see what we can do. The penalty is of course not ideal, but nothing is lost, that’s how I see it, ”added the Red Bull driver
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo led his teammate Lando Norris in a one-two at Monza, but Sochi was his team’s only race without points in the 2020 season.
They also hope past performance isn’t an indication of current form, as both riders are thrilled with the team’s first win since 2012 and the first one-two since 2010.
Ferrari, battling for third place against McLaren, will also be counting for solid points with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Reuters facts & statistics:
- Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrome
- Round 15 of the world championship.
- Lap distance: 5.848 km. Total distance: 309.745 km (53 laps)
- Pole position 2020: Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) Mercedes one minute 31.304 seconds.
- 2020 winner: Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes
- Lap record in the race: Hamilton, 2019: 1: 35.761.
- Race start time: September 26, 2021, 1200 GMT / 1500 local time
RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX
- Mercedes is the only team to have won Russia since the first race in Sochi in 2014. The run of seven is a record for most consecutive wins at the same Grand Prix.
- Hamilton won in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019, Nico Rosberg in 2016 and Bottas in 2017 and 2020.
- Besides Mercedes, Ferrari is the only team that started from pole position in Russia. They did this in 2017 with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc in 2019.
- Mercedes and Ferrari have so far taken 18 out of 21 podium places in Russia. The only exceptions were Bottas, third in 2014 for Williams, Sergio Perez third for Force India in 2015 and Max Verstappen second for Red Bull in 2020.
- Bottas started from the front row in Sochi in 2016, clinched his first race win of his F1 career there in 2017 and was on pole position in 2018. He also won with the fastest lap in 2020.
- The facility runs clockwise around the Olympic Park 2014 venues, partly on public roads.
- The Russian Grand Prix is to take place on Igora Drive in St. Petersburg from 2023.
- With Haas, rookie Nikita Mazepin is the only Russian driver on the current grid.
RACE VICTORY
- Hamilton has a record of 99 career wins, 78 of them with Mercedes, from 280 starts. He was on the podium 175 times.
- The table leader Max Verstappen has won seven races so far in 2021, including four for Hamilton and one each for Red Bull’s Mexican Sergio Perez, Alpine Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.
- Ferrari has won 238 races since 1950, McLaren 183, Mercedes 119, Williams 114 and Red Bull 72.
- Ricciardo’s victory in Monza, his eighth in the top division, was McLaren’s first win since 2012 and her 183rd in Formula 1.
POLE POSITION
- Hamilton has a record of 101 career Poles and has won from pole position 59 times. In 2021 he had three poles so far.
- Verstappen took pole position eight times this year, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in qualifying in Azerbaijan and Monaco. Bottas was on pole position in Portugal.
CHAMPIONSHIP
- Verstappen is five points ahead of Hamilton. Mercedes leads Red Bull by 18 points.
- George Russell has scored in three of the last four races for Williams. Before that, the team hadn’t scored a point for two years.
MILESTONES
- Hamilton can become the first Formula 1 driver to win 100 grands prix.
- Monza was the first race that both Hamilton and Verstappen didn’t finish that season.
- Hamilton’s DNF was his first in 63 starts.
- McLaren’s win at Monza came 170 races after his last win, the second longest wait between wins for an ubiquitous constructor.
- The record is held by Ligier, who drove 231 races without a win between 1981 and 1996.
- McLaren is the only team to have scored a one-two in 2021. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin)
