Bottas secures maiden victory in Russian Grand Prix; First win of F1 career

Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes scored the first win of his F1 career on Sunday April 30, 2017 after holding off Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for a well deserved victory in the 2017 Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix. With Kimi Raikkonen coming in third, it meant two red cars on the Sochi podium. Unfortunately for Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, he had to be content with a distant fourth.

For Force India, it was sweet victory for Sergio Perez who came in 6^th while his teammate Esteban Ocon came in seventh. Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing managed a fifth standing, while the remaining ten in the points table were Nico Hulkeberg of Renault (8^th), FelipeMassa of Williams (9^th) and Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso (10^th)

2017 FORMULA 1 VTB RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX - RACE RESULT

As the race started Bottas was able to outwit both the Ferrari cars, leading Vettel, Raikkonen and Hamilton. From that point there was no looking back for the Finn who was in absolute command, only losing the lead during pit stops. Even though Vettel put him under tremendous pressure in the closing laps, the Finn refused to crack and took the chequered flag just 0.6s ahead.

Bad luck for Fernando Alonso as his race got over even before it started. ERS problems on his McLaren forced the Spaniard to abandon his car on the formation lap. The other two retirements were Haas’s Romain Grosjean and Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, who came together at Turn 2 on the opening lap, prompting a brief safety-car period as the debris was cleared. Even Daniel Ricciardo was not able to finish his race.

With the Russian F1 race over, Sebastian Vettel has now extended his championship lead over Hamilton to 13 points, 86 to 73, Bottas with his maiden win has closed in with 63 points in third position. Raikkonen is fourth on 49. In the constructors’ stakes Mercedes is ahead of Ferrari by just a single point.