2016 Russian Grand Prix

 2016 Russian Grand Prix

Racing data
4th of 21 races in the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:
Date:	May 1, 2016
Place:	Sochi
Course:	Sochi Autodrome
Length:	309.745 km in 53 laps of 5.848 km
Pole position
Driver:	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Time:	1: 35.417 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Time:	1: 39.094 min (lap 52)
Podium
First:	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Second:	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Third:	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari

The Grand Prix of Russia in 2016 (officially 2016 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix ) took place on 1 May at the Sochi Autodrome in Sochi place and was the fourth race of the Formula 1 World Championship in 2016 .

report

backgrounds

After the Chinese Grand Prix , Nico Rosberg led the drivers' standings with 36 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton and 39 points ahead of Daniel Ricciardo . In the constructors' championship, Mercedes led with 53 points ahead of Ferrari and with 57 points ahead of Red Bull .

At the Russian Grand Prix, Pirelli provided the drivers with the tire compounds P Zero Medium (white), P Zero Soft (yellow) and P Zero Supersoft (red) as well as Cinturato Intermediates (green) and Cinturato Full Wets (blue) for wet conditions .

Compared to the previous year, several changes were made to the route, for example the angle of the wall to the route at the exit of curve 1 was reduced, for this purpose the openings in the wall were rearranged. The run-off zones of turn 2 and turn 13 , in which Carlos Sainz jr. had had an accident in the previous year, the area in front of the TecPro barriers was paved. In order to prevent the shortcut in turn 2 , another curb was installed at the corner exit with artificial turf behind . In turn 16 , an additional curb 50 millimeters higher was placed behind the curbs .

The route had two DRS zones. The first zone began at the apex of curve 1 , the measuring point was 138 meters before the curve. The second measuring point was 72 meters before curve 10 , immediately afterwards on the back straight, 230 meters behind the curve the second DRS zone began.

Max Verstappen (eight), Marcus Ericsson , Nico Hülkenberg (four each), Kimi Räikkönen , Sebastian Vettel (three each), Fernando Alonso , Valtteri Bottas , Romain Grosjean , Hamilton, Rio Haryanto , Daniil Kwjat and Felipe Nasr (two each) left with penalty points into the race weekend.

With Hamilton (twice) a former winner competed at this Grand Prix.

Paul Gutjahr (CHE), Emanuele Pirro (ITA), Nish Shetty (SIN) and Wassili Skryl (RUS) acted as race commissioners .

Before the race, Mercedes invested two of the tokens available for development during the season to improve the fuel system; an engine change was not necessary for this. Ferrari even used three tokens to change the combustion chamber , but Vettel and Räikkönen had to replace the combustion engine, unlike the Mercedes pilots.

training

In the first free practice, Rosberg set the fastest time ahead of Hamilton and Vettel with a lap time of 1: 38.127 minutes. During the training session, Ricciardo tested a windshield developed by Red Bull as an alternative to the Halo system for the first time .

In the second free practice, Hamilton was the fastest in 1: 38.311 minutes ahead of Vettel and Rosberg. Vettel rolled out with an electronics problem.

In the third free practice session, Hamilton set the fastest time again with a lap time of 1: 36.403 minutes ahead of Rosberg and Vettel.

Qualifying

The qualifying consisted of three parts with a net running time of 45 minutes. In the first qualifying segment (Q1), the drivers had 18 minutes to qualify for the race. All drivers who achieved a time in the first section that was a maximum of 107 percent of the fastest lap time qualified for the Grand Prix. The best 16 drivers reached the next part. Hamilton was fastest. The Sauber, Manor, and Renault drivers were eliminated.

The second section (Q2) lasted 15 minutes. The ten fastest pilots qualified for the third part of qualifying. Rosberg was the fastest. The Haas and McLaren drivers, Hülkenberg and Sainz were eliminated.

The final section (Q3) lasted twelve minutes, during which the first ten starting positions were awarded. Rosberg set the fastest time ahead of Vettel and Bottas. It was the 24th pole position for Rosberg. Hamilton could not go out on the track in this section because his car had the same problem with the ERS as he did during the race in China.

Vettel received a starting place penalty of five places because the gearbox of his vehicle was changed. This was the first time since the 2014 German Grand Prix that a Williams driver started from the front row.

run

At the start, the positions at the top remained unchanged. When braking into the second corner, Raikkonen overtook Bottas and took second place. Vettel, who had already overtaken Pérez, attacked Ricciardo. The Kvjat driving directly behind Vettel braked himself and touched the right rear wheel of Vettel's Ferrari. This stood sideways and touched Ricciardo's car, which then again touched the right rear wheel of Pérez with his front wing, who subsequently suffered a tire damage. In the back of the field, Esteban Gutiérrez braked , who hit Hülkenberg. Hulkenberg's Force India turned as a result of the contact, the approaching Haryanto could no longer evade and collided with him. Haryanto and Hulkenberg were eliminated. In the immediately following turn 3 , Kwjat touched Vettel again, who spun and hit the barrier, and he was eliminated. The race management initially announced a virtual safety car phase . After it became clear that there were countless debris on the track, the safety car was sent out shortly afterwards . At the end of the lap, Kwjat, Ricciardo, Gutiérrez and Pérez pitted for repairs and Ericsson changed his tires. Kwjat, Ricciardo and Gutiérrez switched to the hardest mix, Medium , in the hope of being able to finish the race without another pit stop.

Rosberg, meanwhile, led ahead of Raikkonen, Bottas, Felipe Massa , Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer .

At the end of the third lap, the race was released again. Bottas overtook Raikkonen when braking into the second corner, Hamilton passed Massa. In the following laps, Hamilton reduced the gap to Raikkonen and overtook him on the seventh lap.

The race stewards announced their decisions on the incidents in the first lap on the eighth lap: Kwjat received a ten-second stop-and-go penalty and three penalty points for causing two collisions , Gutiérrez received one for causing the collision with Hülkenberg Drive-through penalty and two penalty points. Both took the penalty in the following two rounds.

The regular tire changes began on lap 16; Bottas switched to soft , the medium tire compound. One lap later, Hamilton and another lap later, Massa switched to soft . On the 19th lap, Hamilton overtook Bottas and shortly afterwards Alonso, and he also drove the fastest lap of the race to date. One lap later, Bottas also overtook Alonso, who, like Raikkonen, pitted to change tires. Raikkonen came back on the track just before Bottas.

Another lap later, Rosberg, who nevertheless remained in the lead, also changed his tires. Behind him was Verstappen, who was the only one from the leading group who had not yet been to the pits. Hamilton was third, ahead of Raikkonen, Bottas, Massa and Pérez.

Verstappen pitted to change tires on lap 22. His team-mate Sainz overtook Palmer in the battle for 13th place and pushed him off the track. He received a ten-second penalty and two penalty points for this action.

There were also several battles for position in the rear field, Pascal Wehrlein attacked Nasr in turn 2 , who left the track and drove back onto the lane without paying attention to the markings made for this purpose. He received a five-second penalty for this.

Pérez switched to the soft mix at the end of lap 28 and dropped from sixth to thirteenth place. At this point, Hamilton again drove the fastest lap of the race to date. Ricciardo meanwhile overtook Magnussen, who however passed Ricciardo again shortly afterwards. The Grosjean driving behind took advantage of the opportunity and also overtook Ricciardo, who then pitted to change tires. For Rosberg, the laps began at this point, while Hamilton drove the fastest race laps again and reduced his gap to Rosberg to less than eight seconds.

On the 34th lap, Verstappen retired with an engine failure. Shortly afterwards, the pit reported by radio to Hamilton that there was a problem with the water pressure on his Mercedes. He then drove more slowly, the gap to the leading Rosberg widened again significantly. Meanwhile, Wehrlein had a problem changing tires, so that he fell back to last place.

On the 46th lap, Massa changed tires again, but had so much lead over Alonso that he stayed in fifth place. Button overtook Sainz on the same lap and was now in tenth place even without Sainz's ten-second penalty. On the last two laps, Hamilton slowed down significantly, losing another eight seconds to Rosberg, who set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap.

Rosberg won the race ahead of Hamilton and Raikkonen. It was Rosberg's 18th victory in the Formula 1 World Championship and the fourth win of the season in the fourth race, and across all seasons even the seventh in a row. Since he also started from pole position, drove the fastest race lap and led all racing laps, he managed a hat trick and a Grand Slam at the same time . The other points were placed by Bottas, Massa, Alonso, Magnussen, Grosjean, Pérez and Button. It was the first point placements of the season for Alonso, Magnussen, Pérez, Button and the Renault team, which last scored World Championship points at the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix . It was also the first time since the 2012 Italian Grand Prix that both Red Bull teams failed to score points at a Grand Prix.

In the drivers' championship, Rosberg extended his lead over Hamilton, and Raikkonen was the new third. In the constructors' championship, Mercedes increased its lead over Ferrari and Red Bull.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid	P
	06th	Nico Rosberg
Scuderia Ferrari	05	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari SF16-H	Ferrari 059/5	P
	07th	Kimi Raikkonen
Williams Martini Racing	19th	Felipe Massa	Williams FW38	Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid	P
	77	Valtteri Bottas
Red Bull Racing	03	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull RB12	Day, this year	P
	26th	Daniil Kvyat
Sahara Force India F1 Team	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India VJM09	Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid	P
	11	Sergio Perez
	34	Alfonso Celis
Renault Sport F1 Team	20th	Kevin Magnussen	Renault RS16	Renault Energy F1 2016	P
	30th	Jolyon Palmer
	46	Sergei Sirotkin
Scuderia Toro Rosso	33	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso STR11	Ferrari 059/4	P
	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.
Sauber F1 Team	09	Marcus Ericsson	Clean C35	Ferrari 059/5	P
	12	Felipe Nasr
McLaren Honda	14th	Fernando Alonso	McLaren MP4-31	Honda RA616H	P
	22nd	Jenson Button
Manor Racing MRT	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor MRT05	Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid	P
	88	Rio Haryanto
Haas F1 team	08th	Romain Grosjean	Haas VF-16	Ferrari 059/5	P
	21st	Esteban Gutiérrez

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} The Force India with the start number 34 was used in the first free practice for Celis. Hülkenberg then took over the vehicle with its number 27 for the rest of the race weekend.
2. ↑ ^{a b} The Renault with starting number 46 was used in the first free practice for Sirotkin. Magnussen then took over the vehicle for the remainder of the race weekend with its starting number 20.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1: 36.119	1: 35.337	1: 35.417	01
02	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1: 36.555	1: 36.623	1: 36.123	07th
03	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1: 37.746	1: 37.140	1: 36.536	02
04th	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1: 36.976	1: 36.623	1: 36.663	03
05	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1: 37.753	1: 37.230	1: 37.016	04th
06th	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1: 38.091	1: 37.569	1: 37.125	05
07th	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1: 38.006	1: 37.282	1: 37.212	06th
08th	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1: 38.265	1: 37.606	1: 37.459	08th
09	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 38.123	1: 37.510	1: 37.583	09
10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1: 36.003	1: 35.820	no time	10
11	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 37.784	1: 37.652	-	11
12	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	1: 38.332	1: 37.701	-	12
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1: 38.562	1: 37.771	-	13
14th	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1: 37.791	1: 37.807	-	14th
15th	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1: 38.383	1: 38.055	-	15th
16	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	1: 38.678	1: 38.115	-	16
17th	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1: 38.914	-	-	17th
18th	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1: 39.009	-	-	18th
19th	Felipe Nasr	Clean Ferrari	1: 39.018	-	-	19th
20th	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Mercedes	1: 39.399	-	-	20th
21st	Rio Haryanto	Manor Mercedes	1: 39.463	-	-	21st
22nd	Marcus Ericsson	Clean Ferrari	1: 39.519	-	-	22nd
107 percent time : 1: 42.726 min (based on Q1 best time of 1: 36.006 min)

Remarks

1. ↑ Vettel was moved five starting places back because of a gear change.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	53	1	1: 32: 41.997	01	1: 39.094 (52nd)
02	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	1	+ 25.022	10	1: 40.266 (36.)
03	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	53	1	+ 31.998	03	1: 40.101 (47.)
04th	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	53	1	+ 50.217	02	1: 41,159 (37.)
05	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	53	2	+1: 24.427	04th	1: 39.743 (52nd)
06th	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	52	1	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 40.347 (52nd)
07th	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	52	1	+ 1 lap	17th	1: 41.832 (50.)
08th	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	52	1	+ 1 lap	15th	1: 42.026 (51.)
09	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	52	2	+ 1 lap	06th	1: 41.897 (47th)
10	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	52	1	+ 1 lap	12	1: 41.720 (50th)
11	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	52	2	+ 1 lap	05	1: 41,179 (46.)
12	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	52	1	+ 1 lap	11	1: 42.205 (41st)
13	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	52	1	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 420.660 (37th)
14th	Marcus Ericsson	Clean Ferrari	52	2	+ 1 lap	22nd	1: 42.050 (45th)
15th	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	52	2	+ 1 lap	08th	1: 42,344 (44.)
16	Felipe Nasr	Clean Ferrari	52	1	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 42.253 (50.)
17th	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	52	2	+ 1 lap	16	1: 42.378 (52nd)
18th	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Mercedes	51	2	+ 2 round	20th	1: 41.907 (43.)
-	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	33	1	DNF	09	1: 42.029 (32nd)
-	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	0	0	DNF	07th	-
-	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	0	0	DNF	13	-
-	Rio Haryanto	Manor Mercedes	0	0	DNF	21st	-

Remarks

1. ↑ Sainz received a ten-second penalty for knocking Palmer off the track
2. ↑ Nasr received a five-second penalty for ignoring the re-entry markings after leaving the route

World Cup stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 100 02  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 03  Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 43 04th  Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 36 05  Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 33 06th  Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 32 07th  Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 22nd 08th  Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-TAG Heuer 21st 09  Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 19th 10  Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13 11  Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 8th 12  Kevin Magnussen Renault 6th

Item driver constructor Points 13  Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 6th 14th  Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4th 15th  Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 2 16  Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1 17th  Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1 18th  Jolyon Palmer Renault 0 19th  Marcus Ericsson Clean Ferrari 0 20th  Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes 0 21st  Felipe Nasr Clean Ferrari 0 22nd  Esteban Gutiérrez Haas-Ferrari 0 23  Rio Haryanto Manor Mercedes 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 1  Mercedes 157 2  Ferrari 76 3  Red Bull-TAG Heuer 57 4th  Williams-Mercedes 51 5  Haas-Ferrari 22nd 6th  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17th

Item constructor Points 07th  McLaren Honda 10 08th  Force India-Mercedes 8th 09  Renault 6th 10  Clean Ferrari 0 11  Manor Mercedes 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rebecca Friese: Russian Grand Prix: Pirelli confirms tire choice for Sochi. Motorsport-Total.com, January 14, 2016, accessed January 16, 2016 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Norman Fischer: Sochi: Emanuele Pirro is driver commissioner. Motorsport-Total.com, April 27, 2016, accessed April 29, 2016 . 
3. ^ Sven Haidinger: Third engine in Sebastian Vettel: Why Ferrari risks so much. Motorsport-Total.com, April 29, 2016, accessed April 30, 2016 . 
4. ^ GP Russia in Sochi / 1st free practice. Motorsport-Total.com, April 29, 2016, accessed April 29, 2016 . 
5. ^ Christian Nimmervoll: Formula 1 Russia 2016: Rosberg 0.7 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Motorsport-Total.com, April 29, 2016, accessed April 29, 2016 . 
6. ^ GP Russia in Sochi / 2nd free practice. Motorsport-Total.com, April 29, 2016, accessed April 30, 2016 . 
7. ^ GP Russia in Sochi / 3rd free practice. Motorsport-Total.com, April 30, 2016, accessed April 30, 2016 . 
8. ↑ Sven Haidinger, Dieter Rencken: Five starting positions back: Vettel's breakdown series continues. Motorsport-Total.com, April 29, 2016, accessed April 30, 2016 .