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2017 Russian Grand Prix
Race 4 of 20 in the 2017 Formula One World Championship
Layout of the Sochi Autodrom
Race details[1]
Date	30 April 2017
Official name	2017 Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix
Location	Sochi Autodrom, Adlersky City District, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.848 km (3.633 mi)
Distance	52 laps, 304.096 km (188.956 mi)
Scheduled distance	53 laps, 309.745 km (192.466 mi)
Attendance	150,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Time	1:33.194
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Time	1:36.844 on lap 49 (lap record)
Podium
First	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Second	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Third	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2017 Russian Grand Prix (Russian: Гран-при России 2017 года, translit. Gran-pri Rossii 2017 goda), formally known as the 2017 Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix,^[1] was a Formula One motor race that took place on 30 April 2017 as the fourth round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship.^[3] The fifty-two lap race was held at the Sochi Autodrom, marking the fourth running of the Russian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. Valtteri Bottas won the race by 0.617 seconds over Sebastian Vettel, the smallest winning margin since the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Going into the race, Vettel led Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship by seven points, with Bottas third; they remained in the same order after the race. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari was in the lead ahead of Mercedes before the race, with Red Bull Racing third; Mercedes was ahead of Ferrari after the race.

Vettel started the race from pole, with his teammate Kimi Räikkönen in second in Ferrari's first front-row start since the 2008 French Grand Prix.

Report

Background

Driver changes

Sergey Sirotkin made his first appearance of the season with Renault, driving in place of Nico Hülkenberg in the first free practice session.^[4]

Race

The initial start was aborted, as Fernando Alonso was unable to start, pulling up in the opening to the pit lane because of engine issues. Team radio from the initial parade lap suggested issues with the MGU-K electronic power supplementary unit – leading to a loss of hybrid power.^[5][6] Already dogged with under-performance issues at the best of times, a race in the MCL32 without energy recovery system's (ERS) aid would be non-competitive and putting an unnecessary wear upon the rest of the power unit (something that Alonso's McLaren teammate Stoffel Vandoorne learned after being given a 15-place grid penalty, because restrictive 2017 regulations stipulate that only four power units per driver and car may be exchanged throughout the season – a limit exceeded by Vandoorne before this race – without the incurring of dire grid penalties). With Alonso's car already being at least partially on its fourth, and last, permitted power unit of the season on only race 4 out of 20, in the light of the charge failure, a decision was made to retire Alonso from the race in order to preserve the car and save it for a more competitive day – with an improved engine from Honda expected before the European leg of the championship.^[7] Unfortunately, Alonso was unable to even complete the formation lap, suffering from a total car failure before being able to return to the pitlane.^[8]Carlos Sainz Jr. was also marred with a 3-place penalty as a result of causing a collision with Lance Stroll at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Because of Alonso's car obstructing the track, the start was aborted by the FIA's race director Charlie Whiting, and the cars were sent on an additional formation lap. The race was accordingly shortened by a lap. The extra formation lap and standing on the grid would also give the clutch and brakes less efficiency for the start-proper. These factors possibly assisted Bottas in taking the race win by catching pole sitter Sebastian Vettel out with a better start as opposed to Vettel's less efficient start. Meanwhile, the reduced number of laps would allow for more liberal fuel consumption enabling the Finn to open up the taps when out front in clean air, while depriving Vettel the chance of chasing him down for the full race distance – swinging to Bottas's favour, considering that Vettel was rapidly closing in in the latter stages of race.

The action of the race was by and large confined to the opening lap. Valtteri Bottas attained his maiden victory as a result of slipping into first place on the back of an excellent start, passing the Ferrari lockout before turn 2 – aided by starting from the clean side of the grid, and picking up the slipstream behind Vettel. Hamilton attempted the same, but was squeezed abreast on both sides by the Ferrari of Räikkönen, now running 3rd – and Ricciardo of Red Bull, challenging for 4th from 5th. This caused him to be held up and hemmed into his starting grid position, where he would stay for the remainder of the race. Vettel meanwhile pulled away from tight racing of the main straight, and set himself off from the pack, in hot pursuit of Bottas, a position he would go on to hold throughout this race. Vettel briefly led the race when Bottas went into the pits following his one-stop strategy, but then lost his position again after his own pit stop. He again spent the final third of the race gradually closing the distance between himself and Bottas, coming to within 0.7 seconds just a few laps before the end. Lapped traffic, particularly the delayed Williams of Massa, however, ultimately prevented him from overtaking the race leader, leading to a secure second place for the German. Kimi Räikkönen cleanly rounded off the podium. He once again set a late fastest lap of 1:36.844 on lap 49, recording not only the fast lap of the race, but also the fastest ever lap at the circuit. At the chequered flag, he was followed by Lewis Hamilton, finishing a distant 4th. Hamilton had struggled with overheating throughout the race.^[9]

Non-finishers were Fernando Alonso, who failed to make it to the grid with a hybrid-charge failure, as well as Jolyon Palmer and Romain Grosjean who crashed on the first lap – which caused a safety car deployment – putting them both out of the race. Daniel Ricciardo retired with brake problems while running in 7th. Felipe Massa was running in 6th, when he obtained a slow puncture and had to pit for new tyres, falling to 9th behind the Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon as well as the Renault of Nico Hülkenberg.^[10][11]

There were very few on-track overtakes after the safety car period.^[12] Despite making up two places before turn 2, Max Verstappen's Red Bull did not advance further, finishing a lonely 5th, a whole minute behind Bottas, once again showing Red Bull's struggles to keep up with Ferrari and Mercedes. The team's problems were compounded by the retirement of Daniel Ricciardo, being their third mechanical failure in four races.^[13]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	Car no.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:34.493	1:34.038	1:33.194	1
2	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:34.953	1:33.663	1:33.253	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:34.041	1:33.264	1:33.289	3
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.409	1:33.760	1:33.767	4
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:35.560	1:35.483	1:34.905	5
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:35.828	1:35.049	1:35.110	6
7	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:35.301	1:35.221	1:35.161	7
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:35.507	1:35.328	1:35.285	8
9	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:36.185	1:35.513	1:35.337	9
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:35.372	1:35.729	1:35.430	10
11	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:35.827	1:35.948		141
12	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:36.279	1:35.964		11
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:35.984	1:35.968		12
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:36.408	1:36.017		13
15	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1:36.353	1:36.660		15
16	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:36.462			16
17	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda	1:37.070			202
18	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber-Ferrari	1:37.332			17
19	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:37.507			18
20	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:37.620			19
107% time: 1:40.623
Source:[14]

Notes

• 
  ^1 – Carlos Sainz, Jr. was given a three-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident with Lance Stroll at the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix.^[15]


• 
  ^2 – Stoffel Vandoorne received a fifteen-place grid penalty for changing various engine components.^[16]

Race

Podium^[17]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	52	1:28:08.743	3	25
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	52	+0.617	1	18
3	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	52	+11.000	2	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	52	+36.230	4	12
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	52	+1:00.416	7	10
6	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	52	+1:26.788	9	8
7	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	52	+1:35.004	10	6
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	52	+1:36.188	8	4
9	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	51	+1 Lap	6	2
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	51	+1 Lap	14	1
11	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	51	+1 Lap	11
12	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	51	+1 Lap	12
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	51	+1 Lap	13
14	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda	51	+1 Lap	20
15	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	51	+1 Lap	18
16	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber-Ferrari	50	+2 Laps	17
Ret	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	5	Brakes	5
Ret	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	0	Collision	16
Ret	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	0	Collision	19
DNS	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	0	Gearbox	–1
Source:[18]

Notes

• 
  ^1 – Fernando Alonso's car failed during the first formation lap.^[6] His place on the grid was left vacant.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Sebastian Vettel 86 2 Lewis Hamilton 73 3 Valtteri Bottas 63 4 Kimi Räikkönen 49 5 Max Verstappen 35

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 1 Mercedes 136 1 2 Ferrari 135 3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 57 4 Force India-Mercedes 31 5 Williams-Mercedes 18

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2017 Russian Grand Prix.