Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to 100 Grand Prix wins at Sochi, after Lando Norris, on pole, stayed on slicks while the rain intensified.
Hamilton crossed the line first at Sochi on 26 September 2021, which was his 100th Grand Prix win. Verstappen and Sainz filled the other podium places. Pole sitter Lando Norris dropped out of contention after staying on slicks as the rain came.
Lewis Hamilton won the 2021 Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom on 26 September 2021, and in doing so became the first driver to reach 100 Grand Prix wins. Max Verstappen took second and Carlos Sainz Jr third. Lando Norris, who had started from pole, led for much of the afternoon but lost his advantage after staying on slick tyres while the weather worsened.
Where did the Russian race sit in the 2021 season?
The meeting was round fifteen of the 2021 Formula One World Championship and the tenth edition of the Russian Grand Prix. It was also the eighth and final race staged at Sochi. The weekend ran from 24 to 26 September, with Monza the previous race and Turkey the next.
Verstappen arrived at the circuit as championship leader on 226.5 points, five clear of Hamilton. Bottas was third, Norris fourth and Perez fifth. In the constructors' battle Mercedes held a healthy margin over Red Bull, and McLaren sat third ahead of Ferrari.
Nikita Mazepin was racing at home, although every driver from Russia raced as a neutral under the RAF designation, which stood for the Russian Automobile Federation. Kimi Raikkonen was back after missing two races with a coronavirus infection, and Verstappen began the race three places lower following his collision at Monza.
A rain-hit race at Sochi handed Hamilton his 100th win after the McLaren driver on pole stayed out too long.
What was practice like in Sochi?
Practice came with a new set of rules on starts. The stewards had made clear that cars must leave in the order they arrived, unless a car ahead was held up without good reason, after Hamilton had collected two five-second penalties at the 2020 race for practice starts outside the marked area.
Bottas set the pace in the first session, ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen. Norris spun and touched the barrier on his way back to the pits. In the second session, Antonio Giovinazzi struck the wall and a red flag followed, and near the end Pierre Gasly rode over a kerb that knocked his front wing loose.
Bottas and Hamilton were again first and second in the second session, with Gasly third. The final session the next morning was called off because of the weather, so qualifying was the only chance to refine set-ups for the race.
Who took pole in Sochi?
Norris took pole on slick tyres, setting the fastest time as the track dried. It was his first pole in Formula One and McLaren's first since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. He was only the 102nd driver to start from pole in the championship's history, and Sainz gave Ferrari a front-row place alongside him.
Russell qualified third for Williams, his second top-three start of the season. Hamilton had topped the first two segments but crashed at the pit lane entry while swapping intermediates for slicks. The damage meant a new front wing, and with little time left he could not warm his tyres for a final flying lap.
Hamilton's problems also affected Bottas, who had come in at the same moment for slicks. Bottas ended up seventh, while Ricciardo took fifth for McLaren. Leclerc and Latifi were sent to the back over engine penalties, and Verstappen also went without a lap in the opening segment for that reason.
Bottas was later handed a 15-place grid drop for using more power unit components than allowed. Giovinazzi also took a five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, but other drivers' penalties cancelled it out, and he finished the grid one place higher than his qualifying position.
How did the race begin?
The race started at 15:00 local time on 26 September. Sainz got past Norris into turn two to lead, and Hamilton slipped back to sixth. Alonso then overtook Hamilton, but Hamilton regained the place around the outside of turn three. Leclerc, who had started nineteenth, was already on his way forward.
On lap 13 Norris retook the lead by passing Sainz at turn 12. Verstappen, having gained three positions on the opening lap, worked his way up to seventh, and Hamilton moved into second and came within DRS range of Norris just as light rain arrived.
How did the weather decide the result?
From around lap 48, Raikkonen, Russell and Bottas were the first to switch to intermediates. Verstappen and Ricciardo made the same call the following lap, and Sainz, who had fallen from third to seventh, followed them in. Norris, however, ignored the advice from his engineers and stayed out, having built a lead of 52 seconds over third place.
Hamilton kept going on slicks at first, trying to hold off Norris, before switching to intermediates the next lap when it was clear the rain would stay. He rejoined 25 seconds down. Perez, Alonso and Leclerc remained on slicks while they battled for the remaining podium spots, and the early stoppers soon passed them.
On lap 51 Hamilton had cut the deficit to under two seconds when Norris aquaplaned off at turn five, handing the lead and the win to Hamilton. Norris then came in for intermediates on lap 52, but he aquaplaned again as he entered the pits and drove over the white line at the pit lane exit, which earned a reprimand.
Perez and Alonso pitted on lap 51 and kept their points, while Leclerc stayed out too long and dropped from fourth to fifteenth over his last two laps. Verstappen, who began from the back, took second, and Sainz completed the podium for his fifth top-three finish.
| Finish | Driver | Team | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pole | Lando Norris | McLaren | First pole, set on slicks as the track dried |
| Winner | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 100th Grand Prix win; took the lead on lap 51 |
| Second | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Climbed from the back of the grid |
| Third | Carlos Sainz Jr | Ferrari | Fifth podium of his career |
| Seventh | Lando Norris | McLaren | Aquaplaned at turn five and again at the pit entry |
| Classified | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | Covered over 90 per cent of the race distance |
What did the 100th win mean for Hamilton?
The victory made Hamilton the first driver to reach a century of Grand Prix victories, and it put him back at the top of the championship, ahead of Verstappen. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff described the achievement as mindblowing, and Tom Mason from the team stood on the podium to collect the manufacturer's award.
Hamilton's former rival Mika Hakkinen said patience had been the key to the win. Bottas believed a podium would have been possible had he pitted for intermediates a lap earlier, and Alonso argued that he too had a genuine chance of a podium before the weather changed the picture.
What went wrong for McLaren?
McLaren announced that it would review the procedures that had left Norris on slicks when the rain arrived. Andreas Seidl, the team principal, said McLaren would not linger on what might have been. Norris admitted he was unhappy with the result and suggested he might have switched earlier had the team given him clearer weather information.
Ross Brawn, the managing director of Formula One, praised Norris for his weekend but said his inexperience had shown in the difficult conditions. Brawn also said there were times when a driver was right to ignore team orders and trust his own judgement, and he gave credit to Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton for how they handled the same dilemma.