A hard-fought victory in Russia saw Lewis extend his F1 victory record to achieve the momentous milestone of 100 career victories in the highest echelon of motorsport.
Lewis had dropped three places on the opening lap, keeping his nose clean to navigate a very bunched field before settling into the race and preserving his tyres for an extended stint on the Medium, eventually moving up to fourth.
Lewis gained places after the first round of pit-stops and worked his way to a two-way battle for the lead with NOR. With rain forecast to arrive for the final few laps, Lewis found it difficult to pass the fellow Brit in the dry.
When the rain finally arrived, the team pitted Valtteri for an early switch to the Intermediate tyres. Lewis joined him soon after, in contrast to NOR who stayed out and struggled badly in the worsening conditions.
Valtteri took full advantage of the late rain and his early switch to Inters saw him make a number of solid passes to bring the W12 home in P5, securing vital points as the team extended its lead in the Constructors' Championship.
Lewis, meanwhile, safely guided the W12 home in increasingly heavy rain to take the chequered flag in P1.
Today marks Lewis's 79th victory with the Mercedes works team, extending its100% win record in Russia which began with victories for Mercedes in 1913 and 1914.
In claiming 25 points today, Lewis surpassed 4000 points in F1, the first driver to reach that milestone.
Lewis Hamilton (246.5 points) leads the Drivers' Championship from Max Verstappen (244.5), while Valtteri is in third position (151 points). The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (397.5 points) lead Red Bull (364.5 points) by 33 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff: Those final few laps were so intense, but we managed to make the right calls and lead the field across the finish line. A big congratulations to Lewis on his 100th win. What we are witnessing is just mind-blowing. It'll be talked about for the next few days, but it'll only be years down the line when we realise that we've all been part of this journey. A journey no other driver in F1 history has done so far. That's beyond race wins and championship victories, that is the very human part of all this.
In terms of the race, I think it would have been difficult to get past Norris in the dry, as Lewis struggled to overtake Ricciardo even with DRS. Norris managed the race very well, who knows what would have happened if the rain hadn't arrived, but it did. This kind of decision is hugely difficult, it started to drizzle on half of the circuit, but we made the call and it paid off. We'd made the call a little bit earlier with Valtteri, and that brought him into contention after a challenging race and he did a great job to move up the field and into the top five. A big well done to the entire team for all their work and efforts, it's been a little while since we had a race victory but I know results like this will fire everyone up even more to keep pushing until the end of the season.
Andrew Shovlin: Congratulations to Lewis on his 100th win, it's an incredible achievement and hopefully he can find time over the next few days to enjoy it. Obviously the end of the race was quite exciting, the team stayed calm and reacted well to the conditions and ultimately that's what gave us the win. Prior to the rain it was quite a tough race, Lewis lost places at the start after getting boxed in at turn 2 and Valtteri had a good start but struggled to make progress through the traffic, especially when stuck in a DRS train. We'd managed to get Lewis up to second and it would have been a straight fight with Lando in the dry but we were actually hoping for the rain as it felt like that would be our best chance of making it to the top step. Valtteri was further back at the time it started so we decided to switch to intermediates early and that paid off, gaining some good points in the process. Overall, a solid team performance and it's put us back in front in both championships so we're happy with that but Max covered very well today from a PU penalty, finishing just one place behind, so we know we need to be at our very best in the coming races to have a chance of bringing the Championships home.
Christian Horner: "Today's result in recovering from 20th to 2nd is an amazing performance. Our congratulations must go to Lewis on his 100th victory, but second for us after taking our grid penalty feels like a victory. With six or seven laps to go it didn't look like it was going to be possible. In tricky weather conditions like we had today, you can very easily come out looking like a hero or zero. It's such a tough call knowing whether to pit or not and the drivers see and feel so much more out on track compared with the engineers on the pit wall, and so the decision was left to Max and Checo on stopping for inters or not. In the end Max got it right and nailed the call to come in, and benefitted massively as a result whilst Checo decided not to pit and ended up losing out significantly, but these things can happen and luck also has its part to play. You could see Sergio wasn't alone with the guys out front that tried to brave it out being so close to the end of the race, but ultimately it didn't work out. The last two venues have historically been very strong for Mercedes so to come away only two points behind in the Drivers' Championship is positive, and I'm glad we've got our power unit penalty out of the way here and managed to recover with a podium. Everybody in the Team is really enjoying this championship, we've got ourselves back into a competitive position and it's going to be all about these final seven races, getting the strategy right, having the pace, and penalties are going to play a role too. It's going to be fascinating to see how it unfolds. Looking ahead to Turkey, it was an interesting race with the new surface last year. Hopefully it has weathered in now but we're really looking forward to it and today's result sets everything up in the championship up nicely. It's going to be a phenomenal competition."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "We are, of course, disappointed with finishing P4 and P7 in the Russian Grand Prix today, given the positions we were in three laps from the end of the race. On the positive side, both Lando, Daniel and the whole team put in strong performances all weekend, which is highly encouraging going into the last third of the season. Thanks to the team at track and back at the factory, along with our colleagues at Mercedes HPP, for their hard work and effort.
"Attention will no doubt be given to the decision to stay out on the slicks with Lando, while we went on Intermediate tyres relatively soon with Daniel. There were tricky calls to be made at the end of the race when it started raining, and that's never easy. Unfortunately, it didn't work out on Lando's side today. As always, we'll analyse this as a team, together with the drivers, learn from it and come back stronger.
"Finally, congratulations to Lewis on his historic 100th win. Everyone at McLaren Racing is proud of what he has achieved since his first race with us 14 years ago."
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: "Lance made a fantastic start to move up to fourth place on lap one, and he held that position comfortably on the Medium tyres until we brought him in for Hards on lap 12 - the first tyre stop of the race. He then managed his tyres well in very difficult conditions, until the heavens opened a few laps from the end, which made the last part of the race something of a lottery. There was almost no grip at all, and he and Sebastian even made contact at one point, but the track surface was incredibly slippery and both our drivers did their very best. The result was ultimately a disappointing one for us - 11th and 12th - but, when it rains suddenly like that, luck often plays as big a part as judgment. Finally, on behalf of all of us at Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team, I would like to say a big congrats to Lewis [Hamilton]. To win 100 Grands Prix is a truly extraordinary achievement. Well done!"
Alpine F1 Team extended its points-scoring streak to fourteen races as Fernando Alonso finished in sixth place in a busy and eventful Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom. Esteban Ocon was outside the points in fourteenth place.
The race began dry and ended in the wet as rain fell just a handful of laps from the end, bringing a difficult decision on whether to gamble on dry tyres to the chequered flag or opt for Intermediates. Eventually, both drivers went for Intermediates with Fernando able to hold onto sixth place and add a valuable eight points to the Championship.
Both drivers made strong starts off the line with Fernando - starting on Hards - late on the brakes into Turn 2 in the fight for the top four, and Esteban - on Mediums - able to progress to eighth place. Fernando settled into eighth and Esteban ninth in the early running. Esteban pitted on lap 15 for new Hards to cover others around him while Fernando remained out and ran long on Hards, occupying second place for seven laps.
After his pit-stop for Mediums on lap 36, Fernando soon chased the top five, passing Max Verstappen into Turn 2 on lap 37. With the threat of rain increasing, Fernando continued his charge towards the podium positions, which he briefly held after passing Sergio Perez on lap 48. But, as the rain fell, he and Esteban pitted for Intermediates three laps from the end. The Spaniard was able to battle back to sixth with Esteban outside the points in fourteenth.
Marcin Budkowski, Executive Director: "A bittersweet feeling today; we took home eight points, but we missed an opportunity to finish on the podium. We decided to start the cars on different strategies, with Fernando starting on Hard tyres with the objective of stopping later in the race and potentially benefit from safety cars or any rain coming. Both drivers had a good first stint, with Esteban stopping earlier on the Mediums. Unfortunately, he ran out of grip in the later stages of the race on the Hard tyres. Fernando managed his tyres well and had very good pace right until the rain started to fall. At this stage, the challenge was to predict whether it would get heavier or go away, which is a bit of a lottery. Fernando was making positions on the dry tyres in the light rain and we decided to leave him out; had the rain intensity reduced we would have likely finished P2, but unfortunately it went the other way and we pitted him a lap too late. It was a similar story with Esteban: as he was outside of the points, we had to take a gamble: pit early for Intermediates or leave him out on the dry tyres, we opted for the latter and did not luck in. We're leaving Sochi with eight points while our closest rivals didn't score any, so overall a good result for the championship even if we feel we missed out on a better result today."
Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow took its fourth podium of the season in the Russian Grand Prix courtesy of Carlos Sainz who came home in third place. Charles, who was starting from the back, produced a masterly performance but came away empty handed after the final crazy stages of the race when the rain fell.
A great first lap. Both Carlos and Charles drove great opening laps. The Spaniard started from the dirty side of the track, but managed not only to fend off those behind, but also to exploit the slipstream to overtake Lando Norris and lead the race. Charles, who started from the back row, was 12th come the end of the first lap having made no less than seven overtaking moves.
All about tyres. From then on the race was all about tyre performance for the two Ferrari men. Carlos, who started on Mediums, began to suffer from a bit of graining after a dozen or so laps, which led to him pitting earlier than his nearest rivals. The situation was better on the Hards and the Spaniard was third when the rain came. Charles had a great pace on the Hards and he was also competitive on the Mediums, to the extent he was fighting for a good position before the chaotic final stages.
Timing. As the rain got progressively harder, choosing the right moment to change tyres was the key factor. It all went well for Carlos, but Charles came in a few laps later, which cost him dearly, depriving him of a good points haul that had seemed to be within his grasp.
Next stop Istanbul. The championship resumes in a fortnight with the 16th round of the championship, when the ninth running of the Turkish Grand Prix takes place from 8 to 10 October at the Istanbul Park Circuit.
Mattia Binotto: That was a very intense and difficult race today, which ended with one of our drivers on the podium. Carlos had a great weekend, both yesterday in qualifying and today in the race and third place is a nice reward for all the hard work. Charles leaves empty handed at the end of a weekend which started on the back foot because of the penalty, but today he once again proved just how talented he is. He made a great start, had really strong race pace and showed the right amount of aggression for the overtaking moves.
We know that as a team we must always try and improve in every area. Here, we introduced an update to the hybrid system for the power unit, which worked the way we had expected and produced a little bit more performance. However, we were not perfect in other areas, for example the pit stops and tyre management with Charles in those final chaotic moments of the race, whereas with Carlos everything went according to plan and we will build on the experience gained today.
Claudio Balestri (Chief Engineer - Vehicle Performance): "Today the target was to score points and we didn't. In the first lap we immediately lost positions with both cars but for the rest of the race, when we were free of traffic, the pace of the car was quite good. To maximise the possibility to score points, we decided to split the strategy across the cars, with Pierre going long on the first stint with the Hards, then swapping to the Mediums. Whilst with Yuki we did the opposite, starting him on the Mediums. However, with just six laps to go, some light rain arrived and the track became slippery. Some cars pitted for Inters but we decided to stick with dry tyres - leaving Pierre out and calling Yuki in for Softs - as we believed the rain wouldn't continue and we could capitalise on this opportunity. Unfortunately, the gamble didn't pay off and the rain became far heavier, so we were forced to pit for Inters. We now need to go home and analyse what we could have done better in such tricky weather conditions."
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN brought home four points from the Grand Prix in Sochi, courtesy of eighth place by Kimi Raikkonen. Team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi was 16th in a race heavily influenced by a downpour of rain with little more than five laps to go.
Raikkonen, starting in 13th, had a really good start to climb to 10th at the end of the opening lap. He settled into a rhythm and, when the rain came, the team made the right call to switch to intermediate tyres, gaining ground and crossing the line in P8. Antonio's race was eventful: after receiving a hit on lap one, forcing him to take to the escape road, his radio failed. He had to navigate the whole race without any communication from the pit wall, and managed to be involved in several interesting battles and overtakes.
The result brings the team up to seven points in the championship, with the next race taking place in Istanbul on October 10th
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "The race ended up being very exciting and we head home with a good haul of points. Despite a difficult Saturday, we entered the race with some quiet optimism as we knew we would be in a position to fight. Kimi had a good start to jump to P10, while Antonio was hit and had to recover from the back. He was in a few good fights and made some nice overtaking moves -all the more so as he had no radio. Kimi was able to stay with Ocon for most of the race, just outside the points, and when the rain came we made the right call to stop for inters. He was able to make up ground and cross the line in P8, four good points for the team. It's a good result, a reward for the job we have done so far and a confidence boost ahead of the next race in Turkey, in two weeks."
Uralkali Haas F1 Team driver Nikita Mazepin classified 18th, while Mick Schumacher was unable to reach the finish of Sunday's Russian Grand Prix, Round 15 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held at Sochi Autodrom.
Mazepin took the start from 15th on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and leapt up to 13th on the opening lap. Mazepin battled with much faster cars but held a solid 16th through the first stint, coming in on lap 14 for White hard tires, emerging in 19th position. Mazepin came in again on lap 48 for Cinturato Green intermediate tires as a band of showers swept through Sochi Autodrom and he avoided the drama that befell others to collect 18th spot at the checkered flag.
Schumacher started from 14th on the grid, also on soft tires, but dropped to the rear of the field on a frantic opening lap. Schumacher regrouped and came in on lap 20, taking on hard tires, and closed on teammate Mazepin, making a move for 19th on lap 32. Unfortunately for Schumacher a hydraulic issue on his VF-21 meant he was forced to come into the pitlane to retire just two laps later, bringing his perfect finishing record this season to an end.
Up front Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton recorded a historic 100th Formula 1 victory with Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen and Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz completing the podium.
Uralkali Haas F1 Team will next be in action at the Turkish Grand Prix, to be held at Intercity Istanbul Park, from October 8 to 10.
Guenther Steiner: "We had a good race start with both cars. Nikita in the first part of the race had good pace, keeping a few other cars behind. Mick's start was not fantastic, but he got out after his tire change and was very strong and then unfortunately he had a hydraulic issue, losing pressure. Nikita - once the blue flags started - the tires got cold and he struggled to keep the pace, that was the reason. In the end we got one car to the end and we come back."
George Russell finished 10th in the Russian Grand Prix, whilst Nicholas Latifi retired due to car damage. George started third and Nicholas 18th, both on the medium Pirelli tyre.
George stopped on lap 13 for the hard tyres, before switching to intermediates on lap 47. Nicholas pitted on lap 13 for the hard compound, before retiring the car on lap 47 with accident damage.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: We went into today's race hoping to hold on at the front but fearing that the quicker cars behind would make our race difficult. We had a reasonable start but couldn't make the progress before turn two that we had hoped to do. Nonetheless, George was able to settle into a good rhythm and hold P3 without the leaders getting too far ahead. On the Prime, George did another fantastic job of managing the car and we were set for a points finish in the dry. The shower that came across the circuit towards the end presented an opportunity for George and we called the switch to Intermediate tyres well. Unfortunately, following a very successful qualifying session yesterday, we had only used tyres left and so we had to fight hard to hold on to 10th place.
Another points finish is an excellent result and fair reward for the hard work throughout the Team. It is a shame that Nicholas had to retire but following damage to the car when he was on his in-lap for Intermediates, we had to retire him. Until that point, he was doing very well and showing excellent pace. Sadly, his grid penalty stopped him from using that raw pace to get into a points-scoring position and then he was simply unfortunate with where he was on the track as the rain began to intensify.
The Sochi Autodrom is always a challenging place to race and we are pleased with our return on what could've been a very difficult weekend. The team operated very well throughout and both drivers showed some excellent pace. Another Championship point moves us closer to Aston Martin and limits the damage in our tight battle with Alfa Romeo.
Finally, it was a privilege to see Lewis score his 100th career victory; an incredible achievement even for a driver of Lewis's immense ability and dedication. Congratulations to him and his entire team.
Starting from fourth on the grid, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed his 100th Formula 1 victory and regained the world championship lead. Like almost every driver, he completed a two-stop strategy, switching from the P Zero Yellow medium C4 to the P Zero White hard C3 on lap 27 and then to the Cinturato Green intermediates in the final laps as rain fell. He hunted down McLaren's Lando Norris, who led for the bulk of the race from pole but only went onto intermediates on the final lap, falling down the order and eventually finishing seventh.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen went from 20th on the grid to second, starting on the hard tyres before switching to the mediums and then the intermediates with three laps to go.
The majority of drivers started on the medium tyre, with seven beginning on the hard. Before the rain, all the drivers ran the two theoretically fastest strategies: medium to hard, or hard to medium.
Mario Isola: "After yesterday's wet conditions, the rain held off until the final few laps - and it decided the race. Up until then, the drivers had made the most of dry conditions with maximum tyre freedom, as they could choose their starting tyres and they all had a full unused allocation of slicks. The 'reset' track following the rain led to a bit of sliding and graining at the start of the race, but this was soon overcome. The hard tyre's resistance to abrasion proved very well suited to the conditions, with some very long stints of more than 35 laps, while the medium also did 28 laps in the hands of Lando Norris. Ultimately though, it was the intermediate tyre that made the difference, with the teams able to use their experience from a wet qualifying to extract the maximum performance from it when it mattered at the end."
