Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Russian Grand Prix

The Russian Grand Prix is typically quite dull, but we actually had quite an exciting race this time.

Thanks, rain!

And that rain played a huge part.

Here are the winners and losers from the Russian Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Alpha Tauri

The whole weekend was bad for the whole team honestly.

Throw it in the dumpster and come back to Turkey stronger.

4. Charles Leclerc

It was always going to be a tough weekend for Charles Leclerc as he started from the back with an engine penalty, but so did multiple other drivers who finished much higher than Leclerc who ended up 15th.

3. Lance Stroll

Lance should probably stop running into his teammate.

He did it in Italy and he did it again today.

He had a great first part of the race, but once the rain came he was like a wrecking ball out there, and both Aston Martin’s ended up outside of the points.

2. Antonio Giovinazzi

There is only one seat left open in Formula 1, and it’s Giovinazzi’s.

He has just a few races left to get his spot back.

This weekend was not going to help his case.

He crashed, he spun, he ended up 18th.

Not good at all.

1. Lando Norris

Lando had a fantastic weekend.

This was his race to win.

But with the rain coming, he declined the intermediate tires and stayed with the slicks.

The rain came harder, and he went from the lead to 8th (and maybe even farther back due to a pit lane violation penalty).

The talent is clearly there, but the experience to make tough decisions isn’t quite there as it is with another driver we will discuss later.

Winners

5. Valtteri Bottas

This weekend was looking like a disaster for Bottas.

Not fully his fault, as his qualifying was ruined by his teammate and then he had to take an engine penalty to start at the back of the grid, but he didn’t make any progress.

But as the rain came, Bottas and the team made the right call and he came storming through all the way to 5th.

It’s not the best result at a track he truly loves, but it was still a good finish.

4. George Russell

George Russell qualified 3rd! And stayed there during the race for a long while!

And even though the car wasn’t tremendous, he hung on to finish in the points yet again.

Good for him, and good for Williams. This is great progress for the team.

3. Carlos Sainz

Speaking of great weekends, Carlos had a very fun one.

He qualified in second, led for quite a bit and came home with the final podium spot.

2. Max Verstappen

Verstappen started dead last with, you guessed it, an engine penalty.

And he wasn’t having the greatest day either, but the rain helped him go from the back of the pack to finish in 2nd.

This weekend was always about damage limitation in the championship, and it’s safe to say he did a great job.

He’s only two points behind Lewis in the championship as we get into the nitty gritty.

Buckle up.

1. Lewis Hamilton

Remember earlier when I talked about how experience plays a big part in this sport?

Lewis Hamilton knows to trust his team.

Both McLaren and Mercedes told Lando and Lewis to pit for wet tires.

Both drivers didn’t want to.

Lando said no and decided to stay out, while Lewis trusted his team when they said more rain was coming and pit.

Lewis made up a 25 second gap to Lando within one lap on route to win his 100th Formula 1 Grand Prix.

A big part of it was the situation. Lewis knew there was nothing to lose by pitting.

If it’s the wrong call, he finishes 2nd as he would’ve anyway.

But it’s races like today that show why Lewis and Mercedes have been the dominant force of the turbo hybrid era.