The Formula One circus is at the Sochi Autodrom for the third annual Russian Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg grabs the pole, while two of the main contenders find themselves lower down on the grid than they would have hoped to be.
The Russian Grand Prix takes its new spot in the calendar, being held a little more than five months earlier compared to 2015. Built around the Sochi Olympic Park, the home of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the circuit is a street circuit and considered the “ugly duckling” of the calendar. It’s a rather unique circuit, in that it has no real first corner. Typically, the first corner is a sharp corner that can cause some first lap drama, but the Sochi Autodrom is a little different. The first real tough corner for drivers is turn two, as turn one is only a slight bend no more than 45°. Another unique section of the track is the long sweeping corner that runs around the Sochi Medals Plaza, which will punish cars that have understeer.
Nico Rosberg has scored his second pole position of 2016 and is looking for his fourth win of the season to strengthen his championship lead. The Russian Grand Prix is his to win, as his two main competitors have some issues this weekend. Although he qualified second, Sebastian Vettel will drop five grid places because the team changed his gearbox due to damage that is believed to have been sustained from his collision with Kimi Räikkönen in the last round. Lewis Hamilton also suffered a poor qualifying for the second round in a row, as his car was hit with another MGU-H issue, similar to the one that hindered his Chinese Grand Prix qualifying.
The pressure is on Räikkönen to pick up Ferrari’s first race victory of 2016, which is something that the Italian team is under pressure to do as soon as possible if they hope to challenge for the title this season. Unfortunately, he finds himself sandwiched between the Williams cars on the grid. The Ferrari has had the pace this weekend, so he should be able to overtake the Valtteri Bottas in front, but the longer that they hold up the Ferrari, the less chance he has of getting in front of the faster Mercedes.
The fans will be in for a show during the race. It’s always entertaining to watch Lewis Hamilton force his way through the field, but now he will have Sebastian Vettel not far in front of him, which will surely increase the excitement. As Hamilton and Vettel battle out on the track, it will be interesting to see which constructor comes out on top to show that they have the pace.
