Was Hamilton's Sochi defeat inevitable even without penalties?
As the Russian GP headlines focused on Lewis Hamilton's two practice start penalties, Valtteri Bottas ran almost unchallenged to a much-needed win for his title hopes. But a crucial advantage from qualifying might have resulted in the same outcome anyway.
Motorsport.com's Prime content
The best content from Motorsport.com Prime, our subscription service. Subscribe here to get access to all the features.
Unusually, a Russian Grand Prix was set to be one to watch closely. How events transpired in the 2020 Sochi race will indeed mean it lives long in Formula 1's collective memory, but for very different reasons than had been expected when the field woke up last Sunday morning.
Lewis Hamilton was starting from his 96th F1 career pole, but he wasn't exactly happy about it. Two things had rather irked the world champion.
Share Or Save This Story
Related video
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
Hamilton: MotoGP and F1 shared events would be “epic”
Suzuka sensation redeemed Alonso, but his F1 future is complicated
The three factors behind Verstappen overturning Perez's real Suzuka advantage
Ranked: The 10 F1 teams at the 2024 Japanese GP
F1 Japanese GP: Verstappen breezes to victory in Red Bull 1-2
Verstappen reveals new Red Bull F1 processes to avoid brake fire repeat
Verstappen not "as comfortable" at Suzuka as in previous F1 races
Porsche lodges appeal over da Costa's Misano Formula E disqualification
Ricky Taylor looking for redemption at Long Beach
How Senna’s early Pacific GP exit raised his Benetton suspicions
What could have been: When Villeneuve’s shock return thwarted an F1 rookie
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
The secrets of F1 turbocharging explained
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
