Hamilton lifts Russian GP trophy

It was his 42nd career win, putting him equal with Vettel on the all-time win list and one ahead of Ayrton Senna. Perez took advantage of this situation and got his third place back. Perez on very warn tires was desperately holding onto third place with Bottas and Raikkonen nipping at his heals.

By lap 24 Hamilton had built a 7.5 second lead over Bottas who was followed by Vettel, Raikkonen and hometown favorite Daniil Kvyat.

Felipe Massa finished fourth from 15th, with Raikkonen fifth but under investigation for the Bottas clash. Victory was effectively sealed just seven laps in as Rosberg’s throttle issue ended his race, allowing Hamilton an easier afternoon than the defending world champion may have anticipated. The Ferrari driver is now 66 points behind Hamilton with 100 still up for grabs.

Rosberg had led up off the grid until a safety vehicle was deployed following a coming together between Nico Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson at the start.

With Rosberg reporting his “throttle pedal is broken”, Hamilton closed up on his Silver Arrows team-mate.

As Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda said after the race at Sochi’s Olympic Park circuit, Rosberg has only a mathematical chance.

“It was a shame for the team to lose one of the cars and not to have a race”. He has undoubtedly had the best auto this season, but he has made the absolute most of the tools at his disposal, and few would seriously call him an undeserving victor of this season’s championship. (The gap to Hamilton) is a lot of points.

The not inconsiderable challenge for Perez was to complete the final 40 laps on the same set of soft tyres. Hamilton’s new record was later eclipsed by Raikkonen, and then Vettel.

For the second year running, Hamilton received his winner’s trophy from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also greeted the top three drivers ahead of the podium ceremony.

Rosberg’s accelerator was sticking, eventually leading to his exit from the race.

Alonso crossed the line 10th, but was later demoted to 11th, following a stewards’ decision, for corner-cutting.

“I remember sitting with Ross and I got such a good feeling when he told me the plans that they had”, Hamilton said in Russian Federation on Sunday night.

Two major accidents brought out the safety vehicle in the early stages. It marked his second retirement in four races.

At the back, it was a very good finish for both the McLarens. “I’m just disappointed. I’ll think about the rest afterwards”.

“Nico was holding his ground and it looked like we were going to have a race”, he said.

“We’ll now hope for more performance at the next race, in the USA”.

“I need to make sure I message him because still today, while we are succeeding, Ross is still a part of it”.

Button improved on his starting position of 13th to claim ninth place.

“And nobody can take that away from us. I love driving this auto and I love where we are at the moment”.

“Still, it wasn’t bad”.