Raikkonen penalised for Bottas clash

Mercedes have won their second consecutive constructors’ title following Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Russian Grand Prix. The Valtteri Bottas’ Williams will battle the Ferrari duo for the final podium spot.

The stewards immediately began looking into the incident between Raikkonen and Bottas, while the calculators came out to determine that in the event of a penalty he would have to drop to at least eighth for Mercedes to claim the championship.

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the race means Mercedes have an unassailable lead in the team championship with four races to spare.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed the T-shirts to celebrate their constructors’ championship were printed and ready to wear here in Sochi – but their celebrations were initially put on hold when Raikkonen limped home in fifth. Hamilton, meanwhile, has one hand on the drivers’ title after team-mate Nico Rosberg retired from the race. “It just feels special to be a part of it and to have contributed to a team success”, Hamilton told reporters as “We Are The Champions” blared out from the team garages while mechanics packed up.

– How many disappointments can Nico Rosberg take?

But Bottas said: “I don’t think it was racing”.

“All through the race the auto was behaving well, especially after the pit stop, but then I was stuck behind other cars and had no speed on the straight, so it was hard to get past”, reflected Raikkonen.

However his advantage was whittled away when Frenchman Romain Grosjean, who was unhurt, crashed heavily on lap 12 and brought out the safety auto again.

Sadly, he experienced massive brake wear, and this led to his front-left brake exploding dramatically towards the end of the race, sending him into a spin. Qualifying today was not the easiest one, it was a bit tricky to get temperature in the tires as we wanted in just one lap, because of the cold conditions.

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) – P1: “For sure I’m very happy”.

Bottas’ loss was teammate Felipe Massa’s gain as the Brazilian inherited fourth place after the incident.

– Another really strong drive from Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen as he made his way from the back of the field to finishing 10th – though aided by Alonso’s penalty.

“It was not expecting a move like this from him, but now it’s done, zero points, and it’s very disappointing”.