The Russian Grand Prix 2015 was the 15th round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia, on October 11th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Sergio Pérez completing the podium.
Nico Rosberg started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he had a throttle issue, and had to retire on lap 7th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 19 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 12-14: 7 stops
- Laps 30-34: 7 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 29.367 seconds during his pit stop on lap 30, while the slowest one was was Romain Grosjean's, who stopped the clock at 54.445 seconds, 25.078 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 1.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Max Verstappen and Will Stevens decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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9Romain Grosjean
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4Sergio Pérez
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5Daniel Ricciardo
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4Carlos Sainz
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4Jenson Button
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8Fernando Alonso
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5Roberto Merhi
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9Valtteri Bottas
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2Sebastian Vettel
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11Felipe Massa
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7Pastor Maldonado
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3Kimi Räikkönen
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1Lewis Hamilton
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6Daniil Kvyat
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6Felipe Nasr
2 stops
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1Max Verstappen
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3Will Stevens
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 4.64 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Sochi Autodrom, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
The reace did not end without incidents... 7 drivers out of the original 20 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.
These included, Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hülkenberg, and Marcus Ericsson, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Daniel Ricciardo, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 47, Carlos Sainz, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 45, Romain Grosjean, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 11, and Nico Rosberg, who had a throttle issue on lap 7.
Collision
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Valtteri BottasLap 52
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Nico HülkenbergLap 0
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Marcus EricssonLap 0
Suspension
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Daniel RicciardoLap 47
Brakes
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Carlos SainzLap 45
Accident
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Romain GrosjeanLap 11
Throttle
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Nico RosbergLap 7
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.32 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:37.113. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 12 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.