The Russian Grand Prix 2020 was the 10th round of the 2020 F1 season, and took place at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia, on September 27th.
Valtteri Bottas won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 24 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 14-20: 10 stops
- Laps 25-28: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 28.748 seconds during his pit stop on lap 25, while the slowest one was was Lewis Hamilton's, who stopped the clock at 41.352 seconds, 12.604 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 16.
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 4 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Valtteri Bottas, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
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2Lewis Hamilton
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6Antonio Giovinazzi
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4Nicholas Latifi
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-Esteban Ocon
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6Kevin Magnussen
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-Sergio Pérez
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-Max Verstappen
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2Valtteri Bottas
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4Charles Leclerc
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1Sebastian Vettel
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3Daniil Kvyat
-
5Kimi Räikkönen
2 stops
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7Lando Norris
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5Alexander Albon
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1Romain Grosjean
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-Pierre Gasly
3 stops
-
5George Russell
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2.23 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.75 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 5 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
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Carlos Sainz, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 0, and Lance Stroll, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 0.
Accident
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Carlos SainzLap 0
Collision
-
Lance StrollLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.563 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:31.304. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
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 all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.