The Russian Grand Prix 2021 was the 15th round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia, during the weekend of the 24th to the 26th of September.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 4th position, followed by Max Verstappen, and Carlos Sainz completing the podium.
Lando Norris started from the pole position, but only managed to finish 7th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 39 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 12-15: 8 stops
- Laps 35-36: 4 stops
- Laps 46-51: 19 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 29.242 seconds during his pit stop on lap 26, while the slowest one was was Lance Stroll's, who stopped the clock at 43.124 seconds, 13.882 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 48.
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 2 stops. Only 2 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
1Nicholas Latifi
-
6Mick Schumacher
2 stops
-
4Lance Stroll
-
7George Russell
-
1Carlos Sainz
-
3Nikita Mazepin
-
5Kimi Räikkönen
-
5Esteban Ocon
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
-
3Lewis Hamilton
-
2Sebastian Vettel
-
18Max Verstappen
-
11Valtteri Bottas
-
6Lando Norris
-
2Pierre Gasly
-
4Charles Leclerc
-
-Fernando Alonso
-
1Sergio Pérez
-
1Antonio Giovinazzi
3 stops
-
5Yuki Tsunoda
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.71 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 2 stops 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, Nicholas Latifi, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 47, and Mick Schumacher, who had an oil leak on lap 32.
Accident
-
Nicholas LatifiLap 47
Oil leak
-
Mick SchumacherLap 32
Qualifying
Lando Norris managed to get the pole position by 0.517 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:41.993. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Carlos Sainz.
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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.