Lewis Hamilton wins in Russia following team orders

Lewis Hamilton is close to his fifth world championship with Russian Grand Prix victory.



Hamilton was the beneficiary of the team orders as Mercedes told Valtteri Bottas, his team-mate, to let him by at half distance to protect against rival Sebastian Vettel.

But Hamilton had to pass Vettel on track to be in a position to benefit from the orders after being passed at the pit stops.

With a maximum of 125 points still available in the remaining five races, the Briton is now 50 points ahead in the title race.

Jeopardy with a brilliant pass

For a short time around the pit stops, it appeared as if Vettel might have got himself in a position to claw back some championship points on Hamilton.

It was the Finn's slipstream that enabled a slow-starting Hamilton to fend off Vettel's attack into the first corner as Bottas already led away from pole position.

They circulated in grid order until the first pit stops - when Mercedes' plans began to go haywire.

On lap 12, Bottas stopped first, with Vettel following a lap later.

Hamilton started setting fastest sector times and initially looked as if he might leapfrog Bottas into the lead.

But later hit traffic, having to lap the Williams of Sergey Sirotkin as he headed for the pits on lap 14, and that made him vulnerable to Vettel.

The Ferrari was side by side with the Mercedes as Hamilton emerged from the pits, taking the position - third on the track but a de facto second - as they headed into the first corner.

Hamilton was not happy, asking over the radio:

But he was not at fault, and immediately started to attack Vettel.

Starting lap 16, Hamilton was right behind the Ferrari and the German was bordering on illegality with his defence from the Mercedes driver's on the inside.

To get a better line through Turn Two, Hamilton ducked to the outside, followed Vettel closely through the long, flat-out Turn Three and dived for the inside into Turn Four, where Vettel abandoned the aggressive defence he had employed just before.

Hamilton complained over the radio that Vettel had illegally moved twice in defence down the straight, and his driving was looked into, but the stewards did not take further action.

Let's talk about team orders

Hamilton was now running third, behind Max Verstappen of Red Bulls - driving an excellent race from a back-row starting position on a more different strategy with a long first stint - and Bottas.

With Verstappen leading, Bottas could not stretch his advantage and he, Hamilton and Vettel were running line astern.

Hamilton tyres developed small blisters, and Mercedes were concerned about Vettel being right behind him.

So Bottas was ordered to move out of the way at Turn 13 on lap 25, and Hamilton took the second place.

Bottas was unhappy, saying over the radio he has prepared to make a move on Verstappen on the next lap. However, it did not sound very credible given the nearly two-second gap.

James Vowles, the chief strategist, came on the radio, a rare occurrence, to explain Mercedes decision not take the risk with Hamilton's damaged tyres and Vettel right behind him.

When Verstappen finally pitted on lap 43, Hamilton took the lead, and he led Bottas and Vettel home.

In the closing laps, Bottas confirmed whether they were to finish in this order and was told: "Affirm. We will discuss about it later."

Toto Wolff, the team boss, also came on the radio and said to Valtteri, “it is Toto.” Difficult day it’s for you and for us. Let's talk about it afterwards and we will explain."

Hamilton responded over the radio on the slowing down lap: "That doesn't feel good."

An amazing birthday present

On his 21st birthday, Verstappen drove an excellent race, carving through the field from his 19th place on the grid, caused by penalties for using too many engine parts.

By the end of the first lap Verstappen was up to 12th place and by 9th lap was into fifth - while Daniel Ricciardo, his team mate, who started one place ahead of him, was still 12th.

Verstappen inherited the lead as the Mercedes and Ferraris in front of him pitted. And after his pit stop, he emerged in fifth place, 14 seconds behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. But the gap was too big for Verstappen to close and he took a comfortable fifth ahead of Ricciardo.