2016 F1 Round 4 Russian Grand Prix race – Rosberg wins four from four, Hamilton recovers to second

Rosberg completed 53 laps of the Russian Grand Prix on May 1 to win in 1:32:41.997. Hamilton started tenth and finished second, 25.022 seconds behind, while Räikkönen was third, 31.998 seconds off the lead.

Archive photo – Nico Rosberg drives his Mercedes in Q3 at the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix (Interlagos, São Paulo, November 2016).

At Turn 2 on the opening lap, Kvyat hit Vettel from behind as Vettel was trying to pass Ricciardo on the inside. Kvyat hit Vettel again at Turn 3, sending the Ferrari into the wall and out of the race. Kvyat received a 10-second stop-go penalty and three licence penalty points.

Another chain-reaction collision at Turn 2 on the same lap involved Gutiérrez, Hülkenberg, Ericsson and Haryanto. Hülkenberg and Haryanto retired, while Ericsson continued. Gutiérrez received a drive-through penalty for causing the collision, and the safety car was deployed.

Rosberg retained the lead under the safety car. After racing resumed on lap four, Bottas briefly regained second. Hamilton passed Massa at the restart, and Hamilton and Räikkönen subsequently overtook Bottas. Williams finished fourth with Bottas and fifth with Massa.

Between laps 23 and 36, Hamilton reduced the gap to Rosberg from 12.9 seconds to 7.5 seconds, but falling water pressure forced him to ease off. His pursuit ended and he focused on protecting the car, bringing it home in second.

Verstappen had been on course to finish sixth but retired on lap 34 with a Ferrari power-unit failure, promoting Alonso to sixth. Magnussen finished seventh to score Renault’s first points of the season, followed by Grosjean in eighth and Pérez in ninth.

Sainz received a 10-second penalty and two licence penalty points for forcing Palmer off the circuit and was classified twelfth. Nasr was given five seconds for failing to rejoin the circuit as instructed at Turn 2 and finished sixteenth. Button was tenth, Ricciardo eleventh and Kvyat fifteenth after his penalty.

Eighteen drivers were classified at the finish, with Verstappen, Vettel, Hülkenberg and Haryanto retiring. Rosberg took his fourth victory of the season and seventh in succession, extending his championship lead over Hamilton to 43 points. Räikkönen moved into third in the drivers’ standings after the Sochi race.