The 2015 Russian Grand Prix was a chance for defending champion Lewis Hamilton to virtually secure the 2015 Formula One title with another win and he did just that with a comfortable victory over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in second and a surprising third place finish for Force India’s Sergio Perez. Although he began as the pole-sitter, Hamilton’s hard-luck Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, was passed by Hamilton when Rosberg began experiencing throttle issues and had to come into the pits and would eventually retire because of the problem.
That left second place up for grabs between Vettel and his Ferrari teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, who waged an intense battle for the podium and points throughout the race with Vettel ultimately winning the battle and Raikkonen being penalized for a late-race collision with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas that knocked Bottas out of the race and sent Raikkonen plummeting to eighth.
Another win by Hamilton in two weeks at the USA Grand Prix would lock up the 2015 Formula One title for him and the dominant Mercedes team.
With the results, Hamilton pads his overall lead in the 2015 Formula One points standings with 302 points to Vettel’s 236 and Rosberg in third with 229 points.
The 2015 Formula One season continues with the USA Grand Prix at Austin at 2 p.m. [PDT] on NBCSN on October 25, 2015.
2015 Russian Grand Prix Results
POS. DRIVER COUNTRY TEAM TIME POINTS
1 LEWIS HAMILTON GBR MERCEDES 1:37:11.024 25
2 SEBASTIAN VETTEL GER FERRARI +5.953s 18
3 SERGIO PEREZ MEX FORCE INDIA +28.918s 15
4 FELIPE MASSA BRA WILLIAMS +38.831s 12
5 DANIIL KVYAT RUS RED BULL RACING +47.566s 10
6 FELIPE NASR BRA SAUBER +56.508s 8
7 PASTOR MALDONADO VEN LOTUS +61.088s 6
8 KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN FIN FERRARI +72.358s 4
9 JENSON BUTTON GBR MCLAREN +79.467s 2
10 MAX VERSTAPPEN NED TORO ROSSO +88.424s 1
11 FERNANDO ALONSO ESP MCLAREN +91.210s 0
12 VALTTERI BOTTAS FIN WILLIAMS DNF 0
13 ROBERTO MERHI ESP MARUSSIA +1 lap 0
14 WILL STEVENS GBR MARUSSIA +2 laps 0
15 DANIEL RICCIARDO AUS RED BULL RACING DNF 0
NC CARLOS SAINZ ESP TORO ROSSO DNF 0
NC ROMAIN GROSJEAN FRA LOTUS DNF 0
NC NICO ROSBERG GER MERCEDES DNF 0
NC NICO HULKENBERG GER FORCE INDIA DNF 0
NC MARCUS ERICSSON SWE SAUBER DNF 0