The 2018 Russian Grand Prix is in the books and it was mostly another 1-2 Mercedes snoozer won by Lewis Hamilton after his teammate Valtteri Bottas was ordered to move aside and allow Hamilton to win. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel claimed the third and final podium position.
The driving points are fairly straightforward for this race and Bottas deserves them all for the travesty his team forced him to endure, so ASN does what Mercedes did not do – the right thing – and awards Bottas with the win and three points that comes with it. Hamilton gets two for what should have been his second-place finish and Vettel gets the other point for staying close enough to apparently force Mercedes into their idiotic decision. Hamilton leads the category comfortably.
The Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award was split between the Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendan Hartley – it was not their fault as mechanical issues caused both of their crashes – but they were the only two drivers to crash out of the race. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen enjoys a commanding lead in the category.
The Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award goes to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who responded to some tactical information from his pit with – “I’m 15th, I don’t care.”
The Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award is a no-brainer, going to Mercedes’ Toto Wolff for making the call to deprive Bottas of an F1 win so that Hamilton could have a slightly larger lead in the driver standings. Wolff’s reasoning was that his only choices were to be seen as a “baddie” now for making the decision or an “idiot” later in case Vettel were somehow able to overcome Hamilton’s 50-point lead with only a handful of races remaining. We are calling it right now, Toto – you are an idiot either way – here is your point, you deserve more. Hamilton leads the category, but Wolff now vaults into contention.
2018 ASN Formula One Driver Rankings – after Russian Grand Prix
1] Lewis Hamilton – 31 points
2] Sebastian Vettel – 22
3] Valtteri Bottas – 11
4] Kimi Raikkonen – 10
5] Max Verstappen – nine
6] Daniel Ricciardo – eight
7] Sergio Perez – three
8] Pierre Gasly/Nico Hulkenberg – two
2018 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award – after Russian Grand Prix
1] Verstappen – 5.33 points
2] Romain Grosjean – two
3] Vettel – 1.5
4] Bottas/Hulkenberg/Perez/Sirotkin/Vandoorne – one
9] Gasly/Hulkenberg/Raikkonen – .5
12] Red Bull/Ricciardo – .33
2018 Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award – after Russian Grand Prix
1] Hamilton/Verstappen – four points
3] Fernando Alonso – 3.5
4] Bottas/Raikkonen/Vettel – one
7] Perez/Minttu Raikkonen/Verstappen pit – .5
2018 Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award – after Russian Grand Prix
1] Hamilton – 2.125 points
2] McLaren/Mercedes – 1.5
4] Verstappen/Toto Wolff – 1.125
6] Canadian Grand Prix officials/Ferrari pit [Raikkonen]/Force India/Mercedes pit [Hamilton]/Monaco Grand Prix officials/Vettel – one
12] Ecclestone – .625
13] Azerbaijan Grand Prix officials/Nico Rosberg/Spanish Grand Prix officials – .5
16] Gasly/Grosjean/Hulkenberg/Magnussen – .125