The official 2015 ASN Driver Rankings have been updated to reflect the 2015 Russian Grand Prix – which we are calling the Russian Grand Putin Prix [for blatantly obvious reasons]. The Russian Grand Putin Prix is held at Sochi – site of the last Winter Olympics – and is one of the newer F1 tracks on the circuit.
With both Mercedes sitting in the first row, chances for an entertaining race did not look good and, sure enough, the only drama for the victory was over quickly when defending champion Lewis Hamilton scooted past his pole-sitting teammate Nico Rosberg early on. But Rosberg encountered issues with his throttle and that opened up the race for the second place on the podium, which was essentially between the two Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. But after a few good laps of tussling between the two Ferrari men, Raikkonen eventually faded and Vettel was too far behind Hamilton to catch him so it was another anti-climactic finish with Force India’s Sergio Perez claiming the third and final podium position after Raikkonen dropped to fifth, then eighth with a last lap penalty for attempting to squeeze out Williams’ Valtteri Bottas on a corner.
As for the driver standings, it is a rare 1-2-3 mirror image as Hamilton gets the top points for scooting past Rosberg and the win while Vettel gets second-place points for successfully out-dueling his teammate as well and Perez gets a well-deserved point for his third-place effort. Vettel continues to maintain his lead over Hamilton for the season.
For the other awards, the Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award has to go to Maldonado’s Lotus teammate, Romain Grosjean, who had to make his 2016 team, Haas, feel real good about their decision to entrust their car with him when he made it all of 12 laps before crashing out of the 2015 Russian Grand Putin Prix. Grosjean now climbs back into a tie with Maldonado for the lead in Maldonado’s signature award category.
Another Mercedes blowout victory meant light radio chatter but that was temporarily changed when, for reasons that can only be known to him, a race marshal decided to enter the track to pick up a chunk of debris in front of Vettel [who also had to deal with a man on the track at the Singapore Grand Prix]. Fortunately Vettel avoided the man and disaster but wins the Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone, I Know What I’m Doing!” Award for the 2015 Russian Grand Putin Prix with his comment afterward – “Okay, it’s all clear now but we’ve got a very brave Russian on the track”. Hamilton still holds the season lead in this category.
Finally, for the Lewis Hamilton Doofus Moment Award for the 2015 Russian Grand Putin Prix, the award must go to Hamilton once again for his faulty champagne spraying technique. Whereas he directly sprayed a Chinese grid girl earlier in the year, he indirectly sprayed Russian president Vladimir Putin this time. Hamilton, still holds a commanding lead in his signature award category.
The 2015 Formula One season continues with the USA Grand Prix at Austin at 2 p.m. [PDT] on NBCSN on October 25, 2015.
The 2015 ASN Formula One Driver Standings [after the Russian Grand Putin Prix]
1] Sebastian Vettel – 27 points
2] Lewis Hamilton – 23 points
3] Nico Rosberg – eight points
4] Valtteri Bottas – five points
5] Kimi Raikkonen/Daniel Ricciardo – four points
7] Romain Grosjean/Felipe Massa – three points
9] Fernando Alonso/Jenson Button/Nico Hulkenberg/Daniil Kvyat/Sergio PerezMax Verstappen – two points
14] Pastor Maldonado/Alexander Rossi – one point
The 2015 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award Standings [after the Russian Grand Putin Prix]
1] Grosjean/Maldonado – 3.5 points
3] Bottas pit/Marcus Ericsson/Hamilton/Hamilton pit/Raikkonen/Raikkonen pit/Ricciardo/Sainz, Jr. – one point
The 2015 Kimi Raikkonen Leave Me Alone I Know What I’m Doing Award Standings [after the Russian Grand Putin Prix]
1] Hamilton – 4.5 points
2] Rosberg – 2.5 points
3] Button – 2 points
4] Alonso/Bottas/Hamilton pit/Ricciardo pit/Will Stevens/Vettel – one point
The 2015 Lewis Hamilton Doofus Moment Award [after the Russian Grand Putin Prix]
1] Hamilton – six points
2] Bernie Ecclestone/Vettel – two points
3] Alonso/Team Ferrari/Christian Horner/Team McLaren/Team Mercedes – one point