Nico Rosberg continues his perfect start to the season with win at Russian Grand Prix but Lewis Hamilton battles from 10th to second
- Nico Rosberg wins from pole in Russia, his seventh straight Grand Prix victory to extend championship lead
- Lewis Hamilton responds well to qualifying problems, storming from 10th to finish behind Mercedes team-mate
- Sebastian Vettel responds furiously after being hit on opening lap by Daniil Kvyat and put out of the race
- Click here to see how the Russian Grand Prix unfolded in Sochi with our lap-by-lap coverage
- Click here for all the latest F1 news, features and points
He took a swig but there was no spraying the champagne for Lewis Hamilton at the Russian Grand Prix.
The world champion should have been toasting a fine recovery job here but this missed opportunity left a bitter taste.
The misfortune which has seen the defence of his world title get off to such a stuttering start continued here.
Nico Rosberg celebrates winning the Russian Grand Prix with a leap on the podium - his seventh straight victory going back to 2015
Hamilton elected not to spray champagne on the podium as Rosberg celebrates victory with his team after his stroll to Sochi victory
Hamilton now trails Rosberg by 43 points as he bids to defend the world championship he has won for the previous two seasons
Rosberg was joined on the podium by team-mate Hamilton (left) and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen who took the team's 700th F1 podium
Rosberg's victory ensures he maintains his 100 per winning start to the season after four races as he led every single lap in Sochi
As has been the case all season, Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg took full advantage, cruising to a seventh straight win that extends his lead over Hamilton in the drivers’ standings to 46 points.
A failure of his Mercedes engine robbed Hamilton of a shot at top spot during qualifying on Saturday and it was the same story in the race. The Briton had worked hard to get an uninterrupted view of Rosberg’s car only to be forced to back off.
‘We have a water pressure issue,’ came the team radio message on lap 37. Thankfully for Hamilton, the problem stabilised five laps later but inevitably prompted caution. The charge was over and he was forced to play second fiddle yet again.
‘I don’t sit here all happy because nothing’s gone particularly well,’ said Hamilton. ‘I fought hard and got myself back up there and ultimately I wasn’t able to race for the win which I believed I had a chance to.’
Rosberg looks on as Hamilton collects his second-place trophy following an excellent drive from a lowly tenth on the grid
To applause from Russian president Vladimir Putin, Raikkonen waves to supporters after finishing third in the Russian Grand Prix
Putin watched all the Sochi action alongside F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, with the president a special guest on the podium
Rosberg crowd surfs his mechanics having recorded his seventh straight win to extend his championship lead to a massive 46 points
Rosberg leaps for joy on the podium as the crowd gathered to watch the Sochi celebrations following the Mercedes one-two
German ace Rosberg led from start to finish to secure a fourth straight win in a row this season and extend his lead in the championship
Rosberg, who started on pole, has now won seven races in a row, going back to last season in what is a remarkable run of form
Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari gets hit by the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat, ending his race and sparking a foul-mouthed rant from the German
Hamilton (left) fought back from 10th on the grid to earn himself a creditable second place, but could never challenge Rosberg for first
It had all started so brightly, too. Hamilton was allowed to start 10th after escaping further penalty for Saturday’s engine problem.
Mercedes — with a little help from Bernie Ecclestone’s Russian contacts — saw to that by flying in replacement parts from their Northampton base overnight.
The three-time world champion has had no luck off the line from front or back of the grid so far this term and starting among the midfield had the potential for more trouble.
The carnage duly came. Fending off former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel crashed out on lap one after being clunked from behind, not once but twice, by the charging Daniil Kvyat in the other Red Bull.
Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat crashed into the back of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel going into the first corner - leading to the German's retirement
Hamilton (front) was forced out wide to avoid the collision between the Red Bulls and Vettel as he made his way to fifth on the first lap
Vettel let out an expletive rant on the team radio after he was was pushed off the circuit and into a wall which led to his retirement
Vettel leaped on to a scooter to make his way back to the pit lane having retired on the opening lap of the Russian Grand Prix
Vettel later confronted his former team boss Christian Horner of Red Bull during the race, following the collision with Kvyat
Vettel's wrecked car sits behind an ambulance, with the retired Force India car of Nico Hulkenberg also a first lap victim in Sochi
Vettel's Ferrari (right) crashes with Kvyat (left) in an incident which ruined the former Red Bull man's race and left the German furious
Hamilton was helped by an underwhelming getaway akin to those that ruined his races in Australia and Bahrain. Here it afforded him time to see the danger and he tiptoed his way through to emerge unscathed in fifth place.
The safety car that was deployed in the wake of that early drama returned to the pits on lap three and Hamilton wasted little time in passing his old foe Felipe Massa in the Williams. He was up to third four laps later, catching Kimi Raikkonen napping to sneak up the inside of the Ferrari.
He needed no encouragement but got it anyway: ‘Get in there Lewis, come on!’ came the imploring radio call from his team.
Suddenly just one car stood between Hamilton and a clear path to his team-mate but the 10 laps he spent staring at the back of Valtteri Bottas’s Williams allowed Rosberg to build his advantage out in front.
With 30 laps to go, Hamilton was finally in clear air and intent on hunting Rosberg 13 seconds up the road.
The McLarens of Fernando Alonso (14) and Jenson Button avoid the first lap carnage on the way to a double points finish
Alonso took sixth place for McLaren as his team applaud his efforts after he crossed the finish line in Sochi - his first points of the season
Button also sneaked into the points late in the race as the 2009 world champion also picked up his first of the campaign
‘I got it down to seven seconds so I was really on it,’ said Hamilton. ‘Then I got told about the engine problem. I thought I wasn’t going to finish the race so I’m just grateful I did. I will do whatever I can with whatever I have left from these damaged parts to keep fighting.’
Rosberg finished with a flourish, delivering the fastest lap of the race to underline his current supremacy.
His seventh straight win saw him equal Alberto Ascari and Michael Schumacher’s longest streaks and only Vettel (nine) has managed more consecutive victories.
Nigel Mansell in 1992 and Schumacher in 2004 with five wins are the only men to have made a better start to a season than Rosberg.
He said: ‘The records are cool but not my focus. They didn’t have Lewis Hamilton as a team-mate. He’s motivated and will come back strong. There are 17 races to go, 425 points to play for, so the title is not worth talking about yet.’
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