Was Lewis Hamilton doomed to lose the Russian Grand Prix regardless of his two five-second time penalties? Or, to put it another way, how many points did those pre-race practice starts cost him?
Despite starting from pole position, the Mercedes driver was potentially at a disadvantage to the two drivers behind him because he had to start on the soft tyres following various problems in Q2 yesterday.That forced him to pit earlier than planned. An early Safety Car played into his hands, allowing him to delay his tyre change until lap 16, but team mate Valtteri Bottas was able to run 10 laps longer after starting on the medium tyre compound.
Hamilton lost little time in traffic following his pit stop. He cleared Sebastian Vettel quickly and Daniil Kvyat pitted when the Mercedes appeared in his mirrors. Had he not been stationary for an extra 10 seconds when he pitted, he might have hit quicker traffic sooner when he rejoined the track.
When Bottas pitted, he came out of the pits 15 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Obviously 10 seconds of that had been accounted for by Hamilton’s penalty.
Without that he would have had to push a lot harder earlier in his stint to make up for the missing five seconds to Bottas, and doing that would have quickly brought him into more traffic. however few of those cars would likely have bothered putting up a fight, knowing they would not keep Hamilton behind to the flag.
What is clear is that Hamilton’s penalties swung the balance from making victory hard to impossible. However without them he would have been much better placed to challenge Max Verstappen for second place.
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2020 Russian Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2020 Russian Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
Position change
| Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 1 | 0 | -2 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 14 | 1 | 1 |
| Charles Leclerc | 10 | 2 | 4 |
| Max Verstappen | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| Alexander Albon | 15 | -2 | 5 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 6 | ||
| Lando Norris | 8 | -10 | -7 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Esteban Ocon | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Daniil Kvyat | 11 | 0 | 3 |
| Pierre Gasly | 9 | 2 | 0 |
| Sergio Perez | 4 | -2 | 0 |
| Lance Stroll | 12 | ||
| Kimi Raikkonen | 19 | 4 | 5 |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | 17 | 5 | 6 |
| Romain Grosjean | 16 | 6 | -1 |
| Kevin Magnussen | 18 | 9 | 6 |
| George Russell | 13 | -3 | -5 |
| Nicholas Latifi | 20 | 6 | 4 |
2020 Russian Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2020 Russian Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’37.030 | 51 | |
| 2 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’37.231 | 0.201 | 50 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’37.332 | 0.302 | 53 |
| 4 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.352 | 0.322 | 52 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’37.377 | 0.347 | 50 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’37.886 | 0.856 | 53 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’38.075 | 1.045 | 48 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’38.141 | 1.111 | 52 |
| 9 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’38.377 | 1.347 | 51 |
| 10 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’38.858 | 1.828 | 37 |
| 11 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’39.053 | 2.023 | 47 |
| 12 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’39.133 | 2.103 | 48 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’39.216 | 2.186 | 48 |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’39.588 | 2.558 | 46 |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’39.614 | 2.584 | 44 |
| 16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’39.766 | 2.736 | 44 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’40.380 | 3.350 | 52 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.044 | 4.014 | 47 |
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2020 Russian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valtteri Bottas | C4 (26) | C3 (27) | ||
| Max Verstappen | C4 (25) | C3 (28) | ||
| Lewis Hamilton | C5 (16) | C3 (37) | ||
| Sergio Perez | C5 (20) | C3 (33) | ||
| Daniel Ricciardo | C5 (15) | C3 (38) | ||
| Charles Leclerc | C4 (28) | C3 (25) | ||
| Esteban Ocon | C5 (18) | C3 (35) | ||
| Daniil Kvyat | C3 (30) | C4 (23) | ||
| Pierre Gasly | C5 (18) | C3 (24) | C4 (11) | |
| Alexander Albon | C5 (1) | C3 (26) | C4 (26) | |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | C4 (16) | C3 (36) | ||
| Kevin Magnussen | C4 (19) | C3 (33) | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | C4 (30) | C3 (22) | ||
| Kimi Raikkonen | C3 (35) | C4 (17) | ||
| Lando Norris | C5 (1) | C3 (46) | C4 (5) | |
| Nicholas Latifi | C4 (17) | C3 (35) | ||
| Romain Grosjean | C4 (17) | C3 (25) | C4 (10) | |
| George Russell | C4 (1) | C3 (13) | C4 (36) | C5 (2) |
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2020 Russian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 28.748 | 25 | |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 29.395 | 0.647 | 30 |
| 3 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 29.409 | 0.661 | 42 |
| 4 | George Russell | Williams | 29.433 | 0.685 | 14 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | 29.602 | 0.854 | 20 |
| 6 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | 29.662 | 0.914 | 30 |
| 7 | George Russell | Williams | 29.675 | 0.927 | 50 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 29.750 | 1.002 | 26 |
| 9 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 29.767 | 1.019 | 16 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 29.770 | 1.022 | 18 |
| 11 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 29.862 | 1.114 | 17 |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 29.988 | 1.240 | 42 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 30.054 | 1.306 | 17 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 30.068 | 1.320 | 18 |
| 15 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull | 30.111 | 1.363 | 27 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 30.112 | 1.364 | 15 |
| 17 | George Russell | Williams | 30.165 | 1.417 | 1 |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 30.188 | 1.440 | 19 |
| 19 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull | 30.211 | 1.463 | 1 |
| 20 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 30.261 | 1.513 | 28 |
| 21 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 31.368 | 2.620 | 47 |
| 22 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 33.317 | 4.569 | 35 |
| 23 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 37.108 | 8.360 | 1 |
| 24 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 41.352 | 12.604 | 16 |
2020 Russian Grand Prix
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- 2020 Russian Grand Prix Star Performers
- “Slower” Ferrari only beat us because of Q3 tyre rule – Tost
- “I may not always get it right” says Hamilton after penalty criticism
- Why did the stewards make their second U-turn this year on a Hamilton penalty call?
Ajaxn
27th September 2020, 20:50
The thing is Hamilton was brought in before his tire had started to go off. He had just set the fastest lap for the last two laps, he was obviously affecting Bottas.
Mercedes reason for bringing him was the potential undercut, but there’s also the thought that had he encountered traffic, he would also have had the benefits of DRS. Instead he’s brought in early (e.g. Not allowing for the tire savings under the safety car). This means he drives for longer on the second stint, and ok he comes out to clear track, but it’s also without the benefits of DRS.
Even when you allow for the 10 second penalties, Verstappen and Bottas had a clear advantage. Remember this all goes back to the vettel crash / red flag in Q2 which forces Hamilton to accept the wrong tires.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
27th September 2020, 21:17
It probably goes back further than the Vettel crash in Q-2. Back to Hamilton messing up his first Med Tire fast lap.
That in itself wasn’t damaging, but the subsequent events made it so. For want of a nail, the empire was lost.
David (@davidjwest)
28th September 2020, 10:56
So Mercedes did mess up Hamilton’s strategy, even on fresh tyres the Renaults were 2 seconds a lap slower than Hamilton just before his stop, the question is how many more laps could he have done on those tyres at that kind of pace? Perez did 4 more laps on the same compound.
David (@davidjwest)
28th September 2020, 10:58
Hamilton lost 12 seconds to Bottas in the pits and had he not pitted early (due to the 10 second penalty) he would likely have led Bottas after both had stopped.
Question is can Bottas overtake Hamilton on newer tyres?
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
29th September 2020, 10:24
well, based on bottas’s long run pace in practice and last year in the USA when he had a tyre advantage over hamilton, he did manage to pass. I don’t think there was anything to suggest today that bottas was struggling with race pace so i think he will have managed to beat hamilton had he not had the penalties given the advantage he had with the strategy.
Qeki (@qeki)
28th September 2020, 11:02
Russel faster than Hamilton (Way to go George!)