SOCHI, RUSSIA // Aside from the white, blue and red stripes on the track, much of the Sochi Autodrome complex appears to have been designed with 50 shades of grey in mind and, on Sunday, the inaugural Russian Formula One Grand Prix that it hosted proved far duller than its colour scheme.
As much as Lewis Hamilton said otherwise on Saturday, the winning driver was only ever going to hail from the team in grey.
The championship leader, having placed his Mercedes-GP car on pole position, converted with ease to cross the line 13.6 seconds ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. Valtteri Bottas, starting third, finished third.
The National’s 2014 F1 season guide: Race calendar, standings, track layouts
The result saw Mercedes secure their first constructors’ title, but it was not a race that will live long in the memory. Other than an opening lap in which Rosberg blew his chances of a race win, this was a 52-lap procession undeserving of the packed grandstands.
It was doubtlessly the most boring race of the year as Hamilton moved 17 points clear of Rosberg and improved his chances of leaving the final round of the season, the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on November 23, with a second drivers’ crown to his name.
Yet it had started promisingly.
Hamilton had spoken warily of the long straight run up to Turn 1, and Rosberg, starting alongside him on the front row, immediately – and desperately – tried to steal the lead.
Passing Hamilton on the inside line, Rosberg was forced to brake late, locked up, flat-spotted his tyres and missed the turn completely.
“It was a mistake from my side,” Rosberg, who re-entered the track without incident, said. “I braked too late and that was it.
“Very unnecessary and I’m obviously very disappointed. After that, my tyres were square and the car was vibrating so much I couldn’t see where I was going.”
The error meant the German had to pit, dropping him to the back of the field and essentially forcing him to go the entire race on one set of tyres.
Yet such is the superiority of the Mercedes over the rest of the 21-car field, Rosberg had climbed back up to second within 30 laps.
It was all so predictable one member of the local media fell asleep at his desk. Another preferred to watch a Russian soap opera on his smartphone. Yet the driver most prominent on social media left the circuit with an altogether different impression.
Hamilton, untroubled out front and with time to enjoy his surroundings, said his race had been “straightforward”, adding that he “didn’t even have to push”.
Having received the winners’ trophy from all-action Russian president Vladimir Putin, who wore a grey suit and open-necked white shirt, the 2008 world champion described the episode as “surreal” but proceeded to speak in glowing terms of the race, the host country and its flashy new circuit.
“I didn’t know that F1 was something that people followed here in Russia,” Hamilton said. “I didn’t know there was actually a real love for it. To see the people turn out in their thousands and the grandstands full, it looks like they’re really excited that we’re here and, on top of that, everyone has done an amazing job with the track, the layout, the surface, the whole event.”
For sure, the charcoal seats in the grandstand seemed a perfect fit for much of a weekend that has evoked sombreness and reflection.
The expected excitement surrounding F1’s newest race had been understandably tempered by the accident last week that left French driver Jules Bianchi fighting for his life in a Japanese hospital.
Adrian Sutil, who witnessed the crash at Suzuka up close last Sunday, said earlier in the week he and the F1 fraternity had arrived in Russia with a “grey cloud over us” and a minute’s silence was held before the race.
Hamilton and others carried messages of support on their helmets and the words “Jules we are all supporting you” was painted on the track by F1 management.
After the race, when the whole Mercedes team posed to celebrate their Constructors’ World Championship, they held aloft a pit-board with Bianchi’s name and number.
It was an honourable move from a marque that has repeatedly shown their class this season.
“Half of me is extremely disappointed that I messed up,” Rosberg said. “But the other half, I’m really, really happy, because everybody in the team deserves it [the manufacturers’ title] so much.
“For them, the most important title of the year is the constructors’, and that’s why I can even smile a bit, because I’m happy for everybody to have achieved that.”
Hamilton, who joined the team in 2013, said: “I’m just so proud to have contributed to this great team and get the first Constructors’ Championship for Mercedes-Benz.
“I could have only dreamt of that when I joined.”
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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