There was plenty to enjoy in the closing laps of Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix. Overtaking, a collision and mechanical failures combined to make the finale to proceedings at Sochi highly unpredictable.
Unfortunately that excitement was not at the front of the race as Lewis Hamilton cantered to his ninth win of the season in his Mercedes-GP, moving even closer to winning his third drivers’ title.
Russia was one of the better races of 2015 thanks to the second safety car of the race, caused by Romain Grosjean crashing his Lotus heavily at Turn 3 on Lap 12.
That shook up the order as it led to a variety of strategies playing out in the second half of proceedings as half the grid pitted and the other half did not.
Hamilton was always in control at the front once his only realistic threat to proceedings, teammate Nico Rosberg, had retired on Lap 8 with a throttle failure in his Mercedes.
Rosberg had been ahead at the time after converting pole position into the lead, and the German had looked comfortable in the early laps once the first safety car period, after the debris from the collision between Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India and Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber had been cleared away.
With Rosberg out of the way, there was no stopping Hamilton, who during the middle of the race was often lapping more than a second faster than anyone else. He also seemed genuinely disappointed that what would have been a tough duel with Rosberg at a track where overtaking is not easy had instead turned into another unchallenged success.
“Nico was holding his ground and it looked like we were going to have a race,” the Briton said.
“I was thinking ‘this is great’, but then he went a bit wide and I overtook him – maybe before or after that he started to have problems.”
Hamilton is now in a position where he can clinch the title with at the United States Grand Prix in two weeks.
If he triumphs for a third time in four years at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and Sebastian Vettel is not second in his Ferrari, the Briton will become the 10th man to have three world championships to his name.
Whether he wins it there, or in the other remaining events in Mexico, Brazil and then the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton will be a worthy winner.
It is not Hamilton and Mercedes’s fault that the Briton is set to triumph with races to spare.
You can only beat what is in front of you and only Ferrari have been able to muster any kind of opposition this year.
But the sport desperately needs Ferrari or someone else to step up and compete with them next year.
F1 has gone through two successive seasons of Mercedes being imperious, and that should not be taken lightly.
The German marque have done a terrific job, both with the chassis and engine, and they fully deserve what has come their way.
It was a shame they did not seal the constructors’ championship on the track, instead it being confirmed after Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was demoted from fifth to eighth post-race for his last lap clash with Valtteri Bottas, but that should not detract from their achievement of 12 wins from 15 races.
But F1 is an entertainment as much as a sport, and rightly or wrongly it is judged on the competition for first place.
It is not the only sport like this.
For example a football season is seen as a disappointment if one team runs away with it, and the final round of a golf major is seen as forgettable if the leader is well clear of the field.
The tussle in the closing laps yesterday for third place between Sergio Perez’s Force India, Bottas’s Williams and Raikkonen made for great viewing. Unfortunately it was simply to get on the podium, rather than to be on the top step.
The overtaking and close racing at Sochit gets lost to the average viewer when it is for third, seventh or 12th place, and F1 desperately needs scraps like the one between Perez, Bottas and Raikkonen to be happening for the lead of races in the future if some excitement is to be injected back into F1.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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