F1: What Will We See In Sochi?

Russian Grand Prix Preview


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The thing about the Sochi Autodrom is it's a circuit where just one team has ever led a lap.

Yep, Mercedes.

In the 3 previous races, Lewis Hamilton's won twice, and Nico Rosberg once.

No other team has led a single lap.

Will that change this year?

Possibly, with Ferrari having won two of the three races so far.

Ferrari comes here on top with Sebastian Vettel leading the championship. It's also worth noting the fourt time champ (2010-13) hasn't lost a title once leading it.

But this remains Mercedes territory with the cooler track temps likely to favour Lewis and Valtteri (Bottas).

While Bahrain threw up some surprises with pit stop strategies and the like, Sochi is likely to see just the one stop assuming the heavens don't open.

Tyre wear will remain a big deal here with a number of cars through the midfield still expected to struggle to warm their soft tyres up and get back on pace.

While it's not a great track for overtaking, the safety car's seen plenty of laps around Sochi having emerged three times in two of the races to date.

This will be the fourth Grand Prix around the old Winter Olympic precinct, but the sixth Russian race historically after St Petersburg hosted races in 1913-14.

Daniel Ricciardo isn't expecting big things in Russia after failing to finish in the top 6 so far.

The Aussie's hinting Red Bull's coming chassis upgrade won't see the car go any quicker until Spain at the earliest.

I think just with the car — we know that we can do better, I guess. I think we’ll see that in Barcelona," he said.

“I expect ... I’ll use the word hope, not expect. I hope for a bit of a bullet - something fast.”

“We want to be in a three-way fight with Ferrari and Mercedes. So that’s what I would hope for, something that puts us in that fight."

In other words, we'll check back in with Dan when he gets to Barcelona.

Practice for the Russian Grand Prix begins at 6pm Friday on Fox Sports.

Qualifying is at 9.30pm Saturday.

The race takes off at 9.30pm Sunday.

10 December 2018




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